Food science facts to achieve the perfect pie, every time
Pastry is at its finest when it forms a firm, crisp, and buttery casing for the food that it’s showcasing – but all too often, a “soggy bottom” steals the show. Our book The Science of Cooking can help you harness the help of chemistry and ensure that every pie you bake is upper-crust quality.
Don’t take soggy pies personally – pastry dough is made up of at least 50 per cent water-absorbing starchy flour, making it all too easy for a delicious, crispy-topped pie to end up with a soggy stodge for its base. But what’s really happening?
During baking, microscopic starch crystals soak up water, “gelatinizing” into a smooth, soft gel; meanwhile elastic gluten dries, water from fat evaporates as steam, and, when fully dried, the surface browns and produces caramel-like aromas via a chemical reaction called the Maillard reaction. However, when a filling is added, moisture cannot evaporate and instead the pastry is likely to absorb liquid from the filling.
Does this sound familiar? Don’t despair! Simply follow the easy-as-pie tips below.
Blind-bake your base before adding a filling to help to firm the base and avoid liquid being absorbed into it. Prick the base with a fork to help steam escape, cover with foil or parchment, and weigh it down with ceramic baking beans, uncooked rice or white sugar. Then bake at 220°C (425°F) for 15 minutes.
2.
Establish an egg-cellent shield
Before blind-baking, brush the base with beaten egg or egg white. This causes proteins to form a water resistant layer.
3.
Give your pie the dish it's wishing for
A pie’s filling insulates the base from hot air, so the material of your dish is important! A dark metal dish absorbs heat well, or an ovenproof glass dish lets heat rays pass directly into the base. Both heat swiftly so that moisture steams away.
4.
Get right to the bottom of things
If your oven’s element is at the bottom, put your pie on the lower rack to heat its base quickly and evenly.
One of the fool-proof ways to ensure a crisp bottom pie crust is to do what is called blind baking. This simply means that you bake the crust—either fully if you are adding a custard or cream that won't be cooked, or partially if the whole pie needs to bake—before adding the filling.
After adding the dough to the pie plate, he sprinkles another heaping teaspoon of crumbs on top of the dough before adding the filling. These crumbs act as a second moisture, absorbing every last bit of moisture from the crust. Say it with us: crisp, golden and perfectly flaky crust.
Phyllo provides a moisture barrier, preventing the puff pastry from getting soggy. A double layer of plastic wrap makes it easier to wrap up the tenderloin.
The gluten in the flour gives pastry its texture, while fat offers flavour. If the fat melts before a strong gluten structure has formed, the pastry will end up soggy. Overly moist fillings can also contribute to a soggy bottom as the liquid will drop to the bottom of the pie and ooze into the pastry.
And finally, the most frustrating pastry problem of all – the soggy bottom. This normally happens when the oven is not hot enough or the pastry is not baked for long enough. However, it can also be because too much water was added to the dough.
To save the day, Emily Lery says bring the temperature back down as quickly as you can, either by dropping in an ice cube or dipping the bottom of your cooking pan into a sink or bowl of iced water.
How do you keep the bottom of Beef Wellington from getting soggy? By adding breadcrumbs to the mushroom mixture like we do in this recipe, the juice from the beef gets soaked up before reaching the bottom layer of your Wellington, leaving the pastry to get nice and crisp for the most satisfying beef Wellington ever.
How do you keep ground beef from getting wet and sticky when cooking? Work at high temperature with a large pan (i.e., skillet) that has lots of surface area. Keeping the meat crowded allows liquids to accumulate. It may be necessary to remove some of the fat as well but, remember, that's where all of the flavor is.
But the one surefire way to make certain your pie's crust will be golden brown, crisp, and delicious — just as appealing as its filling — is to prebake it. That's right: bake the bottom crust first, before adding the filling.
The most common way to ward off a soggy pie crust is by a process called blind baking. Blind baking means you pre-bake the crust (sometimes covered with parchment or foil and weighed down with pie weights to prevent the crust from bubbling up) so that it sets and crisps up before you add any wet filling.
Introduction: My name is Melvina Ondricka, I am a helpful, fancy, friendly, innocent, outstanding, courageous, thoughtful person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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