I need help from the hivemind. Problem conditions: how to make a pie with fat layer of fruit filling to make the dough above And under Wasn't it damp with fruit? I will be very glad to have ideas and proven techniques. Ready-made recipes are definitely not needed.
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I really love closed pies made from dough like Gerbeaud, shortbread and yeast (due to the peculiarities of our climate, preparing classic shortcrust pastry is fraught with difficulties, and it takes more time to bake) and with a thick layer of fruit inside. For me, this is a hundred times more attractive than any gourmet cake. But it is precisely the preparation of such a closed pie with a juicy fruit filling that is fraught with technical difficulties - the dough absorbs moisture from the fruit. By the way, I see photos of many famous cooks on LiveJournal of their fruit-filled pies with damp bottoms and, in my opinion, this is unacceptable...
There are no problems with apples, quinces and plums - they are quite dry by nature.
Since berries such as sour cherries, currants and cranberries come to us frozen, you naturally defrost them for the pie. The result is that instead of 300 g of frozen cherries, you get a bowl with about 100 g of cherry “rags” floating in cherry juice. Raspberries and blueberries are even worse... And buying 3 boxes of berries for one pie is ruinous... Rhubarb, although it is a very rare product in our country, also needs to be processed somehow, since in the pie it “dries out” and the layer the filling becomes very thin.
Or, for example, when you want to make a pie with lemon/orange filling, which is generally liquid in nature, how can you make a pie with it without boiling it? I'm omitting the traditional lemongrass.
The most common options are:
1.thicken the filling by cooking thick creamy “jelly” from fruits and juice, or cream, starch and eggs.
2.sprinkle the dough with flakes and almond flour.
3. Place thinly sliced white bread or pancakes under the filling.
4. Baking the bottom separately, then laying out the filling and top layer of dough.
5. mixing juicy fruits with non-juicy ones (for example, microwave-dried apples) or with dried fruits so that they are mutually impregnated and absorb moisture.
All this has already been tested in different variations in relation to the situation and to a specific product.
Therefore, dear comrades and elders, I will be very glad if you share your secrets, developments and ideas.
Yes, and processes that require continuous stirring for an hour are definitely not for me...
P.S. I’m already finishing this - I want to show a photo of just such a pie with a defect. The photo shows that the pre-baked bottom is completely dry, but the top (dough like dough for muffins in vegetable oil) is damp at the point of contact with the wet filling (orange + lemon, crushed with skin + glucose syrup + galactomannan for thickening) . And once again many thanks to all those who helped me solve the problem!
How to make baked goods soft?
To make the baked goods soft, you need to make the dough fluffy and porous. To do this, you need to use fresh yeast, which will rise the dough well. Before baking pies in the oven, the pies must first be put to proof.
If you add excess flour to the dough, the dough will not rise well and the baked goods will turn out tough.
After you remove the baked goods from the oven, you need to cover it on top with a towel.
Baking with milk turns out softer than baking with water.
Much depends on the dough kneading and its readiness. Then if everything is in order with the dough and the baking is ready, take it out of the oven and grease it with oil (whatever you like) and cover it with a towel and let it rest for 15-20 minutes.
It all depends on the test. But if everything is fine with it, then remove the hot pie or pies from the oven and brush butter over the hot crust. It can also be plant-based. Then cover tightly with a napkin (towel) and leave for 15 minutes. This will make the baked goods soft.
It depends on what kind of dough you are making.
If it is yeast, then it is very important to use good yeast. It is better to use live + granular ones. Be sure to add baked goods to the dough - butter, egg yolks, sour cream. It is also very important to add sugar to the dough. Before baking, form the products and leave them in a warm place for 20-30 minutes so that they rise.
If you are preparing yeast-free dough, you must use baking powder.
