I hope its OK to “chime” in… I had all kinds of problems making pie crusts, then I switched to Butter Flavor Crisco. I also picked up a pastry cutter for cutting the Crisco into the flour, and my problems disappeared. Perfect pie crust every time!!
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Lamingtons from Baking with Dorie. This i
s an Australian treasure but have never had one. The cake base is génoise which is made the day before to stale a bit and then dipped in hot chocolate sauce and rolled in unsweetened coconut. It’s usually baked as a cake and cut up into squares but i decided to try my silicone mold. It worked. I got 12 lamingtons and with leftover batter baked mimi cupcakes which I froze. It is delicious and moist.
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I had good luck with Alexandra’s kitchen pie dough, made wonderful galettes, love her blog.
You know, I did make Jacques Pepin’s plum galette and used his pastry recipe and it was good. I never thought to try it in a pie plate to see if it would hold a fluted edge, have you?
Sure it is, chime away. I use my pastry cutter for biscuits, but lately have been trying different food processor recipes for pie crust and haven’t found one that looks like Munchkin’s. That looked like perfection!
I do swap out 20% of the butter for leaf lard; I think that helps achieve some flakiness.
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Ooh, I’ve never tried leaf lard; where do you find it?
Good question, I’ve never heard of it!
David Lebovitz was just talking about these on his blog, is that the recipe you used?
I like Pam for baking or Baker’s Spray.
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Thanks!
It was on his blog in 2017.
Did he change the recipe at all for latest posting?
How do they taste?
As soon as I saw this Flaky Chocolate Cake posted on Smitten Kitchen, I knew I wanted to make it. She used a 6" cheesecake pan. I have some 6" cake pans but instead of ordering a cheesecake pan, I ordered a Fat Daddio 6" loose bottom (3" sides) for this. I haven’t tasted it yet but it looks like hers in her photo!
Mine took 29 minutes instead of 20-25 (I always use an oven thermometer!). I buttered the pan, lined insert with foil but next time I’ll also butter the bottom under the insert … I had to soak it to clean!
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I use leaf lard from Fatworks. You can get it directly from their website, and also get it on Amazon. If you’re in an urban area, you might try Whole Foods or your local co-op.
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I got this recipe off the side of a different can of vegetable shortening… (but it works great with Butter Flavor Crisco)
(2) cups sifted All Purpose Flour
(1) teaspoon of salt
2/3 to 1 cup of Butter Flavor Crisco (frozen)
5-6 tablespoons of ice water
I measure out about a cup of Butter Flavor Crisco the day before I want to make a pie crust and freeze it in a freezer bag (overnight).
When its time to make the crust I cut the flour (and salt) into the frozen Crisco with a pastry cutter, when it looks like tiny balls, I’ll slowly add tablespoons of ice water and mix by hand until I get a crust like dough, then divide in half, wrap in cling film (plastic wrap) and refrigerate for an hour or so, then roll it out.
I did try to use my food processor, but I think the blade transfers heat to the dough by spinning it too quickly and it made a mess.
For me, being a novice cook, a slower approach with the pastry cutter was the key to success.
As a side note I do dock and blind bake the crust (depending on what I’m making).
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They taste very good! I’m guessing they could be better, and maybe more interesting. Maybe a nut or piece of fruit.
Also, I may need to be more careful about how much batter goes in each “cup” so I can be sure they all bake evenly. I’ll have to look for the recent post.
The recipe says 3 large eggs, separated.
I used room temperature … should I have used cold, especially for beating egg whites?
What is the baking temperature for that recipe?
