Now that you have successfully made your pastry its time do to something with it! As the name suggests, this pastry is versatile in that it can be shaped and used in different ways. This entry will cover the many ways this pastry can be used. Its a 'work in progress' so to start, lets cover pie pastry making first.
Pie Pastry
Roll out
Divide the pastry into roughly 3 equal balls. If pastry has been placed in the fridge you will notice little white spots throughout. Don't worry about this - its simply the shortening that has cooled down and changed colour a little. Working with one ball at a time, place the ball in the middle of a floured surface and press it down with your hand to form a very thick disc of dough. Continue pressing the disc out with a rolling pin until the disc is roughly half a centimetre thick.
For pies, you will transfer one of these rolled out discs into a pie plate. A trick to avoiding problems while transferring is to wrap the disc around your rolling pin. To do this, place the rolling pin at one edge of the pastry disc, carefully lift that edge up and begin to roll the pastry onto the rolling pin wrapping the dough loosely around itself. Next, position the pin overtop of a greased pie plate so that the free edge of the dough overhangs the plate ever-so-slightly. Unroll your pin allowing the pastry to fall into the plate. Gently press the pastry into the plate so that it takes the plate's form. Using a sharp knife, cut around the edging of the pie plate to remove the messy ill-formed border of the disc.
Rolling out in photos:
One batch shaped into 3 roughly equal balls
The natural white speckling that occurs when the pastry has been placed in the fridge
Dough rapped around a rolling pin
Positioning the rolling pin and dough to roll out into a pie plate
Single-crust pie
You are now well on your way if creating a single-crust pie is your goal. However, you may need to bake the crust separately from the pie filling. This is necessary when your filling requires very little to no baking time itself.
Take the pastry you have just formed to the pie plate and line it with tin foil. Now for the weight - we have to add something on top of the pie to hold it down as it bakes. This prevents the pastry from bubbling up or shrinking in size. Pie weights are apparently easily purchased from any specialty cooking store. I have yet to purchase these special weights so instead I must find an alternative. Typically, dried beans, i.e. are suggested. However, as I was in the middle of this project I realized I didn't even have beans! So I tried dried lentils and it worked! Also keep in mind that if you go the dried bean or lentil approach, these will not be good for cooking and eating later (No, I do not speak from experience. I trust the messenger on that one).
No matter what type of weight you use, basically you want to cover the entire foiled surface pressing the weights into the edges of the plate as well so the the bottom and sides of the crust have something pressing against it.
Bake at 400 degrees F for 15 minutes. Remove from oven and lift away the foil and weights. Prick the half-baked pie crust all over with a fork and return to the oven for approximately 10 more minutes or until the crust is a nice golden colour. Remove from oven and let cool on a cooling rack.
Single-crust pie in photos:
This pastry has been lined with foil and weights have been added. Notice how the foil has been roughly shaped to the pastry and the weights have been evenly distributed.
A note on using lentils: While substituting lentils for beans or pie weights certainly worked, I did find that the pastry bottom did bubble just a little. I get the feeling lentils don't pack as much weight as the other options so I will be searching for pie weights for next time.
A finished pie crust that is just about to be transferred to a cooling rack. Notice the golden colour.
Double-crust pie
A double-crust pie is a pie that has a crusted bottom, like above, but then it also has a crust roof. Typically fruit pies are made this way. Think classic apple pie. Typically these types of pies will bake in the oven, pastry and filling together, for a longer period of time and therefore there is no need to pre-bake the crust as demonstrated above.
Starting with raw pastry lining your greased pie plate, fill the pie with the filling as indicated by the recipe. Once filled its time to add the 'roof' of pastry. To do so simply roll out another ball of pastry and wrap around your rolling pin as described in 'Roll out'. Again, position the pin and dough so that the free edge aligns with the edge of the pastry bottom. Roll the pastry disc out atop the filling. Use a knife to remove the excess boarder of dough from both the top and bottom layers. Gentry seal the two layers of pastry together by pressing around the circumference of the pie plate with your finger.
Bake the pie as directed in your recipe.
Double-crust pie in photos:
To be added when I get around to making another pie!
Canadian Living (2001) suggests uncooked double-crust fruit pies can be frozen up to 4 months. Based on this I thought I would experiment with freezing rolled out pastry for use at a later date.
After rolling out each ball of pastry dough as described in 'Roll Out' wrap up each disc very well with plastic wrap and place in the freezer.
To thaw, place pastry in atop a pie plate and let sit at room temperature until soft - approximately 30 minutes. Once thawed the pastry can be stretched or massaged to fit the pie plate. Do not attempt to stretch the pastry before fully thawed or it will crack.
I suggest the Roasted Red Pepper Quiche as an example of how frozen pastry can be utilized for a quick and delicious weekday dinner.
Freezing Pastry in photos:
3 rolled out balls of uncooked pastry, wrapped in plastic wrap, ready for the freezer.
Tart Pastry
To be added when I get around to making tarts!
Meat Pie Pastry
To be added when I get around to experimenting with meat pies!