Grease the crust with butter, or place the freshly prepared product under a kitchen towel; the crust will slightly wet and soften with its own steam. You can also prevent the pies or bread from drying out by placing a frying pan with water under the baking dish during cooking, then the humidity in the oven will be higher and the cake will be less dry. A lot depends on your oven and of course on the dough. You need to add a couple of tablespoons of vegetable oil to the dough so that it does not lose its softness even after the oven.
To start, choose really good quality flour. It is advisable to sift thoroughly, you can even several times, the dough must also be kneaded thoroughly and for a long time, baking powder can also help the dough become softer, fluffier and more tender. Another main factor is not to overcook when cooking in the oven or oven. The longer the dough bakes, the tougher it may become. Fatty products in the dough also make the baked goods softer; if you use water, replace it with milk of at least 1.5% fat content.
In order for baked goods to be soft, several conditions must always be observed.:
1) You need to either knead the dough with rice water and generously add sunflower oil, or with milk, then add sour cream or sunflower oil. You can replace part of the milk with rice water and add butter and sour cream when kneading.
Secrets of perfect baking
Fear of baking has a lot to do with having to prepare the dough. But with recipe books it won’t be difficult to make. The main thing is to accurately observe the proportions and keep track of time. In order not to miss the quantity, you can buy a set of measuring spoons that allow you to accurately measure the required doses. A kitchen timer will help you not to miss the moment when the dough has risen.
In addition, it is not necessary to start culinary experiments with yeast or puff pastry. Ordinary unleavened food produces equally delicious pies, pies and buns. In addition, some stores sell ready-made dough. The only thing you need to do with it is to preheat it a little (place it in a mold, grease it with butter, cover it with a lid and put it in the oven or microwave for a few minutes).
After that, the most pleasant thing remains - laying out the filling. But it’s better to prepare it in advance, otherwise the dough will overcook and the dish will have an unpleasant aftertaste. You can find an interesting filling option both on the Internet and in specialized literature. Roasted vegetables with feta, salami with olives, smoked haddock with spinach, shrimp with zucchini, fried sausages with red onions, mushrooms with chicken, rhubarb with ginger - everything will be delicious.
To get the same beautiful crust as on the covers of glossy magazines, experts recommend brushing baked goods the old fashioned way - before putting them in the oven, with beaten yolk, and then with butter. And just like our grandmothers, after baking, pies and pies should be carefully “wrapped” - covered with a kitchen towel or cloth napkins - the crust becomes stale from sudden cooling, and the baked goods spoil faster.
Reasons why homemade baked goods go stale
No one has yet really figured out the real reason for the staling (aging) of bread. What is known? The fact that when baking, the dough will practically lose weight just from baking the crust. No more water comes out of the piece during baking. Just denaturation of proteins occurs - this releases water, and gelatinization of starch - absorbing water. Thus, staling probably occurs not due to a technological error, but due to the quality of the flour. Apparently the gluten is of poor quality and the skeleton created when kneading the dough does not retain the swollen starch, which is why the dough “crumbs”.
Of course, the cause of hard baking can be too much flour or poor kneading of the dough. Yeast dough must be kneaded long and thoroughly. According to some recommendations, the dough needs to be kneaded for an hour, then success is guaranteed. And if it turns out a little steep, let the pies stand on the baking sheet longer before putting them in the oven so that they rise and when cutting the dough, do not use flour, dip your hands in vegetable oil.
A few words about margarine - it’s still not the best ingredient for a good dough. Oddly enough, it is recommended to add beef fat to the dough. No smell or taste, the dough is light and soft. And another important point: when using beef fat, no one is afraid of heartburn, which very often occurs if the dough contains margarine or butter.
To prevent pies from going stale, use the following tips:
- In order for the pies to remain fresh for a long time, vegetable oil must be present in the dough recipe.
- Store your pies in a clay dish, covered with a napkin or towel, and they will not go stale for a long time.
- Do not bake the pies on too low a heat, otherwise they will dry out in the oven.
