Frenchpiepastry Recipes

FRENCH PASTRY PIE CRUST

Steps:

• Sift the flour, salt, and sugar together into a large bowl and stir together.
• Cut the shortening into the flour until the mixture looks like fine breadcrumbs.
• Whisk the egg, vinegar, and 4 tablespoons of the water together in a separate bowl.
• Gradually add the egg mixture to the flour, stirring them together with a fork. Continue to combine until the dough forms a ball (you can add an additional tablespoon of water if necessary).
• Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and leave to chill in the refrigerator for at least 10 minutes before rolling out.
• Once chilled, use the dough as required for your recipe (White Potato Pie).

FRENCH PASTRY PIE CRUST

Steps:

• In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, salt, and sugar. Mix well, then cut in shortening until mixture resembles coarse meal.
• In a small bowl, combine egg, vinegar, and 4 tablespoons of water. Whisk together, then add gradually to flour mixture, stirring with a fork. Mix until dough forms a ball. Add one more tablespoon of water if necessary.
• Allow dough to rest in refrigerator 10 minutes before rolling out.

FRENCH PIE PASTRY

Steps:

• Place flour and salt in food processor and pulse a couple times.
• Add butter and process until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
• Add water 1 T at a time through top feeder and pulse briefly until dough begins to form a ball.
• Remove from processor and place on floured surface.
• Form into a ball.
• Allow dough to rest at room temperature for 30 minutes before rolling out.
• On lightly floured surface, roll out dough to fit pie pan.
• Place in pan, flute edges and prick bottom of dough several times with a fork.
• Place in freezer for 15 to 20 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
• Bake pie shell for 15 to 20 minutes or til light brown.

PâTE SUCRéE - FRENCH SWEET TART CRUST (PASTRY DOUGH)

Steps:

• Mix Dy Ingredients: Whisk together flour, icing sugar, salt and almond meal in a bowl.
• Add butter: Use your fingertips to rub the butter into the dry ingredients until it resembles breadcrumbs. (Note 4).
• Add egg: Mix with a rubber spatula until it becomes too hard to stir anymore, then use your hands to bring it together into a dough.
• Bring dough together: Turn dough out onto a work surface, then knead to bring together into a smooth ball. Flatten into a 2cm / 0.8" thick disc. Wrap with cling wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
• Unwrap chilled dough. Place on a lightly floured work surface.
• Roll out into a 32cm / 13" round (3mm / 1/8" thick).
• Line tart tin: Roll pastry lightly on to a rolling pin (ie. so it wraps around itself). Then unroll it gently over the tart tin.
• Fit pastry: Adjust the pastry to fit into the tart tin, fitting into the corner, taking care not to stretch it (causes shrinkage during bake).
• Trim excess dough: Roll the rolling pin over tart tin to trim excess dough. Pictured tart tin is 24 x 3 cm / 9.5 x 1.2" - you can use any up to this size.
• Prick the base of the pastry 30 times with a fork. Not all the way through - just make a light prick on the surface.
• Chill pastry in tart tin for 30 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 200°C / 390°F (180°C fan).
• Baking beads: Cover pastry with 2 sheets of baking paper (parchment paper), in a "X" arrangement. Fill with baking beads (or 2 cups dry raw rice or beans).
• Baking times for a Par Baked Tart to be used for tarts that are baked for > 30 minutes once the filling is added into the cooked tart shell.
• Bake 15 minutes the remove from oven. Use excess paper to remove baking beads.
• Bake uncovered 5 minutes: Return tart crust to oven for 5 minutes. Pastry should be light golden, crispy on surface, but slighty undercooked inside (will finish cooking once filled and baked again).
• Use these baking times if the tart shell is to be used for raw fillings (ie tart not baked once crust is filled) OR fillings that are baked for < 25 minutes.
• Bake 15 minutes the remove from oven. Use excess paper to remove baking beads.
• Bake uncovered 10 minutes: This will fully cook the pastry through and give it nice colour which we need as the pastry won't cook through in less than 25 minutes once filled.
• Cool: Remove then cool in tart tin before filling (this ensures crust stays crispy once filled), then baking again if filling needs to be cooked (like this Pistachio Frangipane Pear Tart).
• Make ahead up to 3 days, suitable for baking once filled.

FRENCH PASTRY CAKE

Steps:

• dissolve cocoa into hot water; let cool while you prepare other ingredients.
• cream butter and sugar well.
• add flour, sour cream, baking soda, salt and vanilla.
• add cocoa mixture.
• fold in egg whites.
• pour into greased 9x13 pan.
• bake at 350° dor 15 minutes.
• lower oven to 325° nd bake for an additional 20 minutes or until tests clean.
• when cool, sprinkle generously with powdered sugar.

