Pies, Pastry and Fondant Making Tips
Pepper steak or pepper type pies
If you are making Pepper steak or pepper pies, and are experiencing your pies splitting or even exploding in the oven when baking?
Dough rolling and labour savings
Dough rolling and labour savings. Should you be producing your pastry using a dough sheeter; Even if you’re making a high puff or flaky pastry? Continue reading
Cost it out
Cost it out. Effective product costing: Effective product costing is critical.
Many fail to factor in the small “insignificant” costs like water; Some even neglect to include energy consumption. Think of everything that will cost you, including the time it takes to purchase ingredients, including the ink for the stamp, the pencil and accounting costs.
Our pie production costing calculators can ensure accurate to-the-cent result.
Stay the same
Stay the same. Continue reading
Test first
If you are battling to perfect your recipe, experiment by trying the following changes in small batches:
Different flour types. Different types of fat. Different moisture content, careful not too much. Keep the dough COLD and make sure it is not warming up to quickly while you process it.
Don’t speed bake
Don’t speed bake.
Optimum baking temperature for pies is around 180 to 200 degrees C, at a
time of 20 to 25 minutes. We’ve seen how some increase temperature to
shorten baking times. What happens is that your pastry dries out
prematurely, causing it to become hard or tough. Yes, convection ovens
do make a difference, particularly in providing a more even bake. Continue reading
Do it in bulk
Do it in bulk.
By preparing your pie mixtures/fillings one day ahead of time, and
blocking your lids the day before should you only use one cold blocking
machine, you can ensure seamless production. If you use our quick fill mixture depositing system,
you can bulk up on your fillings a few days before without any risk of
your mixtures going off. Continue reading
Cut the clutter
Cut the clutter. Make sure your bakery is clutter-free. Avoid having staff walk around things to get to their goal or have to constantly move things around to accomplish their tasks. It not only wastes valuable time, but psychologically it messes with the mind. It will tire your staff even if it’s something that you or they won’t even be aware of. Continue reading
Waste less
Waste less.
This applies to absolutely every dedicated task your staff have to
accomplish within a working day to produce your product. Remember that time is money.
Staff members who chat while working, is not a bad situation; it could
add to a happy environment. However, in extreme cases this will result
in great productivity loss. Continue reading
Check it out
Check it out.
Analyze your production environment carefully. Take the time to watch
your staff at work. Time their operations and calculate total production
time to produce your product. Pay particular attention to the distances
that staff members have to walk or move or stretch to complete a task. Continue reading
Start right
Start right.
Start the production day by blocking your bases and using your lids
that have already been blocked up and rested overnight. Or, to achieve
optimum results, run two blockers, one for lids and one for bases.
Use the right stuff.
Production is not just determined by equipment and staff. Seamless
production is based on many factors which all have to be in place. Continue reading
Take it easy and Relax
Relax. Always let your dough relax in the refrigerator for a minimum of 30 – 60 minutes before using. Depending on pastry type, it is sometimes best to rest your pastry for a few hours, even overnight. Continue reading
Keep cool and chill out
Keep cool.
Or cold. For the best results, and always for flaky pastry, refrigerate
all ingredients prior to making your dough, even the flour.
Chill out. All liquids should be ice cold.
The purpose of keeping temperatures down when creating a pastry is to
prevent the pastry from “coming alive”. The various ingredients start
reacting with one another at higher temperatures (from around 16 to 18
degrees C). Continue reading
Stay alive
Stay alive
Keep cool
Relaxation
Start right
Check it out
Waste less
Pie making and cooking for many comes easily, yet for some it may seem a daunting concept. Like an artist who blends light and colour, so a chef blends flavours. Everyone has the ability to perfect pastry and cook well. Continue reading
Something Different – Mince Pie Ice-Cream
With the “Festive Season” nearly upon us, this recipe on how to use your “left-over” mince pies in an interesting and novel way caught my eye.
Enjoy!
If you’re a fan of cookies-and-cream ice cream, then you’ll love this way to use those last packets of mince pies. This recipe was inspired by the famous UK chef Heston Blumenthal of The Fat Duck.