- To prevent the pies from becoming stale for a long time after baking, let the dough rise 2-3 times, kneading it and thereby saturating it with air.
- Remove the pies from the oven, let them cool in the room where they were baked, and place them in a plastic bag. The baked goods will remain soft for a long time.
- If you add diluted potato starch to the dough, the pies will be soft and will not go stale for a long time.
- After removing the pies from the oven, while still piping hot, brush with margarine, place on a plate in a plastic bag, and cover with a towel until completely cool. Check from time to time, if the bag is too wet, change it. After this procedure, the pies will be simply airy and will not go stale for a very long time.
- To prevent the pies from becoming stale for a long time, use table margarine as fat when kneading the dough.
- Before baking, it is advisable to grease the top of the products only with yolk.
- Add a few spoons of sour cream to the dough when kneading the pies, and after baking they will be tender, soft and retain freshness for a long time.
- It is recommended to add less chicken eggs to the dough. Because they tend to make the dough more rigid and hard, which ultimately leads to its rapid hardening.
- Increasing the amount of fat - the products become more crumbly, tasty, do not go stale for a long time, but exceeding the norm of 1/2 cup of fat for each glass of liquid is also not recommended (the opposite effect will occur - the dough will be dry and thin, with a dense crumb)
1. Always add diluted potato starch to the dough - buns and pies will be fluffy and soft even the next day.
The main condition for delicious pies is a fluffy, well-risen dough: the flour for the dough must be sifted: foreign impurities are removed from it, and it is enriched with air oxygen.
2. To any dough (except dumplings, puff pastry, choux, shortbread), that is, dough for pies, pancakes, bread, pancakes, always add a drop of semolina (about a heaping tablespoon) to half a liter of liquid. I was taught by nuns as a girl: “Previously, the highest quality bread was made from semolina. It did not dry out for a long time and was fluffy. Now there is no semolina. So you add a little semolina. You will always have good baked goods.” I remember this advice from those years.
3. When I lived in Kazakhstan, the locals taught me to add half a glass of mineral water to the dough, in addition to milk (remember, 1 kopeck without syrup). I dilute tea soda in half a glass of water and lightly quench it with citric acid or vinegar.
The baked goods really turn out great. Even the leftovers the next day are fluffy.
4. There should be no draft in the room where the dough is cut: it contributes to the formation of a very dense crust on the pie.
5. When kneading yeast dough, all products should be warm or at room temperature; products from the refrigerator will slow down the rise of the dough
6. For yeast products, the liquid should always be heated to 30-35ºС, since yeast fungi in a liquid that has a lower or higher temperature lose their activity
7. When you knead the dough, your hands should be dry.
8. Before putting the product in the oven, let it rise for 15-20 minutes. Before baking, let the dough proof completely. If the proofing is not complete, it does not rise well and the pies do not bake for a long time.
9. Bake pies on a baking sheet over medium heat so that the filling does not dry out.
10. It is best to add unmelted butter to the dough (yeast and unleavened butter), since melted butter worsens the structure of the dough.
11. Pies made with milk are more tasty and aromatic, the crust after baking is shiny with a beautiful color.
12. Yeast for dough should be fresh, with a pleasant alcoholic smell. Test the yeast in advance. To do this, prepare a small portion of the dough and sprinkle with a layer of flour. If no cracks appear after 30 minutes, then the quality of the yeast is poor.
13. If there is excess sugar in the dough, the pies quickly “brown” and even burn. Fermentation of yeast dough slows down, and the pies turn out less fluffy
14. Fats, softened to the thickness of sour cream, are added at the end of kneading the dough or when kneading it, this improves the fermentation of the dough
15. To make the finished pies more tender and crumbly, put only yolks in the dough
16. Tall pies are baked over low heat so that they cook evenly.
17. Fats, softened to the thickness of sour cream, are added at the end of kneading the dough or when kneading it, this improves the fermentation of the dough
18. To make the finished pies more tender and crumbly, add only yolks to the dough.
19. The dough for a pie baked on a baking sheet is rolled out as thin as possible so that the taste of the filling can be clearly felt.
