Thank you Rose, that is a big help! I just bought your Pie & Pastry Bible, and I can't wait to get started.
Margarita

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Dear Rose,
I am trying to get my head around the science of baking, and was wondering why some pie pastry recipes call for dairy? i.e. heavy cream, milk etc.,
What does this actually do to the pie crust?
Many thanks,
Margarita

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Thank you, Rose. I won't be so afraid to work it next time. It still tasted great!

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Rose, I baked your legendary apple pie with the cream cheese pie crust yesterday. The good news--the filling is delicious, holds its shape beautifully, and didn't get the bottom crust all soggy. The flavor of the crust is also the best I have ever tasted. But the bad news, which isn't so bad but is a bit frustrating--somewhere during the last 20 minutes of baking, the crust developed cracks along the top edge where the "flat" part meets the crimped part. I vented the pie and the slits did not close, so I don't think it was steam. Is it possible the pastry didn't develop enough stretch to stand up to the steam? When I was kneading it after mixing it, I never felt like I got any elasticity in the dough, but I was afraid to overwork it. It did come out with some flakiness, but also a bit of crumbly-ness.

I used 2/3 bleached Gold Medal to 1/3 SwansDown cake flour, followed all the freezing and resting instructions, and didn't have cracks when I rolled it out or transferred it to the pan. Used a food processor to mix it. Baked in on a stone on lowest rack (my heating element is on the floor of my oven), and placed shield over edge at about 25 minutes.

Any suggestions you can provide are very much appreciated!

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When buying pastry flour for pie crust, should it be bleached or unbleached? King Arthur's seems to be unbleached.

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Would sour cream be the same as heavy cream & vinegar in pie crust?

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Dear Rose, just want to thank you for saving my baking-life once again. This week my goal was to experiment on some British Classics: Pork Pie & Custard tart. Must share with you quite proudly that the Pork Pie was such a real smash, even it took a full day to prepare. I learnt quite a bit on how to make great stock jelly, hot water lard dough, and such. My problem came when I followed the custard tart recipe for the crust. It didn't seem so different from yours & the others when it comes to the ingredients: whole egg/yolk, flour, sugar, & butter. However, I seem to encounter a similar problem of "leaky" fat during baking - oh, never with your recipe though! What I love most about your Pate-sucree recipe is that I could even gently knead it! I guess my curiosity really peaks & I thought perhaps you could comment based on food science: Why do some sweet pastry tend to "leak" out quite a bit of fat during baking? (& of course, some part of the crust wall turned out lopsided)
Needless to mention that I ended up remaking the crust from your Pastry Bible with the addition of freshly grated Nutmeg into the dough. Baked in a flan ring; it came out beautifully! (BTW, I each year I would use your crust to make my little Mince Pies for Xmas & they are always fantastic! So Cheers!

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I have made this crust 3 times now, for an apple galette. The 3rd came out perfect and is certainly my favorite crust ever! In fact it is my favorite dessert ever!

For the 3rd, instead of Wondra I used homemade pastry flour according to the PPB, with 2/3 Gold Medal bleached all-purpose and 1/3 Swans Down cake flour. I processed the cream cheese much more than before, to the texture of meal.

I still needed more liquid. So I believe that is because of the high butterfat and carageenan in TJ's heavy cream. So this time instead of adding more cream, I added more vinegar. Just under 4 teaspoons to get the dough to barely come together. I then smeared the dough a few times.

I experimented with the apples each time as well. The first time I arranged them in concentric rings, but the wrong orientation (didn't read the directions closely enough). I didn't measure the sugar, just sprinkled some on top, and the filling came out not sweet enough. The second time, I tried tossing the apples with the sugar and piling them in. Tons of juices bubbled out, making a mess in my oven. (I was baking it right on the stone with just parchment underneath.) Juices even leaked out the door. It was delicious, but the bottom crust was crisp only on the bottom, not in the interior. The bottom crust was also tougher. The third time, I followed the directions exactly, including dotting with butter. And it was perfect.

So pouring the sugar over the top just before baking prevents the apples from gushing out as much juice. I am curious why the different approach for the galette versus the reducing syrup for the pie. I should probably make the pie also, but I love love love this delicious galette.

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I used Wondra flour, from a container I just bought.

I weighed the flour and butter on a digital scale (Taylor). I used one 3-oz package of cream cheese, so didn't weigh that. I used measuring spoons purchased at Sur la Table, skinnier than the normal ones. I used a Cuisinart Custom 14 processor with metal blade.

Hain sea salt, Rumford baking powder, Philadelphia cream cheese. The unsalted butter, apple cider vinegar, and heavy cream were Trader Joe's house brand.

