Saturday, January 22, 2011

That's Some Sweet Pie Crust

This great pie crust video features Alan Carter, the pastry chef at Mission Beach Cafe, a great little neighborhood restaurant just a block away from our home in San Francisco. I've been planning on filming a new pie crust recipe, and have always wanted to try the vinegar/water method. 

Knowing that our neighbor, Chef Carter, known for his world-class pies, uses that same technique has me very excited to give this a try. The clip comes via The Feast, who credit Mike Anderson, from NBCBayArea.com, for the video's production. Enjoy!


View more news videos at: http://www.thefeast.com/video.

22 comments:

James Birdsall said...

John,
Any idea about the ingredient amounts? I am hungry for pie -now!

Chef John said...

I'm trying to find, but not sure he posted. You may have to wait until I break it down. Or find a recipe that uses 15oz of butter and get the proportions.

Guat said...

when i play the video it's only a black screen with a woman's voice in the background saying "this content is current unavaible"

Marcus said...

Cool video, but I don't think they posted the recipe... kind of strange...

Anonymous said...

It appears that the video is no longer.

Luatica said...

Same than Guat, I suspect is not available outside US/Canada/sort of thing.

Chef John said...

i dont believe it plays outside the US

Anonymous said...

No ingredient list? And use some utensils, PLEASE! Make it behave???

Anonymous said...

Recipe Found:

http://www.bhg.com/recipe/pies/mission-beach-cafe-pastry/

Chef John said...

thanks!

Anonymous said...

Better Homes and Garden magazine did an article on him in November 2010. It had the recipe for the pie dough. Here it is.

3-3/4 c all purpose flour, 1 TB sugar,1/2 to 1 TB kosher salt (may decrease for more neutral flavor),1/2 tsp baking powder. 1-3/4 c cold unsalted butter. 2/3 c ice water 2 TB sour cream and 1 tsp vinegar.

Chef John said...

I didn't see the sour cream on the video. I think he may have several secret recipes. :-)

BrooklynHeart said...

That did not look healthy at all, but boy does it look delicious! I wish I could go out there and get a slice or 4...

Chris K. said...

I liked Chef Carter's remark about teaching the dough to behave. Besides being funny, it reminds us that it's important to have confidence in the kitchen. Pie dough - like hollandaise and soufflé - knows when we are afraid.

Anonymous said...

Make it available outside of US, please.

Chef John said...

sorry, no control over the video!

Rachel said...

I use a recipe which has lemon juice, which I assume has the same effect as vinegar.

Anonymous said...

I used to be scared of making pie dough but after I found one with cream cheese in it.. I was in heaven and it was really easy to make! The dough is from Rose levy Beranbaum..

David said...

Wow. That pie looks great. I would love a piece of that Apple Pie. Aside, Chef John have you ever seen a pie that uses a vinegar, egg, sugar (sort of like a custard) as its base? I think its called a "chess". I would love a recipe for a one of those pies.

Dev said...

I made this pie this past weekend. Very good. Excellent reviews from all of my tasters (wife and kids.) There is a good balance of flavors between the tartness of the apples and cranberries to the sweetness of the pastry cream and the very slightly salty crust.

BTW, the crust came out great. My 'go-to' crust has been John's crust he posted a while back, but Alan's is a winner. It looks scary when it's first combined, but after sitting in the fridge overnight, it was good to go.

Anonymous said...

Hi John I;m a new member and I would like to ask you if you can make a recipe , Italian cake with Italian light cream and light sponge with choclate in the middle...p.s. thank you for takeing this time to read my messege..Rosa.

liltukr said...

Hi John I;m a new member and I would like to ask you if you can make a recipe , Italian cake with Italian light cream and light sponge with light choclate in the middle...p.s...Ihave most of your recipes and the are good and thank you for takeing this time to read my messege..Rosa.