20. To keep the bottom of the pie dry, lightly sprinkle the bottom layer of the pie with starch, and then add the filling.
21. Neither the dough nor the dough should be allowed to rest, as this causes a deterioration in the quality of the dough. 3 hours is enough, but be sure to keep it warm.
22. Yeast dough pies can be greased with milk and, if desired, sprinkled with salt, poppy seeds, and caraway seeds.
23. Covered pies are brushed with beaten egg, milk, and sugar water before baking. Thanks to this, an appetizing gloss appears on the finished cake. The best shine is obtained when lubricated with yolks.
24. Pies that are sprinkled with powdered sugar are also greased with butter - it gives them a pleasant aroma.
25. Pies brushed with egg white acquire a shiny golden brown crust during baking.
26. The more fat and less liquid in the dough, the more crumbly the products are.
27. If you add soda to the dough, the cake will turn out to be darker in color with an unpleasant odor.
28. It’s easy to roll out thin dough by wrapping the rolling pin in a clean linen rag.
29. If the dough is too wet, place a piece of parchment paper on it and roll it straight through the paper.
30. Shortcrust pastry pies should be removed from pans when cooled.
31. Before adding raisins to the dough, they need to be rolled in flour.
32. Salt is always added to flour only when the dough has already fermented
33. The more fat and less liquid in the dough, the more crumbly the products are.
34. If the dough has already risen and you don’t have time to put it in the oven, cover the dough with well-moistened paper, first shaking off the water.
35. The more fat and less liquid in the dough, the more crumbly the products are.
36. It’s better not to cut a hot pie. But if this is necessary, you need to heat the knife in hot water, quickly wipe it and cut it.
37. If you don’t eat the pie
tossed from the baking sheet, separate it from the baking sheet with thread.
38. It’s better not to cut a hot pie. But if this is necessary, you need to heat the knife in hot water, quickly wipe it and cut it.
If you bake, you are not immune to mistakes. It's okay, in most cases they can be fixed! There are various ways to correct the situation. The cake may not rise, crack, or burn - in all these cases, you can find a solution that will either fix the cake or use it for other purposes.
Steps
The pie didn't rise
Crumble the cake and mix it with the frosting to create brownies. Use store-bought or homemade icing and add just enough icing to the cake to hold the dough firmly in place. Roll the resulting mixture into balls and roll them in coconut flakes, confectionery sprinkles or cocoa powder.
- You can also pour melted chocolate over the balls and wait until they cool.
- This method is also suitable if the cake is too dry.
If the cake does not rise well, fold it in two layers. Take a large bread knife and cut the single layer cake in half so that you have two thinner pancakes. Line the bottom and sides of a large bowl with plastic wrap and place one pancake on it. Trim any overhanging edges to give the pancake a neat round shape. Add glaze or mousse to the middle of the pancake in the bowl, then top with the second pancake.
- Trim the overhanging edges of the pie to create a bowl shape.
- Place the pie in the refrigerator to set before placing it on a plate. You can pour melted chocolate on top or decorate with smooth icing.
Fill the under-risen pie with candy. If the cake hasn't risen just in the center, decorate it with frosting as you normally would and use it as a candy plate. Fill it with various wrapped candies, such as chocolate balls, gummy figurines, fruit lollipops, and so on.
- You can also fill the concave cake with mousse or lemon curd and decorate the top with frosting. The result is a quick and easy-to-make sweet pudding or dessert.
Remake the pie into an ice cream cake. Place softened ice cream in the center of the concave cake and smooth it out. Place the pie in the freezer for about 30 minutes, then remove. Decorate the ice cream and edges of the cake with frosting as you would with regular cakes. The ice cream cake is ready!