PIE PASTRY

Steps:

• Rub the lard and butter into the flour with a generous pinch of sea salt until completely combined. Add the beaten egg and 100ml ice-cold water and mix until you have a soft dough. Transfer to the fridge and chill for at least 1 hr, or until needed.
• Divide the pastry into 12 equal pieces and roll out into rounds on a lightly floured surface. Use six of the rounds to line the bottoms of six individual pie dishes, leaving an overhang. Fill the pies with the mixture of your choice, brush the rims with some of the egg yolk, top with the remaining pastry rounds, then trim and crimp the edges. Decorate with the trimmings, if you like. Glaze with more egg yolk, or as indicated in the filling recipe, and chill until you're ready to cook.
• Heat the oven to 220C/200C fan/gas 6 with a baking tray inside. Put the pies on the hot tray and bake for 30-35 mins until golden. Leave to rest as directed, then serve in the dishes or turn out onto plates.

PâTE BRISéE (SHORTCRUST PASTRY)

Steps:

• Add the flour to a large bowl.
• Toss in the cold butter pieces and coat with flour. Using your fingertips, start working the butter into the flour. Continue until the butter is broken down into small pieces, no bigger than the size of a pea.
• Drip the ice water around the edge of the bowl, and use a rubber spatula to evenly distribute the water into the flour. If there is enough water the dough should easily squeeze together with your hands. If needed, you can drip in more water into any dry spots (especially check the bottom of the pile), just enough to bring the dough together.
• Empty the dough mixture onto a large work surface to prepare to fraisage the dough for the final blend of butter and flour. Spread the mixture out roughly into a horizontal line in front of you. Taking the heel of your hand, rapidly press the dough onto the board and streak it forward about 3-5 inches into a thin line. Repeat this process until most of your dough has been worked.Using a bench scraper, scrape up the dough in chunks and stack it into two piles.
• Form each dough pile together.
• Place each in a piece of plastic wrap and wrap tightly. Using a rolling pin, roll the wrapped dough out until it stretches to the corner of the plastic wrap.
• Refrigerate for at least 2 hours, or up to two days.

FRENCH DIP

Steps:

• For the prime rib: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
• Place rib eye fat-side down in a roasting pan. Pour half of Worcestershire over the top, then sprinkle on half of the steak seasoning. Flip and cover with remaining Worcestershire and seasoning.
• Roast for 2 hours. Let cool completely, then slice thinly on a meat slicer.
• For the au jus: Place red wine in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Reduce by half. Add beef base and dissolve thoroughly. Add onion, garlic, thyme and 6 cups water and simmer until vegetables are soft. Strain.
• For the French dip: Split and toast hoagie rolls. Heat au jus until hot, then add prime rib to heat thoroughly.
• Whisk together horseradish and sour cream in a bowl. Spread on hoagie rolls. Layer Swiss cheese in hoagies, then add caramelized onions and top with hot prime rib.
• Plate sandwiches with fries and cups of warm au jus for dipping.

FRENCH PIE PASTRY

Steps:

• To prepare the dough, combine the flour and salt in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade. Add the butter. Process until the mixture resembles coarse meal, 8 to 10 seconds. Add the egg yolks and pulse to combine.
• With the processor on pulse, add the ice water a tablespoon at a time. Pulse until the mixture holds together as a soft, but not crumbly or sticky, dough. Shape the dough into a disk, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate until firm and evenly moist, about 30 minutes.
• To prepare the dough, lightly flour a clean work surface and rolling pin. Place the dough disk in the center of the floured surface. Roll out the dough, starting in the center and rolling up to, but not over, the top edge of the dough. Return to the center, and roll down to, but not over, the bottom edge. Give the dough a quarter turn, and continue rolling, repeating the quarter turns until you have a disk about 1/8 inch thick.
• Drape the dough over the rolling pin and transfer to a 10-inch tart pan with a removable bottom, unrolling over the tin. With one hand lift the pastry and with the other gently tuck it into the pan, being careful not to stretch or pull the dough. Let the pastry settle into the bottom of the pan. Take a small piece of dough and shape it into a ball. Press the ball of dough around the bottom edges of the tart pan, snugly shaping the pastry to the pan without tearing it. Remove any excess pastry by rolling the pin across the top of the pan.
• Prick the bottom of the pastry all over with the tines of a fork to help prevent shrinkage during baking. Chill until firm, about 30 minutes.
• To blind bake, preheat the oven to 425°F. Crumple a piece of parchment paper, then lay it out flat over the bottom of the pastry. Weight the paper with pie weights, dried beans, or uncooked rice. This will keep the unfilled pie crust from puffing up in the oven.
• For a partially baked shell that will be filled and baked further, bake for 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and remove the paper and weights. (You can reuse the rice or beans for blind-baking a number of times.) The shell can now be filled and baked further, according to the recipe directions. For a fully baked shell that will hold an uncooked filling, bake the empty shell until a deep golden brown, about 30 minutes total.