A pastry chef told me my pie dough was tough because of too much water

I always added extra to make it easier to roll, but she said that develops gluten and makes it shrink. Dropped the water by 2 tablespoons and kept the dough colder, now my crusts actually stay flaky instead of turning into leather. Any other tweaks that make a big difference?

2 comments

2 Comments

ninah1013d ago

Wait, but isn't the whole point of pie dough that you want some gluten to hold it together, otherwise you get a crumbly mess that falls apart before you even get it in the pan? A super flaky crust sounds great until you try to pick up a slice and it just disintegrates on the plate. Maybe that extra water was actually helping you get a decent structure that holds up to filling and cutting.

emmasmith13d ago

Yeah but a crumbly crust is just bad technique... flaky and sturdy can coexist.