Pie Crusts: How to Choose

When making a pie or tart, you have to consider what kind of crust will best complement the filling.  Are you making a fruit pie, such as an apple pie or pear pie?  Or are you making a custard-filled pie, such as a banana cream pie or chocolate pudding pie?  Or even something savory such as a chicken pot pie or quiche?

The three most common French pastry crusts are pâte brisée, Pâte Sucrée, and pâte sablée.  The two crusts I normally use are pâte brisée and pâte sucrée.  Pâte brisée, the old French term for broken paste, is a rich, flaky pastry dough.  Pâte brisée is the most versatile of the crusts and can be used in sweet or savory recipes.  I typically use pâte brisée for apple pies, pear pies, and quiches.  Pâte Sucrée, the old French term for sugar paste, is a sweet, vanilla sugar cookie-like crust.  I like to use pâte sucrée when I make tarts and custard filled pies.  Pâte sablée is a sweet almond shortbread crust and complements pear tarts as well as fruit tarts filled with pastry cream. 

Tips for a Successful Cake

By following the basics outlined below, you should have successful results every time.  

• Fresh, All Natural and High Quality Ingredients: If I’m going to spend the time to make a cake, I like to use fresh, all natural and the highest quality ingredients available.  For dry ingredients, I personally prefer to use unbleached flour (such as King Arthur Unbleached All Purpose Flour) and aluminum free baking powder (such as Rumford Baking Powder, which is available at most grocery stores).  I also like to use a high quality vanilla extract, such as Nielsen-Massey Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla Extract, or fresh vanilla beans so that I can split them and use the seeds.  Personally, I think vanilla complements anything, so I add a little in almost all of my cake batters, even chocolate.  When making chocolate cake or chocolate frosting, I like to use good chocolate, such as Valrhona, Callebaut, or E.Guittard.  I do not like to use food coloring, unless it’s absolutely necessary.  If I want my frosting to be a certain color, I will flavor it instead.  For example, if I want a pink frosting, I will make a raspberry or strawberry syrup and mix that into white buttercream frosting. 

• Use Room Temperature Ingredients: Make sure that when you’re getting ready to bake a cake, ALL of the ingredients are at room temperature.  This includes your butter, eggs, and liquids, such as milk or buttermilk.  Butter is much easier to cream when it is already at room temperature, plus it is easier on your mixer.  Eggs are easiest to crack and separate when cold, but whip up best at room temperature.  I personally like to crack my eggs into a bowl and measure out the liquids and leave them on the counter for about half an hour before I actually start mixing things together.  By having all of your ingredients at room temperature, it is much easier to combine them (ex. no chunks of butter in the batter) and you’re left with a much lighter, airier batter. 

• Flour – Less is More: When measuring flour, don’t pack the flour as you scoop it.  I like to use an extra spoon or scoop to lightly sprinkle flour into the measuring cup as I fill it.  Then I use a flat object, such as the back of a butter knife, to level the measuring cup.  When you scoop the flour with a measuring cup, it tends to pack the flour in the cup and you can end up with 25% more flour than if you just use an extra spoon.  If you have too much flour, your cake can end up heavy and dry.  It’s always easier to add more flour as needed than have too much flour in the batter and have to start over. 

• Leaveners: Make sure that you are using fresh leaveners (i.e. baking powder and baking soda) in your batter, so that your cake properly rises when baked.  Baking powder should be replaced every 6-12 months.  However, you can easily test the freshness of these leaveners by using what you already have in your kitchen.    To test your baking powder, add ½ teaspoon of baking powder to ¼ cup hot water and the mixture should bubble immediately when fresh.  To test your baking soda, mix ½ teaspoon baking soda with 2 tablespoons of vinegar and the mixture should bubble immediately when fresh.  Both of these leaveners should be stored in a cool dry place.