Puff Pastry vs Pie Crust
I have been making the following pie dough for a while (with great results): https://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2016/06/old-fashioned-flaky-pie-dough-recipe.html
Recently I made some rough puff pastry using this recipe (also great results): https://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2014/06/fast-easy-short-cut-blitz-puff-pastry-recipe.html
What struck me as odd is that both the recipes and the processes are nearly the same. The puff does get bigger in the oven, presumably because of the extra folds. But this got me wondering: What is the defining difference between these doughs?
Why are pie recipes calling for puff pastry so uncommon?
Best Answer
Really, the difference is the process -- full sheets of butter results in layers of the dough which allows it to puff up.
But it's a lot of work for a crust that's going to just be bogged down toppings. And if it's too flaky, it has no structural integrity -- it breaks apart as you're trying to eat it, making it pretty useless as a crust. That's part of why some pie crust instructions call for docking the dough and using weights if you're blind baking it.
Now, what you linked to isn't actually true puff pastry. It's what's called 'rough puff', where it's not quite as laborious as you're not dealing with a whole slab of butter ... but it still takes hours to make, as you have to keep it chilled down as you go just as you would normal puff pastry, so the butter doesn't mix with the flour before it goes into the oven. That recipe you linked to has over 4 hours of resting.
So, for something that's not going to functional as well as a pie crust, is the extra time worth it? I'd say no, myself.
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Quick Answer about "Puff Pastry vs Pie Crust"
So, what's the difference between puff pastry and pie crust? Puff pastry and pie crust both contain flour, water, salt, and fat (usually butter), but have different tastes and textures. Puff pastry is flakier and has a more savory flavor while pie crust is more sturdy and rich.Can I substitute puff pastry for pie crust?
Pie Crust. You'll never duplicate the height or flakiness of puff pastry with a piecrust, but you can give your homemade pie crust recipe a flakier finish by keeping the butter in larger pieces and using the "roll, fold, roll" technique used for making puff pastry.Can I use puff pastry for pie base?
It might sound a little strange using puff pastry for the base of the pie (since all the puffiness is going to be squashed down with pie filling), but it works, and it saves the effort of using a different type of pastry for the base.Is puff pastry good for pies?
Puff pastry can generally be described as flaky, light and buttery, good for pies and pastries, while shortcrust pastry has a more crumbly, biscuit-like texture which is good for tart or quiche cases.Can I use pie crust instead of puff pastry for beef Wellington?
If you are wondering if there is a simple substitution to puff pastry when you are making a Beef Wellington, the answer is yes. You can substitute things like croissant dough, phyllo dough, biscuit dough, or pie crust.One Step Puff Pastry: How to turn any pie dough into puff pastry in 10 minutes
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Answer 2
The key difference is definitely the extra folds and the butter layer isolating the folded layers of dough.
That layered structure of the puff pastry is what makes it, ehm, puff...
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