Doom Prediction for: Pies at Blaisdell Polytechnic

[pameladean]

The mince pie is in the oven. The dough for the crust did not behave well -- it wanted too much water, the indulgence of which desire can lead to cardboard in the guise of pie crust; but I have had far, far worse doughs to cajole. I remembered to cover the edges of the crust with aluminum foil. When the mince pie is out, I will make the vegan

Comments

As a dumb (and too late suggestion)

[lsanderson]

America's Test Kitchen (PBS) likes to add vodka. You can be more liberal because it's only half-water, and the alcohol does not develop the gluten.

Re: As a dumb (and too late suggestion)

[pameladean]

There's always next time! The family contains a recovering alcoholic, so I probably wouldn't do that for family pies, but I can always experiment on my tea group.

P.

Re: As a dumb (and too late suggestion)

[fledgist]

The cooking will get rid of the alcohol (it cooks off at about 80 degrees celsius if I remember my high school physics).

Re: As a dumb (and too late suggestion)

[ethelmay]

Yes, the whole idea is that the alcohol evaporates, so it holds the dough together as long as you need and then thoughtfully disappears. I haven't tried it myself.

I wouldn't use alcohol in a filling for a recovering alcoholic (though I've had wonderful sweet potato pie with a good slug of bourbon in it), but I think the crust gets hotter.

Re: As a dumb (and too late suggestion)

[sraun]

The cooking will get rid of most of the alcohol. It will never get rid of all of it, because there's this point at which the water/alcohol mixture has a lower boiling point than plain alcohol.

Also, I once ran across a test someone did of exactly how much alcohol boils off for several different cooking methods. There's a USDA table at the bottom of this page that shows % alcohol remaining for various cooking times. The general answer is "a lot more than you think!"

Re: As a dumb (and too late suggestion)

[fledgist]

Wow! I certainly did not know that. It is, in many cases a lot more than I had thought.

Re: As a dumb (and too late suggestion)

[pameladean]

Yeah, I ran across that a few years ago and was gobsmacked.

P.