04 June 2022

It's called "docking"


I can remember watching my mom do this to a pie crust, but I never knew there was a specific word for it.  I can't quite suss out how this is related to the other definitions of "dock" (listed but not explained at Etymology 6 of the verb form of dock).

9 comments:

  1. I'm curious as to the purpose of piercing the bottom crust? Let the juice reach pie plate for heat transfer to the filling? Let the juice soften the crust? Because Mama/Grandma did it?
    xoxoxoBruce

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    Replies
    1. Prevents the crust from bubbling up during cooking. The hole let moisture out of the crust.

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    2. Pastry is docked so that any air trapped under and in the pastry can escape and not cause bubbles and cracks. The pastry is also weighed down for a similar reason, until it's just about cooked. The weights are then removed and the pastry browned or filled.

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    3. Apparently, "Pricking holes in the rolled-out pie dough allows the steam to escape while it’s baking. Without this, the steam would puff up in bubbles and pockets throughout the crust, which would make some parts of the crust cook too quickly and also result in an uneven surface for your filling."

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    4. It allows the steam to escape the pie crust in the oven. This helps prevent bubbles and pockets in the crust which can cause it to cook unevenly and also produce an uneven surface for the filling.

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  2. It keeps bubbles of air from expanding under the crust and making it uneven, if I recall.

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  3. Found an answer to this: 'To "dock" a pastry means to prick a pie crust with a fork before baking. This technique is a simple way to poke holes in the pastry dough. This allows the steam to escape so that the pie crust doesn't puff up in the oven'.

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  4. I pierce the crust when I bake the crust by itself, like for banana cream pie. I think it's to keep too many bubbles from forming. Like the holes in a cracker.

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  5. This is what happens when comments have to be approved, and Stan doesn't get up until 8AM.

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