馅饼是我最喜欢的甜点，但我很难告诉你我最喜欢的馅饼的哪一部分，水果填充或地壳。对于某些人来说，选择是显而易见的，除了将整齐修剪的地壳边缘推到侧面外，其盘子刮擦了清洁。或者，就像我的小女儿一样，通过偷袭的攻击，她在我们盘子上坐着的任何一块地壳上都安装在盘子上。但是，当您正确的馅饼时，您将获得多汁，不太甜的水果和黄油，片状的外壳的完美平衡 - 使馅饼的两个部分都无法抗拒。

虽然制作好水果填充确实会引起一点关注（并且是正确的增稠剂），但使外壳似乎是激发许多人不适的馅饼的一部分。双层馅饼需要易于使用的外壳，并烘烤成片状，美国式的外壳，而不是适合蛋t的易碎的短皮。我想帮助您感到舒适制作，塑造，烘烤并最终完善 - 这种外壳。

Thickening the juices means more flavor in every bite

当新鲜水果在馅饼中煮熟时，它会释放出许多果汁 - 美味但稀薄的果汁，如果不加厚，则会使外壳潮湿并在盘子上堆积。

Some cooks use flour to bind and thicken the juices, but I find that the texture can be a bit gritty and that the flour turns the juices slightly cloudy. I prefer to use a mix of cornstarch and quick-cooking tapioca, which both set clear when fully cooked and cooled. Using all cornstarch would make the filling gummy, and all tapioca would make it seem dry, but the two balance each other. The cornstarch thickens the juices, while the tapioca adds texture without making the filling too gummy. If the texture of the tapioca is too pronounced, next time try grinding it to a powder in the food processor first.

黄油更好，只要很冷

关于馅饼皮的大辩论之一是使用哪种脂肪。缩短会产生嫩嫩且非常片状的外壳，但缺乏风味。一些面包师说，黄油皮不像酥皮那样片状，但我不同意 - 使用正确的方法，您可以用黄油获得极大的片状。此外，薄片并不是美味外壳的唯一衡量标准。我总是通过问：“您会在吐司上散布缩短吗？那为什么要用它来包裹您的馅饼呢？”

由于黄油是这种地壳的关键，因此请选择一种高质量的黄油，一种水含量低。这通常意味着选择品牌黄油，而不是超市品牌。

黄油块的大小是至关重要的。我喜欢to have quite a few chunks in the dough that are at least pea-size. Big bits of butter translate into big flakes, as the moisture in the butter turns to steam and puffs up that section of pastry. If the butter pieces are too small, you may get a tender pastry, but one more crumbly than flaky.

黄油的温度也很重要。确保从冰箱中直接使用它（如果您在热门厨房里工作，则在冰箱中弹出几分钟）。冷黄油使面团保持凉爽，这有助于防止面粉中过多的面筋的发育。同样重要的是，冷黄油在烤箱的热量中保持固体更长。如果黄油开始过热，它将立即在烤箱的热量中融化，然后才有机会做片状的事情。

A stand mixer gives more control

I’m a little different from some bakers in that I prefer to use my stand mixer rather than a food processor to make pie dough. I find that the mixer allows me to complete the dough quickly with a minimum of mixing but still retain control of the dough’s consistency. I think the food processor tends to overwork the dough when mixing in the water, so if you want to give the processor a try, use it to cut in the butter, but then dump the flour into a bowl and mix in the water by hand.

Whichever method you use to make the dough, it’s important to check your butter and flour mixture to make sure it’s still very cold and malleable before you add the water to the dough. Here’s a good way to test. When the butter and flour mixture is blended to the desired “pea size,” quickly pull out a small amount and play with it. Is it firm? Can you mold it into a small cube without your fingers getting greasy? If so, your butter is still cold enough and you can proceed with adding the water. If the butter feels soft and your fingers look greasy, put the mixture — bowl and all — in the refrigerator for 15 to 20 minutes until the butter and flour pieces are firm again. This is a great tip to remember when you’re baking on hot summer days.

塑造并滚动面团

立即滚动面团意味着没有挣扎和柔和的质地

The next step in my process may seem like heresy to some experienced pie-makers, but trust me, it works beautifully. Once you’ve added the water to your dough, most recipes have you shape the dough into a disk and then refrigerate it for a period, in order for the butter to get firm again and the gluten in the dough relax. This is all well and good, except than now you’re left with a disk of very hard, chilled dough that will take so much muscle to become malleable enough to roll (we’ve all seen bakers banging their disks with a rolling pin) that the dough gets overworked and tends to crack. I find that rolling out the dough, shaping the pie, and chilling the assembled pie for 15 to 20 minutes before baking produces the perfect texture. But if the dough rounds seems to be getting limp or greasy as you’re working, you can just pop them into the refrigerator (on a piece of parchment or a baking sheet) until they’re cool enough to work with again.