My pastry dough completely sucks.

It is usually just tough, but this week I tried twice to make pastry dough, had one tragedy and one same-old, same-old experience. The tragedy, I was trying to do a corn meal variation on rich pastry dough and made a mistake with my conversions. Way too much butter, not enough flour, what a mess. Of course I had guests coming.

Then today, I am making a similar recipe for a potluck (I believe in getting right back on that horse after you fall off) and the dough was way too dry. So I flipped it back into the food processor and added more water. The end result of that will be tough pastry dough, I'm sure. As usual.

I can't help but to be a little bitter. Wasn't my mother supposed to teach me how to do this? Argh!

So do you have a cooking thing that you just can't get right, no matter how hard you try?

no matter what i fry them in or what oil i use or what temp they are always mushy

and if they do brown up, the browned bits stick to the pan and the rest is just mushy greasy taters

:banghead:

I can't get the sliced variety down - I invariably burn one side and have half-raw in the middle. Ick.

But I can do diced. Bacon grease is my secret and a pan with a lid. I let the grease heat up ( a teaspoon per half-pound of potatoes if I'm using something non-stick; 2 if I'm using stainless steel or cast iron) before I put the potatoes in. I also rinse them off after cutting them to get the surface starch off. I let them cook on one side for 7-10 minutes, then shake and let brown again, then cover and let them finish cooking for 5-7 minutes then take off the lid and let them lose the excess water.

Waxy potatoes work better in my experience (whites, reds, purples and Yukon golds); russets are better for baking and mashing.

Dry them well before slicing put them into a preheated cast iron skillet that has about 1/4" of hot oil in it and spread them out into a single layer.
This is easiest to achieve with grated potatoes, but the more contact with the bottom of the pan, the more 'crustiness' you will get. Turn down the heat slightly and don't mess with them until they are crispy brown on the underside--you must believe this can happen--at this point I usually cut up a piece of onion and a serrano pepper and strew over the top side before I turn them over. Great way to wake up breakfast!

i just bought a 5lb bag of Idahos, I'll try it again this week I guess

While I love the taste of russets, they always get gummy and gray when I fry them.

...where the extra starchiness helps them cake together a bit and form a "flipable" crusty patty.

I think (though the real cooks here can probably correct me if I'm wrong,) that what makes fried potatoes mushy is too much water, not enough heat. The moisture has to evaporate in order to make the surface crispy. Russets are lower-moisture, higher-starch, but they tend to crumble and or mush, because they don't have the water bound in each cell to maintain structure. So for frying applications that rely on structure (slices and dices, for instance,) the waxier reds are better. For fried mashed-potato cakes or hash brown, OTOH, I'll pick russets every time.

And I have noticed that I have the best results if I pick a high smoke-point oil like peanut, and let it get REALLY hot BEFORE putting the prepped and DRIED (with a paper towel) potatoes in, then turn it down to medium or even medium-low. They will absorb less oil that way, too, and not be as greasy.

And, like someone else said, have faith! Don't start turning, stirring, or otherwise messing with them until they've had time to get that crusty coating going.

I have also heard, though I have not tried it because it's just too much putzing, that with the reds you can draw out some of the moisture by letting them sit in salted water for a few minutes, then rinsing, draining, and drying them before frying.

Here's a thing I do when I'm too tired and/or rushed to make fried potatoes. It works best on the grill, but we haven't had a grill for years, so I make the broiler do:

Take a nice big russet baker, wash it but don't peel, and slice it *lengthwise* in slices about a centimeter thick. Brush both surfaces with a mix of 1/3 melted butter and 2/3 peanut or corn oil. Sprinkle on a little Lawry's seasoned salt or other seasoned salt mix, and put the slices on the grill or under the broiler for 4-5 minutes. Turn them with a tongs, and let it grill or broil for another 3-5 minutes. Time depends on how thick the slices are and how hot the grill, etc. They should be starting to brown a bit, or have grill marks on them, and be cooked through. Serve just as is, hot off the grill or out of the broiler, with hangerbers or weenies or grilled chicken or whatever.

