The Perfect Pie

Pâte Brisée (Standard Pie Dough)
This is the standard pie dough, made with flour, fat, a pinch of salt and a little sugar. This dough can be used with sweet or savory fillings, including quiches. A pâte brisée should be golden and flaky, which explains why this French phrase translates to "broken pastry". To learn how to make a perfect pie crust, click here.
And click here for our pâte brisée recipe.

Pâte Sucrée (Sweet Pie Dough)
Pâte sucrée (or "sweet pastry") is similar to the standard pie dough, but it contains more sugar than the pâte brisée and is almost always used with a sweet filling. Because sugar makes dough tender, pâte sucrée is less likely than standard pie dough to become tough and is therefore great for beginner pie makers.
Click here for our pâte sucrée recipe.

Pâte Sablé (Cookie Tart Crust)
Pâte Sablé literally means "sandy pastry" and that's a very descriptive - and slightly unappetizing - way of explaining what this dough looks like when it's mixed. After it's baked, the dough has the consistency of a butter cookie.
Click here for our pâte sablé recipe.

Pie
Pies are baked in dishes with sloping sides and they're usually a little deeper than tarts. They can have either a bottom crust or a top crust or both, and the crust should be golden and flaky. Pies usually have a homey, rustic appearance and they're served straight from the dish they were baked in.

Tart
Tarts are usually baked in shallow, straight-sided pans with removable bottoms so they can be unmolded before serving. Unmolding the tart gives it a refined, elegant look. Tart crusts should be firm and crumbly, like a cookie, and most tarts only have a bottom crust.

Galette
Buttery pastry is wrapped around a filling and baked on a baking sheet. Galettes have a rustic appearance because they are free-formed.
Click here for our plum galette recipe.

Turnover
Turnovers are single-serving desserts (they're also great for breakfast) made from pie dough that is cut into rounds, folded over a filling and baked.
Click here for Ina's apple turnover recipe.

Tarte Tatin
Traditional tarte tatin is made by caramelizing apples in a skillet, placing a pastry dough on top and then baking the dish in the oven. The dish is then inverted so the caramelized apples are on top. It can also be made with other kinds of fruit like peaches or apricots.
Click here for Julia Child's tarte tatin recipe.

Blind Baking
Since some pie fillings (like pumpkin pie filling) cook faster than pastry dough, the dough can be cooked or partially cooked before the filling is added. This method also helps to ensure that the dough doesn't soak up too much liquid from the filling and get soggy as it bakes. Before blind baking your dough, be sure to put something on it to weigh it down, like dried beans or rice, since dough tends to puff up as it bakes.
Click here for Alton's pie crust recipe.

Make it Beautiful
Adding a lattice top to a pie is a gorgeous way to finish it off. Click here to learn how to make a lattice top crust.

By Emily Gennis, Web Editor