Wheel Made of Pie Keeps on Turnin - Maple Cinnamon Spirals

So what do you do with left over pastry dough from your Coconut Pecan Pie? Yeah, it happened to me. This is what I get for not paying attention while in the kitchen. I only needed half a batch of Pâte Brisée and I accidentally made enough for a covered pie. Since I didn't really have anything to make a second open faced pie from I decided on my little "Crust" thing with the Sugar and Cinnamon that my mom use to make. Then while reaching for the sugar, I found something I had forgotten I had.....

MAPLE SUGAR

I think I bought it about 3 years ago at the Le Gourmet Chef outlet in Cabazon, out near Palm Springs. It's been sitting in a sealed stainless steel container just biding it's time until I rediscovered it. Well, rediscover it I did, I did. It's kind of powdery, being made from boiled down maple syrup and all. Not quite as sweet as granulated sugar, but with a delicious maple-y flavor. Like those sugary pressed maple candies (since it's pretty much the same thing, just ground up)

The wheels in my head started turning, and turning, and turning, and turning, and turning.... Did I mention they were turning?
Then, just about the time the burning tire smell started making me nauseous, it hit me.... Thanks to comments left by Spryte and Patti on my Cherry Pie post regarding left over Pastry Crust.....

Maple Sugar Pâte Brisée Pinwheels or rather Spirals. Just like a cinnamon roll....oh yeah.... cinnamon would be good with maple sugar... Right on!

Super Simple, Super Easy and Super Delicious....

Maple Cinnamon Spirals

1/2 recipe Pâte Brisée
Room Temperature Butter
Maple Sugar (Although I am sure Brown or Granulated would work just fine)
Cinnamon
Optional - Egg white

Preheat your oven to about 400-425
Roll out your left over pastry dough into a square (As close as you can get it)

Schmear it with room temperature butter then sprinkle it with maple sugar (or equivalent) and cinnamon. (Leave a strip on one edge, so you can seal it)

Roll it up. (you can seal the edge with egg white if you wish)

Slice about 1/4 inch thick and place on a parchment lines baking sheet. (don't worry so much about spacing, they are not going to puff or spread like regular cookie dough)

Bake for 20 -25 minutes.

Enjoy with a big cup of coffee.

Mangia!!
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How Sweet It Is! - Pâte Sucrée

Pâte Sucrée, French for Sweet Dough, is what most of us would refer to as "tart" dough. It's similar to Pâte Brisée in many respects, but with a few twists. Where Pâte Brisée is best suited for lattice and covered pies as well as many other savory applications, Pâte Sucrée is designed to stand on it's own. Meaning that it does not need the support of a "pie plate" and will literally "stand" after being unmolded from a tart pan. That is not to say that it "cannot" be used for a pie, after all, that is what I plan on using it for, as I have something else planned for the tart I need to make.

What is it that makes Pâte Sucrée so different? It's the addition of a large amount of sugar as well as egg yolks to enrich the dough. With Pâte Brisée you are trying to stop the formation of gluten protein to produce that flaky texture. With Pâte Sucrée you are doing the same thing, however, you are adding egg yolk proteins, because they have different properties than the gluten, lending stability to the structure without making it chewy. Between the added sugar and the egg yolks you end up with a pastry that is not necessarily flaky but crispy and slightly crunchy yet tender due to the lack of gluten. It will also be more evenly browned thanks to the additional sugar.

The same three commandments hold true with Pâte Sucrée just as they did with Pâte Brisée, but the added fat from the egg yolks gives you a little more "wiggle room".

• Thou Shalt keep all things cold
• Thou Shalt be quick about it
• Thou Shalt keep it as dry as possible.

Cold is still your friend with this pastry dough. The butter and flour still needs to stay as cold as possible because the butter must be "cut" further into the flour. The texture will need to be a little finer than with Pâte Brisée, more granular.

Quickness is a virtue. Once you add the egg yolks, you need to move quickly as they DO contain water, which will trigger the glutenin to begin forming gluten.

Dryness is a little less important on this one, as the only moisture you are adding is in the egg yolks. Yes, it's water and yes, as stated above you do need to be quick as the longer you work the dough, the more gluten you will create... BUT, the added fat in the yolks will allow a little fudging on speed and handling.

Pâte Sucrée

3 cups (11.3 oz) (320g) AP Flour
1 cup (8 oz) (228g) Unsalted Butter
1/2 tsp Kosher Salt
1/2 cup plus 2 tsp (3.5 oz) (100g) Granulated sugar
2 Large Egg Yolks - Cold
Update: 5/11 - If you live in a particularly dry climate, you may need to add 1 tsp of ice water in with the yolks, because your flour will not only have less inherent moisture in it but will also be "lighter" and weigh differently.

First slice you butter fairly thin, and place it in the freezer for 15-30 minutes.

Mix the flours and salt with a whisk together very lightly and place in the freezer for 15 minutes.

Add slices of butter and toss briefly to coat them.

Work the butter through the flour with your finger tips, sort of rubbing the flour into the butter or use a pastry cutter until fairly mealy. (you do not want little flakes of butter in this dough)

Add the Sugar and mix thoroughly.

