Wednesday, November 9, 2011

PIE DOUGH 101: FLAKY ALL-BUTTER PIE CRUST WITH NONFAT GREEK YOGURT

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Pie crust made with nonfat Greek yogurt?  Weird, yes, but amazingly tender and uber-flaky, too.  It’s a cinch to mix – right in your stand mixer!  The crust has a wonderful flavor and texture that belie the simplicity of this recipe.   No doubt about it, this has become my new favorite pie crust, thanks to salad-in-a-jar.com. 


Flaky All-Butter Pie Crust with Nonfat Greek Yogurt
Adapted from salad-in-a-jar.com
Rating:  10 out of 10
Click for PRINTABLE PAGE

INGREDIENTS: 
1-1/4 cups all-purpose unbleached flour
2 tsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt (I used Morton coarse kosher salt)
1/2 cup (4 oz., or 1 stick) cold, unsalted butter
1 egg yolk
1/4 cup unflavored or vanilla nonfat Greek yogurt (thinned with a little milk if too thick)
(You can use regular full-fat, low-fat or nonfat yogurt instead of Greek yogurt, if desired.)   

DIRECTIONS:
Using a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, combine flour, sugar and salt on low speed for about 5 seconds. 

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Cut cold butter into 8 tablespoon-sized pieces and add to flour.
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Mix on low speed for about 45 seconds to partially combine butter with flour mixture.  The mixture will be shaggy with some large pieces of butter.
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Whisk egg yolk and yogurt together in small bowl and add all at once to flour mixture. 
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Mix on low speed for about 12-15 seconds.  All particles should be barely moistened but not yet coming into a ball.  In other words, you’ll have a shaggy mess that will hold together if you squeeze it between your fingers.  It will not look like it’s thoroughly mixed.
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Dump the dough onto a big piece of plastic wrap.  Using the palm of your hand, slide it face down from the middle toward the side of the pile to smoosh the crumbs together and flatten out the big pieces of butter that are still in the dough.
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Work your way around the pile until dough is smashed into one big flat clump.  It's still not smooth.apple frangipane galette (15)
Fold plastic wrap up around dough, pressing gently to form a smooth round  patty approximately an inch thick.  You should still be able to see pieces of butter in the dough. 
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You can roll the dough out and bake it right away, but I like to refrigerate pie dough for a few hours, or overnight, to develop the best flavor and texture.  To roll out chilled dough, let it rest on the counter, still wrapped, for about 1/2 hour.
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Here's the dough, rolled out.  Can you see the pieces of butter?  After your dough is rolled out and fitted into its pie plate, it’s a good idea to chill it again for 1/2 hour.  Dough that’s very cold bakes up flakier.

More tips:  Handle the dough as little as possible and keep it cold.  If it warms too much, put it back in the fridge to get it cold again.  When you fit the dough into a pie plate, don’t stretch it, just lay it in gently.

11 comments:

Sam Hoffer / My Carolina Kitchen said...

Greek yogurt seems to be the miracle ingredient of the food world right now. Looks like a great idea Judy and one that I will try. Do you think the recipe would work as well in the food processor?
Sam

Judy said...

Sam, I haven't tried it in the FP, but here is my method when I do make pie dough that way: Pulse the dry ingredients to mix them. Add butter or shortening and pulse till mixed but you still have some particles the size of large peas. Pour mixture into a bowl and add egg and liquids by hand, mixing lightly. I find the FP overmixes the dough too easily and this method works better for me to keep the pastry light, tender and flaky.

Katherine Roberts Aucoin said...

I've baked with Greek yogurt a few times and it's always come through. I am going to give this pie crust a try, Judy. thank you for sharing!

chow and chatter said...

great for pie season

Coleens Recipes said...

Just in time!! Any special baking temperature?

Judy said...

Coleen, salad in a jar had no info on baking temps. I used my first batch to make a crostada which I baked at the temps required in the recipe. I would just use temps required in whatever recipe you are making. In the case of pre-baked shells, use a temp that you normally use to blind bake pie crusts.

Barbara Bakes said...

I would never have thought to use yogurt in a pie crust. I'll have to give it a try.

Julie said...

Hi! Thanks for stopping by my blog! Your pie looks amazing. How interesting that it uses Greek Yogurt! I am so pie crust challenged, I never bake pies.

Ocean Breezes and Country Sneezes said...

Hi Judy, I love making pie cruse, I'll have to give your's a try! Your photos are beautiful!

Mary

Rita said...

Never would have thoughtl I went to print it out and it is you chicken and pepper recipe.
I will be trying this one too.
Rita

Judy said...

Rita, Thanks for letting me know. I fixed the printable page. This has happened about 10 times over the last few months, and it's always the chicken and peppers recipe that gets in there, but darned if I know why. I guess that's the downside of using free Google programs.