Shortcrust pastry with vodka and apple pie
Homemade pie crust can intimidate many: success is not guaranteed and time spent preparing it when you don’t have much.
But here is an ingredient that can give you a thinner, crispier and a little flakier shortcrust pastry: vodka! It leaves you speechless, doesn’t it?
I explain: the addition of alcohol in combination with fat and water turns out to be an asset for obtaining crispiness. Don’t worry about your little ones, the alcohol will cook and evaporate and you will only be left with its benefits.
The addition of water or milk in the preparation of shortcrust pastry is known. So why replace part of it with vodka, bourbon or rum?
It was proven about 10 years ago after numerous tests that alcohol helped inhibit the formation of gluten and therefore prevented a soft dough from being obtained.
Ultimately, I think that alcohol has more of an effect on humidity. As the alcohol evaporates quickly, it helps the crust to set, making it almost impermeable, while remaining tender and fine, understand: it does not break under the bite….but retains a little chew.
When tasting, I am happy to see that this dough lives up to its promises: it is absolutely not soaked either on the bottom or on the sides!
Before starting, make sure to chill the butter, water and vodka for at least 15 minutes.
A few little tips
Work with very cold butter
Use a food processor (blade) to incorporate the butter into the flour using the “pulse” function
Refrigerate the dough for at least an hour before rolling it.
Spread the dough between two sheets of baking paper rather than on a floured surface.
Refrigerate the dough again if possible before filling it and baking it.
For this apple pie recipe, there is no need to precook the dough before filling it.
Shortcrust pastry with vodka and apple pie
Unfortunately, I don’t have a pie dish with a pretty scalloped edge, but we can get by without one!
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