In a small bowl, beat the Egg Yolks together. (If in a dry climate add up to 2 tsp cold water and whisks them together)

Add the eggs and mix quickly until the dough hold together.

OK, here is where this really differs. Since you MUST get the eggs thoroughly incorporated the 2nd commandment must be fudged... Just a little.
Dump the dough onto a raw board (no added flour)

Knead the dough mass three times with long kneading strokes to smooth it out cause it will still be a little mottled.(it helps if you have a bench scraper and can literally "smear" the dough across the board, scrape and repeat)

Gather the dough into a ball and flatten it.

Wrap in plastic wrap and chill for at least 1 hour.

Unlike Pâte Brisée, you absolutely have to chill Pâte Sucrée to let it rest.

Mangia!!
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If It's Broke, Don't Fix It - Pâte Brisée

Pâte Brisée, French for Broken Dough, is what most of us would simply refer to as Basic Pie crust. It is a short dough, meaning fat has been rubbed into the flour to slow or stop the formation of gluten. Unlike bread, which owes it's chewy delicious texture to the carbon dioxide gas harboring gluten strands, chewy pie crust is usually not the goal. Thus long protein strand formation (gluten) must stopped, or the proteins must be "shortened", to acquire that flaky texture so adored by pie & tart lovers everywhere.

The basic premise is this: When Wheat flour comes into contact with water, the protein in the flour, known as glutenin, begins forming molecular cross-links (this is gluten developing). With bread, the process of kneading creates more cross-links and thus more gluten which allows the dough to stretch while restraining the carbon dioxide gas formed by the fermentation of the yeast. Fats inhibit the formation of the cross-links between the glutenin molecules and thus retard the formation of gluten.

Now, that being said.... Here is the 3 commandments of Pâte Brisée, or basic pie crust.

• Thou Shalt keep all things cold
• Thou Shalt be quick about it
• Thou Shalt keep it as dry as possible.

Everything should be as cold as possible; Butter contains water, so when you are cutting the butter into the flour, it needs to stay cold to keep the water suspended in the fat and away from glutenin. If you butter begins to soften, throw everything back in the freezer or refrigerator for 5-10 minutes. (Your gonna need that water later, so ya don't want to loose it)

Speed is of the essence; The longer you work the butter into the flour, the softer the butter is becoming. Once you have added the water the more you stir and mix, the more gluten you are forming... Get that dough, once it holds cohesively, into the refrigerator as fast as possible to relax any gluten that has formed. When rolling the dough, the more you work it, the more gluten you are making...

Dryness is next to flakiness; You want to use the minimum amount of ice water possible. Why ice water? It's slower to react with the glutenin and it will keep the butter cold. Start with 3 oz (just under 1/2 cup) if it is not holding together add more, tablespoon by tablespoon. Until the dough just barely hold together.

I am sure you noticed that in all three of these "commandments" the butter keeps rearing it's "fat" head. There is a reason for not melting the butter... That water in the butter is what is going to make your pie crust flaky. Just like Puff Pasty, when the pie is cooking, the butter will begin to melt, and release the water as steam which will create little pockets in the dough... This is the road to flaky pie crust. The butter MUST be protected at ALL costs during this process.

Incidentally, this is also the reason that I use my fingers.... I create little flakes of butter in the flour by literally pinching, or rubbing, the butter into the flour. You cannot accomplish this in a food processor or with a pasty cutter.

You are going to have to wait to see what I am making with this until tomorrow, I am big on 24 hours for pie crust in the refrigerator. Unless I am in a uber-hurry or something.

Pâte Brisée 
(Broken Dough)

8 oz Unsalted butter, VERY cold, and cut into very thin slices
2 3/4 cups (10.6 oz) (300g) AP Flour
1/4 cup (1 oz) (28g) Cake Flour
1/2 tsp Kosher salt
2 TB Granulated Sugar
Approximately 1/2 - 2/3 cup (4-5.5 oz) (125-160ml) very cold water

First slice you butter fairly thin, and place it in the freezer for 15-30 minutes

Mix the flours, salt and sugar with a whisk together very lightly and place in the freezer for 15 minutes.

Add slices of butter and toss briefly to coat them.

These are really the best tools for the job, but a pastry cutter works too.

Work the butter through the flour with your finger tips, sort of rubbing the flour into the butter or use a pastry cutter.

If butter becomes too warm in your hands, place bowl back in refrigerator.
You still want to be able to see butter flakes in the flour. (This is why I use my fingers, to rub thin flakes of butter into the flour)

Add the ice-cold water starting with 1/3 cup (3 oz) (100ml) and mix very fast with your hand just enough that the dough coheres.

If it does not, add more water 1 TB at a time... You want it to just barely hold together.
Wrap in plastic and chill in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes to 1 hour.

When ready to use, simply cut the dough in half, placing one half on a lightly floured board to be rolled out, and leaving the other half in the refrigerator until ready for use.

Never leave Pâte Brisée sitting on the counter to allow the butter to begin softening. When you have finished lining your pie plate, place it in the refrigerator to relax.

Mangia!!
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