Can I use bread flour for a pie crust?

[Plowboyswife]

I am out of regular flour. Can I use bread flour to make a pie crust?
If so, will use please share a recipe. Smiles and Blessings.

[Molly Mckee]

It will be heavy and not at all flakey. Guess how I know?

[Plowboyswife]

you tried it..... so best not to use it.

[Harry Chickpea]

My guess is that if you kept it super-cold while mixing and mixed the very minimum, you might get away with it. The idea is to keep the extra gluten from bonding. If you have crackers, you could crush them and mix them in to lessen the gluten load. Or just make a nice graham cracker crust.

[okiemom]

for baking I like soft wheat like cake or pastry flour. all purpose is still to heavy for my biscuits and is not great for my bread that said.. I am not that experienced in breads.

[o&itw]

We always use regular all-purpose (or whole wheat) flour for our bread. It doesn't give you that angelfood cake kind of bread you find in the store, but a good hearty loaf.

I don't know exactly what "bread flour" is, but I suspect it must be what we call "cake" flour, which is made from the softer wheat varieties and is used for "fluffy" things.

Actually, I don't think it would work that poorly on pie crust, as their is no leavening, and therefore it wouldn't "puff up" anyway. I wouldn't worry too much about it, unless you are making something special. Most of us don't like pie crust that much anyway... it is simply a bowl

[Molly Mckee]

Cake flour is not bread flour. It is the opposite, if you have some it would work better than bread flour.

[Bret]

Yes, if you put in a can of peaches, bake, and send to the Indiana Fudge and Pie Testing Laboratory for complete review and analysis. Branching out due to the economy. Unable to return untested slices.

[unregistered5595]

Bret, I'll send you some. look in the mail.

I've never bought cake flour in my life. I've never bought bread flour in my life. I've only bought all purpose flour, forever, and everything turns out so nicely. I do buy gluten to add to my flour to make pizza crusts and pretzels more chewy.

[trulytricia]

You could measure your flour, then remove 2 or 3 tablespoons and replace with cornstarch or cake flour if you have it. And sift a few times.


This is an easy recipe http://allrecipes.com/recipe/never-fail-pie-crust-i/

the addition of vinegar in this recipe might help to soften the flour, not sure about that.
I do not always use this recipe but it is nice for beginners i think.

[o&itw]

This is getting complicated.

Maybe you could just mash up some graham crackers and make cheese cake instead.

I chastise myself for interferring and leave it to the true bakers out there to get this sorted out.

[copperkid3]

My mouth is starting to water just reading this thread.....

Hopefully, Bret invites me over for "leftovers"....?

[Bret]

Originally Posted by Feather In The Breeze

Bret, I'll send you some. look in the mail.

I've never bought cake flour in my life. I've never bought bread flour in my life. I've only bought all purpose flour, forever, and everything turns out so nicely. I do buy gluten to add to my flour to make pizza crusts and pretzels more chewy.

The Mail Must Get Through!

[Bret]

Originally Posted by copperkid3

My mouth is starting to water just reading this thread.....

Hopefully, Bret invites me over for "leftovers"....?

Everything tastes better when shared.

[geo in mi]

Grandma told me her secret to making a good pie crust: "Lard."

geo

[Bret]

I bought lard for the first time in my life this week to make a pie based on the memory of what pie tasted like, when I was little. The lard may never make a pie but it will send me on a trip each time I open the refrigerator and see it.

[trulytricia]

yes good leaf lard if you have it. I read too that bison leaf lard is even better but never have had the chance to try it.

[unregistered5595]

HEY, I was reading up on making some cookies and America's Test Kitchen. I love America's Test Kitchen because they test everything over and over and come up with great solutions to recipes that don't turn out as well as we expect them to. So the recipe for crisp cookies, they increased the baking soda and used no baking powder. So maybe if you added a little baking soda to the pie dough it would loosen up the gluten in it, giving you a better crust, if you are going to use bread flour.

Here is the technique.

Technique

Loading Up On Leavening

Using a full 2 teaspoons of baking soda in our cookie dough instead of the more typical ½ to 1 teaspoon not only helped create desirable fissures in the final cookie but also helped it dry out. Baking soda is an alkaline substance that weakens the gluten (the network of proteins that gives most baked goods their structure) in a dough or batter. Weaker gluten means a more porous structure from which air bubbles and moisture can burn off. It also means that the dough will collapse after its initial rise in the oven, leading to cracks that also allow more moisture to escape.

Maybe, maybe not, I dunno.

[Yvonne's hubby]

I used to have trouble making a good light flakey pie crust sometimes but then a few years ago I scored a neat trick that works everytime.... no matter which flour I use. replace half of that cold water you normally use with an equal amount of vodka... works like a charm and you get a great crust everytime!

[okiemom]

My crusts would come out more like shortbread than the flaky crusts. I found out it was because when they said to cut the butter up to pea sized pieces I was making it more like very small green peas and that was really too small. so I started to leave bigger chunks to see what that did and bam. more flake and less shortbread.

I am not a baker/candy maker and have great respect for them as it is way more exact than cooking the fudge factor is much less. baking takes many many tries to get it right and learn how something is to feel or look. baking in summer is way different than in winter due to moisture levels in the flour. The only thing dh has told me to leave alone was my biscuits. I finally have that one right after half a dozen attempts. all the others are still a work in progress. my pie crusts are almost there I just don't make pies enough anymore to keep in practice.