I've been studying your P&PB, and read what you wrote about heavy cream. I know that I buy Trader Joe's because it makes much more delicious whipped cream than other brands at grocery stores. (Plus, being TJ's, it's such a great value.) I went and read the label, and sure enough, it's NOT ultrapasteurized and contains 40% butterfat. The label also lists carageenan. Perhaps the extra butterfat and carageenan make less water available for the dough?

Even so, I was delighted with the taste and texture of the galette. It was not as flaky as your Heavenly Peach Galette pictured on this blog, but nonetheless was the best I've ever made (or tasted, for that matter).

I also read "If, when adding the water, you find you need more than indicated in the recipe, chances are you haven't moisture-proofed the flour adequately (you haven't used the correct amount of butter or processed it fine enough), leaving the flour free to absorb more liquid."

This might also be true for me. I watched your 1988 video but still don't know when I've processed the fat enough or too much. My cream cheese was in dime- and nickel-sized thin flakes, so maybe that wasn't "coarse." ?

I am excited that this first crust attempt was as good as it was. And I'm excited to try more of your P&PB recipes. But I'm not yet confident I can "turn out a tender and flaky crust on a regular basis" (p3). Thank you so much for your help.

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I'm frustrated with pie crusts. I made Cook's Illustrated Foolproof recipe twice, with different disasters each time. Then I found P&PB and this blog and thought the cream cheese crust would be my holy grail. (I am looking for good taste and good texture that doesn't give me heart attacks rolling it out or transferring to pie dish.)

I made the cream cheese crust recipe on this blog yesterday, but could not get the dough to even remotely hold together until I had used DOUBLE the liquids in the recipe. Twice the heavy cream, twice the vinegar! What is the deal?!? I could never form a smooth disk even with this amount of liquid; the edges were always cracked.

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Dear Rose,

I was looking through the November issue of the Martha Stewart Living magazine at the store today, and saw a pastry recipe so similar to yours, using vinegar and cream cheese. Even Martha is following your recipes!

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Hi Rose,
I'm just curious, what are your thoughts on pate sablee? I noticed you haven't included it in the PPB...
Please, everyone feel free to comment :)

Thank you!

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I just finished my comparative testing of pie crusts:
http://kitchenmusings.typepad.com/my_weblog/2007/12/the-pie-crust-e.html

Yours is my favorite!

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Love your blogsite! and hope you like Rose's ceramic bakeware.

For Thanksgiving, I could not resist and ordered a beautiful ceramic pie plate from a well known vendor, shaped like a pumpkin. However my pie crust turned out soggy, not flaky. I blame this on the design of the bottom surface of the pie plate, the part touching the hot oven floor (I bake pies directly on the oven floor, as Rose suggests).

The bottom was glazed, and also had some 'leg pegs' resembling a dinner plate. Therefore not touching directly the heat source.

I posted about this one of my Thanksgiving many-many entries.

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That's perfect Hector! And it's on it's way (just ordered it from Amazon).

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http://www.hectorwong.com/roselevy/RoseCremeBrulee.html

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Veron, whenever I want to make the mini version, I use this!

ttp://www.hectorwong.com/roselevy/RoseCremeBrulee.html

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Thanks for the tips and I'm definitely buying that pastry cloth. Oh I wish you had the pie plates in mini too. The hubby wants a third of the sugar in his apple pie while I want the full-sugar version. After using your pie plate , I don't think I will like the mini norpro ones I ordered.

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Thanks for that tip Rose. That is one chore about pie making that I always hate.

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re: using a pastry cloth and the flaky cream cheese crust. The pastry cloth works really well, also together with the sleeve. But, I've been getting lazy lately and worried myself washing the pastry cloth, sleeve, and rolling pin.

What I do now is roll the dough between sheets of plastic wrap, so I practically have to wash nothing. I haven't ruled out all the variables yet, I am testing if the crust looses flakiness with this method.

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Just received your pie plate and used it immediately. luv luv it! I have a question with your flaky cream cheese crust. Can I increase the ingredients proportionally? I'm still not very good rolling things out and I usually lose some of the dough when I divide it that I almost do not have enough for a double pie crust.

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Hello Rose, Have a wonderful vacation in the Tuscany - next time let me know and I join you (if your husband lets you) I had a cracy year with my health, I never had to worry about, but it c ought up with me. I am OK now and look forward to many new experiences in my old age. Love to you and your website!
Albert

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To my dear bloggers from the far East. Do you have a recipe for Moon Cake? I've just a recipe on my local newspaper and it does not look that difficult. What is the pastry most similar to in the PPB?

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I buy pie crust at the store to do my sweet potato pie,but my crust get soft by the end of the day. Can you help me.

