SC - Hot water pie crust

[Decker, Terry D.]

Valoise Armstrong wrote:
> 
> Has anyone (Bear, for instance?) tried the hot water method for making pie
> crust mentioned in Sabina Welserin? She's got two kinds of tender crusts,
> one that uses eggs and at least a couple of mentions of crust that starts
> by dissolving the fat in boiling water. That goes against everything my
> mother (best pie baker in the world) taught me.

I agree, it's not anywhere near the traditional American wisdom in this
area; _MY_ mother, (best pie maker in the world, with myself a humble
close second, but at least not arrogant about it ;  )   ) also never
used this method AFAIK. There's a bazillion types of pastry out there,
and most Americans learn only a fairly typical short crust. A good hot
water crust comes out something like a cookie texture when done right.  
 
> But yesterday I decided to give it a try. I dissoved 3/4 cup of shortening
> (next time I'll try lard) in about 1/2 cup of boiling water, stirred it
> until it was thoroughly mixed and then added flour. It took about 2 cups of
> flour to get the right consistency. I let the dough chill for a few hours.
> After warming it up to room temperature, it handled just fine, rolled out
> quite easily. The finished product was quite tender.

With all that shortening, it should be, and also the heat would probably
be a factor (cooked glutein and glutenin don't form strands). I might
suggest you try not being too careful about stirring the fat and water
together, as that will allow the mixture to cool off a bit just when you
need that heat. 

I'm curious about one thing, though...what I was always taught about
this pastry was to simply make it by mixing the ingredients, stirring
until it forms a ball, then to knead it very briefly as soon as it's
cool enough to handle. What I'd always been taught to do, and have
always done, was to form my "coffin" while the pastry was still warm and
at its most flexible, rather than to chill it, then warm it up again. My
experience has been that room temp is usually too cold to work the stuff
properly (possible, but more difficult). This may have something to do
with proportions, though, maybe your recipe works out to more fat than mine...

Cool stuff, though, i'n't it? 

Adamantius
- -- 
Phil & Susan Troy

troy at asan.com
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