This is a nice substitute for fried taties and comparatively low in fat.

suggestively,
Bright

i'll try that

and the grill idea sounds like nummy

another good way is with ranch dressing powder instead of season salt

if I need a crust I buy one. Please don't hurt me!
But---the aunties have always been extrememely proud of their award winning pies and they use a recipe like this http://www.agriculture.state.pa.us/farmshow/cwp/view.asp?q=138323.

And for goodness sake, don't let Aunt Bernie catch you using a food processor!

and I have yet to make the meatloaf that I want. I should try more often.

I add some sugar to sweeten it (or honey would work too) but it's easy and tasty

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=236&topic_id=14168#14212

I LOATHED the cold water method..and all the "cutting in"..:evilgrin:

I just can't do it. Although I just ate some of the tart from the second batch of pastry I made and it was not as bad as usual, despite the challenges.

Maybe I will give the other method a go next time. Sounds very simple. Can you sub butter for some of the shortening?

and I have always used crisco.. Butter may work.. try it & see.. Try it with a half recipe & some apples :) If it's a flop, just crumble it all together and mix into some softtened vanilla ice cream and serve with some whipped cream on top and a sprig of mint :)

Vanilla ice cream and a fancy dessert cup hides a multitude of flops:)

recipe for pie crust!
I just now served my very FIRST successful apple pie to my family in 24 years......I can't believe that my crust was tasty and of great consistency.

I made it with butter, not shortening, and added just a little sugar to it, filled it with Granny Smith apples and a few blueberries, sugar and a little flour, and it turned out heavenly.

:bounce: :bounce: :bounce:

My grandmother used to make excellent pies (crusts), and my good girlfriend Jessie is a whiz at it too, but I was always disappointed in mine and nobody ever wanted seconds :-).....but tonight History has turned a page....

:D

Funny how making a good pie after all these years can be such a thrill.

another :bounce:

:loveya: gals!

DemEx

and I was so thrilled too to finally have a pie crust even I could do :rofl:


Congratulations!!

1. Less handliing..better dough
2. LIGHTLY floured bread board..

If you use too much flour when you handle it, itwill get tough.. Chill it immediately in some plastic wrap or foil before you cut or roll it out.. It's easier to handle and will "stick" to the pin or the board less if it's slightly chilled..

The more you manipulate it, the tougher it gets

Allow it to rise, unmolested:)

I preheat my oven, crack the door slightly and let dough rise on top of the oven, covered with a wet tee-towel (the bowl is covered) I always use a heavy stainless bowl..

make SURE your baking powder & yeast are FRESH.. If they are duds, your pasrty will suck :)

to allow any pastry dough to rest for at least half an hour if you've had to add water or flour or otherwise overwork the dough. In any case, it's better to leave it a little dry than to overwork it.

You get to be bitter, though. It's never fun to work on something and have it come out wrong.

You get very high marks for not buying that premade glop in the supermarket.

Mine always come out tough and shaped like Australia. I've given up and just buy the packaged ones in the supermarket.

My MIL makes fabulous flour tortillas, but she's been doing it for 70+ years. At that point I guess you've either got it down, or it ain't gonna happen. She's showed me, but I think it's a question of individual "touch" that you just have to learn - and I haven't.

I think I've mastered frijoles, though. (Reminds me, murphydad wants a pot of beans - I better put some on to soak for tomorrow.)

Then bake them yourself. I gave up making them when I realized that all of my tortillas were triangular.

Thanks for the tip, we have a Costco, but I've never seen them. We are just starting to get more resources here for Mexican products - this is The Land of White People. There's a little tortilleria I found in Springfield for corn tortillas, but I don't know if they make flour ones.

Just saw them this morning. Not all Costcos carry the same things, though.

I'll keep an eye out for them.

They're from a company called Tortilla Land.

Ain't no such place as the Land of the White People anymore, (to my happiness - this white chick grew up on the Arizona-Mexico border.) Northern migration has done wonders for the culinary culture of the land of Tater Tot hotdish.

I did that once and my tortillas came out perfect! We had just moved and I had to improvise because I couldn't find my rolling pin.

pie crust recipe usually--the one with 2 c. flour, 1 tsp. salt, 2/3 c. fat--(sometimes I use 1/3 c. butter and 1/3 c. shortening--other times I use all shortening), and icy cold5 1/3 Tbs. H2o.

