Live flour encapsulation experiment. Phase #1
Hello, friends.
Live flour incapsulation Experiment, Phase one.
Welcome to a midweek bake/experiment. I am still thinking about gluten and tough pastry. My research reminded me of something I already knew. Gluten development starts as soon as the water hits the "live flour." Live flour is flour that has not been encapsulated in fat. So the dilemma becomes how do we cut in the fat leaving nice size pieces (for flakiness) while still encapsulating all of the flour? I think I have an idea, (now this next part, is just me being me) Should this actually work it will be the most groundbreaking development in the history of pie making! Smile... Here is what we have so far.
The four fruit two-sided filling is quite whimsical.
This is the flour with the butter cut in and the oil added. As you can see I only gently tossed the dough with my fingers, I did not want to make it a paste. After I added the water and kneaded it a couple of times this is the result. The dough took considerably less water than the formula called for. The added liquid in the oil and NYC humidity I think.
Comments
Phase Two
Live flour incapsulation experiment.
We ended phase one with the unorthodox oil & butter pastry chilling in the refrigerator. After I made the dinner salads, I rolled out the dough. Depending on the outcome this formula will need some tweaking, ( so far it looks like it will be worth further experimentation.) The dough was way too short and hard to roll. I had to resort to waxed paper and patching.
The filling is:
Side A. Cranberry & Strawberry
Side B. Blueberry & Peaches
The end game report.
Not the prettiest pie I ever made, not the ugliest either. Some contributing factors, Erin McDowell's pastry formula is not that generous. I like to have a little extra dough to play with. On top of that due to an abundance of filling I was forced into breaking out the deep dish 10" stainless steel pie pan. As is evident in the photo, I rolled it out pretty thin. All that notwithstanding, I am excited about the look of this topper! It looks flakey and tender as heck!
...what does it look like inside? Was the taste everything you wanted?
-Jon
Now the moment the bread club has been waiting for...
The results of the Roadside Pie king's, live flour incapsulation experiment. Not a home run, but definitely an extra-base hit! What I learned.
Minimizing the amount of live flour by whatever means will definitely lead to a tender pastry.
An oil & butter pastry is in the realm of possibility
Observations.
With a little reworking, I am sure I can achieve a buttery, easy to handle, tender pastry. The tenderness of this pastry is remarkable, while still achieving a long flake. The only thing missing is the workability. Moving along to the filling. The filling turned out just great! Just juice enough without being a runny mess and very flavorful. Enjoy the photo montage of this limited success experiment.
Some delicious looking fillings there Will, showcased in some fine images too! Nice!
When making pastry by hand, I have found using a fork to mix the fat flour works pretty well. Of course, keeping everything cold is key.
If you a have stand mixer you can mix pastry in the reverse method, that is cream butter and sugar together, then finish the mix with flour and enough water / egg yolk to quickly bring it together.
If you don't already own it then Michel Roux's "Pastry" is a great little book!
I haven't made pastry in years but this post has inspired me.
Cheers,
Michael
Thanks, Michael.
Your feedback and tips are always appreciated. I learned the reverse method from my mom (I didn't know that was the name) when making pasta frola. while very much love working with the cookie-like past frola, it is very different from the "American" type pie dough. There are two things 180 degrees opposed from each other going on in really good pie pastry/dough, it must be tender. not only to the bite but fork tender as well, struggling to cut through a bottom or top pastry takes away from the pie-eating experience. Secondly, the pastry should have nice flaky layers. (think rough puff pastry) I am more than sure a skilled pastry chef can achieve this easily. Me? I either mix to a tender mealy texture or a kind of tough flakey texture. ( i prefer a pie pastry that is mealy with minimal flake than a tough long flake) With my lazy man cheat, I can achieve both. Here are a few of my latest creations. Enjoy the pie eye candy!
Strawberry chiffon pie
Topless cherry pie
Thanks again, for turning me on to the Roux brothers! I told my wife to get me the book for fathers day and already checked out his rough puff and pate brisee online!
What is the goal?
Hi, mini.
My misguided goal was to ensure that my long flake short pastry was not tough. My thinking was that a liquid fat would be much easier to coat the flour with. While that may be true. I have come to the conclusion since short pastry is not healthy and should only be consumed sparingly. When it is it should be of the richest buttery type available! So rather than use oil (yuck), I will endeavor to learn the proper technics required for a flaky tender crust! Smile.
once explained to me that oil pastry (my favourite includes milk) should look very marbled with streaks and is not for wet berry type fillings. I had just had a wet pie with an oil filling disaster. (Yours came out better.). Dryer or thicker fillings for oil pastry.
Now my sister makes one of the best pumpkin pie crusts in the world. No kidding. Dad and I could never get enough and had to appologise at least once for killing off the pie she left out after Thanksgiving. (Midnight marauders.) What we didn't know is she had hidden a backup pie. Anyway it didn't include any liquids. Give you any Ideas? It was somewhere between a crumble crust and a flaky one cut beautifully and maintained its shape that simply melted in your mouth. (Salt can make a pie crust tough too.) I wonder if she pre-roasted some of the flour... to prevent gluten formation. Lots a ways to go with a "simple crust."