 Phyllo purses: stuffed phyllo dough wrapped in knots. Photo courtesy of MushroomInfo.com.
June 2009 |
|
Product Reviews / Main Nibbles / Cookies, Cake & PastryPastry GlossaryPhyllo Dough & Other Types Of Pastry & PiesPage 8: Definitions With Pe To Pu
|
PEANUT BUTTER PIE
There are many variations on the theme of a peanut butter pie. Some are so dense and sweet that they are Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup ported into a pie crust, mixing cream cheese with peanut butter to create a cheesecake-like density. Others whip the PB into a mousse-like filling. Some use smooth PB, some use crunchy, some make their own. Purists maintain that a peanut butter pie should be strongly flavored of peanut butter and nothing else, with a light consistency (think peanut butter pastry cream). Most everyone will agree that the crust should be chocolate! Some use cookie crumbs, some make a chocolate tart dough. Variations include lining the base with ganache and toasted peanuts.
PECAN PIE A very rich pie made with a plain pastry and pecans bound in a rich filling of eggs, brown or white sugar, corn syrup and vanilla. Sometimes Bourbon is added. It is traditionally garnished with whipped cream. Chocolate pecan pie uses chocolate wafer crumbs for the crust, and optional chocolate morsels in the filling. Pecan pie is a 20th century invention; no recipes have been found dated earlier than 1925; earlier references to pecan pie, dating back to the 1800s, used a milk-based custard. According to FoodTimeline.com, The Fannie Farmer Cookbook and The Joy of Cooking did not include recipes before 1940. The Karo Syrup website claims that the pie was invented by the wife of a Karo corporate sales executive in the 1930s. Try these recipes for sweet potato pecan pie with Jack Daniel’s (instead of Bourbon) and Bourbon pecan pumpkin pie. |
 One of America’s favorite desserts, pecan pie. Photo courtesy of Joe’s Seafood, Prime Steak and Stone Crab in Chicago. |
PHYLLO or FILO DOUGH or PHYLLO PASTRY
Phyllo (FEE-low) is the traditional dough of the Greek and Middle Eastern cuisines, for sweet and savory pastries including the famous baklava (with honey and nuts) and spanakopita (spinach and feta). Phyllo means “leaf” in Greek, and refers to the many tissue-thin leaves (so thin you can read through them), or sheets, of pastry dough that comprise the dough. Traditionally, the dough was made by hand by gently rolling, stretching or pressing it into the ultra-thin sheets. Now it is made by machine and available ready made. In preparation for baking, the dough is brushed with butter or oil; it must be worked with quickly as it dries with exposure to air. It can be cut into sheets and layered in a tin, cut into individual rolls or rolled up as one large roll. See also puff pastry and strudel. |
 Michael Recchiuti’s baklava. See the recipe. |
PIE
A pie is a pastry with a sweet or savory filling (cream, custard, fruit, meat, pudding, meat, vegetable). Sweet pies are generally served as dessert and savory pies as the main course or appetizer. Pies can have bottom crusts only, top and bottom crusts or, as with deep dish pies, only a top crust. Crusts are made from a variety of recipes, depending on the desired effect. See pastry.
PIE CRUST
The most basic pie crust is made with flour and water; fat can be added to make a finer pastry crust. Medieval cooking texts refer to the crust as the “coffin”; a pie crust with very thick walls was often used as the cooking receptacle—no pie plate needed. These tall, straight-sided pies appear in Dutch and French paintings; meats, fruits and sauces were layered inside. Later, tin pie plates appear, although poor housewives made do with soup bowls, dinner plates and pots—the origin of the “pot pie”; the pot later gave way to deep-dish pie plates.
PIE GATE PIE PASTRY |
 Pie gate available from Chefs. |
PIE WEIGHTS |
 Pie weights available from Chefs. |
PLAIN PASTRY
Plain pastry is made from pastry flour or all-purpose flour, salt, and a fat, which can be butter, lard or vegetable shortening. The ingredients are cut with a pastry blender or two knives (or even with fingers) until it is in bits the size of peas; then the bits are sprinkled with ice water and lightly patted—never kneaded, which makes a dough too tough for tender pastry—into a ball. The ball is chilled and rolled out. Leftover scraps of dough can be used to make cheese straws.
POT PIE or POTPIE POWDERED SUGAR |
 Photo courtesy of McCormick. This and other recipes are available at McCormick.com. |
PUFF PASTRY or CHOUX PASTRY or PÂTE À CHOUX or
LAMINATED PASTRY
Puff pastry is a light, flaky and tender pastry made by mixing flour, salt, chilled butter (or other fat) and water to form a dough. This is the process to make short pastry as well, however with puff pastry, the dough is then layered with butter, then rolled it out, folded into thirds and letting it rest.
This process, which is repeated 6 to 8 times, produces a pastry comprising hundreds of layers of dough and butter. When baked, the moisture in the butter creates steam, causing the dough to puff and separate into hundreds of extremely thin and delicate, flaky layers. Puff pastry is used for delicate pastry like cream puffs, éclairs, napoleons and some danish pastries; for sweet and savory pies and vol-au-vents; for cookies such as palmiers; and for breakfast breads such as croissants and pain au chocolat. It is also used as a wrapping pastry for dishes en croûte. |
 Cream puffs. Photo courtesy of American Egg Board. |
Continue To Page 9: Terms With Q To S
© Copyright 2005- 2012 Lifestyle Direct, Inc. All rights reserved. Images are the copyright of their respective owners.
 |
|
About Us Contact Us Legal Privacy Policy |
Advertise Media Center Manufacturers & Retailers |
Subscribe |
Interact |