The old saws are true--handle the dough as little as possible. Let it rest. Use as little moisture as you can get by with--but I do increase the water to 6 Tbs. And let it rest in the reefer for a while.

I find that rolling it between two sheets of lightly floured wax paper is helpful.

from Joy. I guess ti is just a matter of developing "the touch". Problem is, it is hard to learn form a book. I guess it is mostly trial and error for here on out.

and it's true, you don't know how the dough is supposed to look or feel when you learn that way.

Just remember it's going to be crumbly until you roll it out and that the edges aren't going to be nice and even like the store bought stuff. They're going to be raggedy and crumbly and look like hell and that's what crimping is for.

Also remember to let it rest after you mix it if you're mixing it in the food processor. That machine always starts to develop the gluten once water hits the flour, no matter how little time you give it.

Half an hour wrapped in plastic in the fridge will make all the difference in the world. Also, add the water BEFPORE you get to the cracker meal texture. The machine will continue to cut the butter even after you add water.

The tip about the floured waxed paper was good, too. The best thing to use is an old rolling canvas that's had flour building up in it for ten years, but waxed paper will certainly work.

On edit: I started with Fannie Farmer, graduated to "The Vegetarian Epicure" and liked the latter's Pate Brisee recipe better than Fannie's pie crust even though they were essentially the same.

making Fried Rice? Sheesh. Mine comes out pretty inedible.

Oh yeah. Pastry crust. I should ship some over to the soldiers. They could probably use them as protective plates in their vests.

left over, dried out, room temp rice works best..

I often throw together fried rice when
i have left over rice..


i use whatever I find in the crisper drawer for veggies, and sometimes use bacon if there's no left over ham or whatever..

Day old rice is a must. Also, if you're adding scrambled egg, the egg has to be scrambled separately. If you dump it in with the rice, it makes a pancake.

Don't use fresh. It needs to have the time for the starch on the grains to solidify so that it will stand up to the stirfrying. It's a leftovers dish. Once the rice is day old, the grains will not stick together and turn into lumpy mush. (I figured that one out by accident after a Chinese takeout gave us a gawdawful excess of rice and I was rushed for dinner.) And yes, fried rice with scraps of deli chicken and diced tofu and frozen mixed vegetables was surprisingly good. We used sesame oil for the oil and tamari for the soy and a smidge if both jarred ginger and jarred mashed garlic.

Use good soy sauce. (Duh). Diced onion never made a dish suck Same with celery. Light, tossing stirfrying is better than cement mixer stirring.

It never bloody sets for me. Ever. Ever. I cannot get a gelatin product to set up no matter what I do. Quick set, standard set, it does not bloody matter.

I just perfected rice... after 15 years of trying. Rinsing and letting stand is the key.

It's called a rice steamer. Can't live without it.

Do you suppose you are emitting anti-jell rays from your body or something? That is too weird.

My sis got married the first time kind of young. For the first Thanksgiving with the in-laws, she was instructed to bring the jello salad. Hard to mess that up, right? To impress the new MIL, my sis decided to use fresh pineapple instead of canned. Of course it never did set up, lol. Oh well, the marriage didn't ever really set up, either.

I wasn't happy with it even with the rice cooker -- the jasmine turned out too sticky and the sushi turned out too dry. But the rinsing thing cured both conditions, and my plants have been happy to have the starchy water from the rinse, so we all make out.

Jello's own website-- "You will get different results from variation in preparation. For best results - Water must be boiling. Water must be measured accurately. Gelatin and hot water must be stirred continuously for 2 minutes to dissolve all gelatin crystals completely."

TygerBright also wondered if the fact you are at high altitude (with the attendant lower boiling temp) may have something to do with it??

But DH makes fine jello even up here. Heck if I know what the problem is. Maybe it's body chemistry or I breathe wrong. (I'm reminded of that old superstition that women would make milk curdle, iron rust and birds drop down dead out of the sky... I haven't had those problems....)

Pity I suck at Jello, though... it would have been nice in Phoenix summers, and far better for me than the gelato and ices I made as a substitute.

Water has to be BOILING and carefully measured, not a tablespoon more or less, and it has to be stirred constantly until all the crystals are gone. Use a whisk, it cuts a little off the time.

