Pastry case–Classic pie crusts without trans fat

For many people, pie conjures images of home and comfort. Pie dough traditionally was made with either lard, all-purpose vegetable shortening or both.

Lard produces a flakier pie crust than all-purpose vegetable shortening because it has water locked inside the fat. This water is released during baking, creating steam that lifts the layers of the dough apart for a flaky crust. Lard also has a very tenderizing effect on gluten in a pie crust. All-purpose shortening, made from partially hydrogenated vegetable oils, produces less flaky, but still tender, crusts.

Butter would seem to be a good option, as it creates the same flaky effect as lard in other products, but its high water content renders it better suited for laminated doughs than pie doughs. Excess water released during baking over-develops gluten in pie dough, which works against flakiness and tenderness.

The best lard was clean rendered, not hydrogenated, and it contained no preservatives. It had great flavor and was easy to work with. Unfortunately, healthful food trends in the 1980s precipitated a skewed consumer view of saturated fats. Today, lard elicits negative perceptions in many consumers.

All-purpose vegetable shortening did not share lard's stigma, making it an obvious replacement. Shortening has no water, is plastic-like and nearly flavorless, but makes a tender, somewhat flaky pie crust. Plus, all-purpose shortenings were inexpensive and had a long shelf life. It became the standard fat for pie crusts—until consumers started to worry about trans fats. Studies in the last five years have shown dietary trans fatty acids to increase LDL (bad) cholesterol and decrease HDL (good) cholesterol. This information blacklisted all-purpose shortening as an ingredient for a small, but growing, segment of the population.

Pie dough formulas using all-purpose vegetable shortening are based on the ratio of 3-2-1. Bakers used 3 lbs. of pastry flour, 2 lbs. of vegetable shortening and 1 lb. of ice water (with 1 oz. of salt dissolved in the ice water). This makes good, classic pie dough, and was the industry standard for years. Today, we are seeing a shift to no-trans alternatives in shortening due to legislation banning trans fats.

Why did bakers use hydrogenated vegetable oils to begin with? Bakers needed less expensive baking fats that performed like butter. Margarine is a good example of a shortening created to mimic butter, managing to create liquid oils in a solid state. Saturating liquid oils with hydrogen creates the solid shortening structure. The melting point of these oils is very high. Fully hydrogenated oils are generally very hard and have melting points of 140°F to 160°F, depending on the source oils. If soybean oil is fully hydrogenated, for example, its melting point is 150°F.

The resulting shortening has no trans fats because all remaining unsaturated or double bonds will have been saturated. But this shortening is so hard at room temperature that it would be next to impossible to make workable, smooth pie dough. To make pie dough workable, shortening manufacturers blended in partially hydrogenated oils to make the shortening less solid at cool temperatures. The result was all-purpose shortening, which is a functional shortening for bakery items, but may contain about 30 percent trans fat.

To comply with trans fat-related legislation, bakers are turning to non-hydrogenation. Shortening manufacturers start with naturally saturated oils before processing. One such oil is palm oil. Palm oil can function as a shortening by itself or it can be blended with domestic oils, such as soy or canola, to make non-hydrogenated shortenings with specific attributes. To make the resulting non-hydrogenated shortening workable, manufacturers blend without having to fully hydrogenate these oils. In the provided trans fat-free pie dough formula, the shortening is a non-genetically modified, soft, palm/soy, expeller pressed blend, which contains less than 0.5 percent trans fats. A traditional pie dough formula using all-purpose shortening is provided for comparison. No non-hydrogenated shortenings may contain more than 0.5 percent trans fat per serving and still claim zero trans fat. Palm/soy blends are the most popular non-hydrogenated blends in U.S. bakeries. (Crust and filling formulas on following page)

Trans Fat-Free Pie Crust
INGREDIENTS	LBS.	OZS.	METRIC	BAKER'S %
Pastry flour	1	8	680.4 g	100
NTF shortening		13	368.5 g	54.2
Water, cold*		7.2	204.1 g	30
Salt		0.5	13.6 g	2
Total appr. wt.	2	12.7	1.26 kg	186.2

Yield: Five 9-in. pie crusts

Method: Add flour then shortening to mixing bowl. Cover shortening with flour. Using the paddle attachment, mix on first speed to break apart the shortening to the size of peas. Dissolve the salt in the ice water, and add to the flour/shortening mixture. Mix on first speed for about 10 to 15 seconds, until the dough comes together. Scale 8.5-oz. to 9-oz. pieces of dough for a 9-in. pie tin. Lightly press together in a ball, and refrigerate for 30 to 60 minutes. Flatten the dough pieces into round shapes. Use a hard winter wheat flour, unbleached and unbromated, when rolling out the dough. Finished dough should extend no more than 1 in. on either side of the pie pan in order to attain the correct dough thickness. Fold the dough in half and place in the middle of the pie pan. Unfold the dough and center. Press the dough into the pan, and trim the excess dough using a dough knife with an outward slant. This will provide a full edge after baking to account for shrinkage. You can add about 25 to 50 percent scrap dough to unrolled pie dough for excellent results and no waste.

Traditional Pie Crust
INGREDIENTS	LBS.	OZS.	METRIC	BAKER'S %
Pastry flour	3		1.36 kg	100
Shortening, all-purpose	2		907.2 g	66.67
Water, cold*	1		453.6 g	33.34
Salt		0.96	27.2 g	2
Total appr. wt.	6	0.96	2.75 kg	202

Yield: 11 9-in. pie crusts

* Water is adjustable in small amounts only

Method: Add flour then shortening to mixing bowl. Cover shortening with flour. Using the paddle attachment, mix on first speed to break apart the shortening to the size of peas. Dissolve the salt in the ice water, and add to the flour/shortening mixture. Mix on first speed for about 10 to 15 seconds, until the dough comes together. Scale 8.5-oz. to 9-oz. pieces of dough for a 9-in. pie tin. Lightly press together in a ball, and refrigerate for 30 to 60 minutes. Flatten the dough pieces into round shapes. Use a hard winter wheat flour, unbleached and unbromated, when rolling out the dough. Finished dough should extend no more than 1 in. on either side of the pie pan in order to attain the correct dough thickness. Fold the dough in half and place in the middle of the pie pan. Unfold the dough and center. Press the dough into the pan, and trim the excess dough using a dough knife with an outward slant. This will provide a full edge after baking to account for shrinkage. You can add about 25 to 50 percent scrap dough to unrolled pie dough for excellent results and no waste.

Pumpkin Pie Filling
INGREDIENTS	LBS.	OZS.	METRIC
Brown sugar, medium	2	8	1.134 kg
Eggs, large 14 whole, 2 yolks	1	9	680.4 g
Pumpkin puree Solid pack, #10 can	6	10	3 kg
Evaporated milk*	5	4	2.381 kg
Cinnamon		1.67	47.3 g
Salt		0.6	16.4 g
Ginger		0.6	16.4 g
Clove or nutmeg		0.3	8.5 g
Total appr. wt.	16	2.13	7.284 kg

* Coconut milk or a 50/50 mixture of milk and cream can be substituted for evaporated milk, 1-1.

Method: Blend together spices and sugar. Blend the eggs with the sugar/spice mixture. Add the pumpkin puree and blend. Add the milk and mix until incorporated. Pour into prepared pie pans. Bake in a deck oven at 400°F for 20 to 25 minutes to set the bottom crust. Reduce to 375°F, and bake for another 20 to 25 minutes until pumpkin filling is set in the middle.

Yield: filling for 10 to 12 pie

Kim Montello is a certified master baker and an associate instructor of Baking at Johnson and Wales University, North Miami, Fla., specializing in artisan bread baking. For more information about Johnson & Wales University, visit www.jwu.edu.