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Hello rose, I am delighted with the comments of breadbasketcase (Marie Wolf) on the receipes she baked from your book. I wanted to comment on the story her friend Susan made about Ho Chi Minh.He was a Pastry Chef under August Escoffier at the Ritz in Paris which of course he founded together with his Partner Ceasar Ritz the mountain man from Zermatt-Switzerland.
Ho Chi Minh at that time joined the Communist Party in Paris so he had a chance to oppose the French Policies on the Colony of Vietnam. The rest of course is World History. We Chefs are constantly connected to the History of mankind!!
Keep up the good work Rose, I love to read your newsletter and of course the dialog with readers!! Love you Albert

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Dear Rose, Do you adjust your baking temps for a pie shell, custard pie, a 2-crust fruit pie or a FROZEN 2-crust pie when using an Emile Henry pie plate?

In a Pyrex plate, I bake on the lowest shelf setting of a preheated oven and preheated cookie sheet. I start out at 425 deg. for about 10 minutes or until the crusts looks like it has begun to dry out. Then, I move the pie to the center shelfand reduce the temp to 350 deg. and bake another 20-30 minutes depending on the filling. This usually gives good results. In general, I haven't have much luck with decorative, ceramic pie plates. Even baking close to the floor of the oven, the crusts are almost always doughy. I don't use non-stick finish utensils because I have a bird.

In my new EH pan (I'm so proud of it!), everything seems to take longer. I baked my first cherry pie close to 25 minutes at 425 deg. and almost 45 minutes at 350 deg.(checking it about every 4 minutes)without moving it to the center of the oven. The color of the finished crust is evenly golden, flaky, and beautiful. But, it took FOREVER. I regret that I started my questions too quickly. Pie in an EH dish cools slower, too! I can't yet tell you how the bottom crust turned out.

After the fact, I looked on the EH website and found that they suggest baking a fruit pie at 380 deg for 30 minutes with no varying of temp or oven position mentioned. That doesn't sound right to me.

If the longer baking time is the trade off for the beautiful pie, I guess that's okay. But, from a planning standpoint, I would certainly appreciate some guidelines. It would help cut down the stress of constant checking when I've got other things going at the same time, too.

Also, since this dish takes so much longer, how would I judge timing if I needed to bake a fruit pie in an EH plate that came right out of the freezer? Can you offer some insight?

Many thanks, Marva

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I recently made your cream cheese pie crust and it was terrific! Next time I will try substituting the heavy cream for the ice water like you suggested. Do I substitute Tbl for Tbl?

Also, I made your Apple Crumb Pie with the cream cheese crust. I loved the flavor of it, especially warm, but I did have some liquid pooling at the bottom of the pie. What do I attribute this to? Not reducing the macerating liquid enough? Any hints on how to avoid that the next time? Thank you so much!

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Dear Mrs. Beranbaum,

I must say the Basic White Sandwich and Cracked Wheat Sandwich breads in your Bread Bible have changed my husband's mind about homemade bread. He's a confirmed "WonderBread" eater, and used to turn his nose up at my hard, crusty, and often unappetizing loaves. Even particularly good homemade loaves of mine he was not interested in.

In the last year or so I've been trying to make all the bread that my family eats. Now that I use your recipes my husband loves homemade bread. I really must say that your White Sandwich bread is by far the best white bread that I've ever tasted, homemade or from a bakery.

My husband often likes hotdogs and hamburgers, so I was intrigued by your suggestion that the Basic White Sandwhich dough makes the best hotdog and hamburger rolls.

I did attempt it once, and the shaping went fine (for hotdog rolls) but I baked them too long, and they got hard and crunchy (still good, though!)

Do you have any recommendations on hotdog or hamburger roll shaping? How about baking times and method?

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Thank you very much. I will try your great suggestion.

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Yes, the edge is crisp, the top is soft I guess because of steam from the filling. When I make a crostata with the same crust, the crust is crisp because there is such a large hole in the top for venting. If you ever come up with a way to vent the top of a traditional two crust pie so that the steam from the filling doesn't soften the top crust, PLEASE LET ME KNOW :) Thank you.

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Hi Rose. I am having trouble with your pie crust recipes. I must be doing something wrong. They are tender and flaky (I can see the layers in the finshed, baked product), but the crust is very soft and not crispy. It has been baked enough because it is golden. Please help.

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your pie crust recipe using sour cream is terrific. I take the scraps, stack and chill them, roll it out and get great puff pastry.

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your piecrust recipe made w/ sour cream is my favorite--easy, and flaky. I take the scraps, chill, roll out and get almost puff pastry.

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The cream cheese pie crust in your book is fantastic! The only problem is that I moved from Northern California to Houston and the weather is getting hot. Any suggestions in how to bake in hot weather?

Thank you
Ken

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Yes indeed Cornflakeyummycrustypiecrust..
even it's evil...;-(

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