It's one of those foods I miss. Agar based gelatins just aren't the same as the artificially colored, sickly sweet stuff of my youth.

Spring and fall pastry are frozen in shape during the winter, and summers are Marie Callender's frozen.

Measure the flour, sugar (if used) and salt and powder/soda and stir in the mixing bowl. Let the butter and lard get to soft, on the counter for a half hour while you go outside in thin gloves or none and do something like tree trimming. Chill a large marble cutting board in the freezer while you're outside. Lay out a sheet of plastic wrap. Rub the butter and lard into the flour mixture with your cold hands until you have grains of flour and butter. This is faster than cutting in and produces more consistent results. Pick up a pinch of butter and some flour and rub between your fingers until you have little butter-flour crumbs. Add water by spoonfuls until it comes together as a ball. Transfer the ball to the plastic and wrap tightly. Let rest in the fridge for half an hour. For a two crust pie, either repeat these steps or double the recipe and divide into two balls. (This method works with any pastry, but be aware that a lot of pastry recipes are for a single crust pie.)

Bring out the board and dust with either flour or confectioner's sugar (if you're using a sweet pastry).Lay the ball down and flatten with your palm, turning it over every few strokes. When it's about the size of a dinner plate, start rolling, turning the board 90 degrees every 4-5 strokes. Use a french pin or a dowel pin rather than a standard rolling pin - better control. (Dowel pins are CHEAP - buy a closet rod of hardwood for $5 at the hardware store and have it cut down to about 18 inches, Sand it well and rinse, the treat with lemon block oil.) Turn it again and again until it is thin enough, then roll up and lay over the plate. Pat in and pierce, then roll the pin across the rim to cut the excess. Blind bake, freeze or fill, and if you're using a top crust, chill the board again and pull out the second ball. Repeat the rolling and flattening process, but this time, lay a plate that has a larger diameter than the pie plate over the rolled out crust. (My dinner plates are about an inch larger in diameter than the diameter of my pie plates.) Remove the discarded scraps and roll the round of pastry over the rolling pin. Drape over the filled shell and flute or crimp the edges. Pierce the top and you can use the scraps and small cookie cutters to make decorations for the top. I do holly branches and berries at Christmas (painting the leaves and berries with food coloring and egg wash. Spring pies often have a couple of rose buds of dough and a snake of a stem and a couple of leaves, also tinted and washed.)

Then you bake and watch it carefully.

It's a picky method, but it's the one I learned, and I'm a decent pastry maker; it's the method my great-aunt learned as a Home Economist for the State of Indiana back in the 20s, and my family has used it with consistent results ever since. (They used to use glazed tiles rather than marble, but that's the only real difference.)

From The Simple Art of Perfect Baking. I've never had a problem since I read that.

I wouldn't use a food processor. One of the problems with pie crust is overworking it. The other is heat. The shortening and water should both be cold.

Cut in about half the shortening first until it's fairly well blended. Cut in the rest of the shortening leaving bigger pieces of fat. Toss in ice water by the tablespoonful and toss with a fork. Keep doing that until it all hangs together. If there are flakes in the bottom, the dough won't hold together.

Shape very briefly into two flat rounds. Refrigerate for at least an hour.

I always used too little water, and I never got dough I could roll out.

I mix the ice water in by hand in a bowl.

I also let it rest a bit in the fridge before I roll it out.

I like my wheat germ pie crust better than anything I've ever found in a supermarket or bakery.

and is more tender than you would expect for a recipe that calls for so much handling. I get raves on it and people eat every bite of crust, too. 2C Flour, 1/2 tsp. salt, and 3 Tbsp. sugar all stirred together. Make small cubes of 1 stick of butter and rub it through the flour mixture with your fingertips. Make a well in the center, dump 1 egg yolk, 1 tsp. vanilla, and scant 3-4 Tbs. ice water to blend. Shape into a disk and chill for at least 30 minutes. Press into pie or tart pan with your fingers, building up a fancy fluted edge if you like then chill or freeze another 30 min. You can roll this out if you want, but I find it the most versatile recipe because I can talk on the phone or watch tv while working on the pie. Also, very little clean up. Good luck!:hi: