Pie and Pastry Bible (180 page)

1 package active dry yeast = 2¼ teaspoons = 0.25 ounce = 7 grams

1 package compressed fresh yeast = 0.6 ounce = 17 grams

SAF-Instant yeast: 1 tablespoon = 0.38 ounce/11 grams

By weight, if a recipe calls for dry or SAF-Instant yeast, × 2.42 is the amount of fresh needed.

By weight, if a recipe calls for fresh yeast, 0.41 is the amount of dry yeast needed.

Using volume, you need 1.4 × the volume of packed fresh yeast to replace dry, 1.5 × the volume of packed fresh yeast to replace SAF-Instant.

Cornstarch, tapioca, and cassava have equal thickening power by weight but not by volume:

1 teaspoon tapioca = 3.5 grams; 1 teaspoon cornstarch = 3.16 grams; 1 teaspoon cassava = 2.6 grams

1 tablespoon tapioca = 10.5 grams; 1 tablespoon cornstarch = 9.5 grams; 1 tablespoon cassava = 8 grams

1 teaspoon cornstarch = 1¼ teaspoons cassava (tapioca powder) = scant 1 teaspoon tapioca

1 tablespoon cornstarch = 1 tablespoon ó ¾ teaspoon cassava

1 teaspoon tapioca = 1
teaspoon cassava

1 teaspoon tapioca = 1¼ teaspoons cornstarch

1 teaspoon cassava = ¾ teaspoon ó
teaspoon cornstarch

EQUIPMENT

NOTE:
When distributors are exclusive or the item is hard to find, sources are listed. However, sources can change. Some places will special-order or direct you to the distributor if they no longer carry a given item.

When it comes to pie and pastry making, very little equipment is needed. One could make a first-rate pie in a skillet or a free-form tart on a baking sheet with a wine bottle as a rolling pin as long as there was a decent oven, and, of course, a scale or measuring cups. But special equipment makes the pleasure of baking that much more joyful. My great-uncle Nathan George Horwit, designer of the Movado Museum watch, was an industrial designer. It was from him that I learned to appreciate the Bauhaus principle of form following function. There is little that excites me more than a tool that makes a job easier and the results more perfect. For me, a well-designed tool is a work of art and deserves to be on permanent display.

WEIGHING AND MEASURING

Of all the sweet things in life, few are as sweet as second chances. But when it comes to baking, you don’t get any. When you bake a pie or tart, you cannot taste it partway through the baking process and decide what else to add. And if you measured the flour with cavalier indifference or a heavy hand, you cannot undo the effects of dryness and heavy texture. A cook must constantly taste, prod, evaluate, and adapt to the variation of ingredients. A baker, however, is working with ingredients such as flour, sugar, baking powder, water, and butter, which are far more consistent. The variance in baking results comes from the manner in which the baker measures the ingredients, even more than from the mixing technique. Using scales to weigh the ingredients totally eliminates this problem.

Any lover of baking ultimately will adore using a scale once past the fear of
what sometimes, at first, is perceived as a laboratory object. Weighing ingredients is not only reassuring, it is much faster than measuring and results in far less cleanup. Consider how much easier it is to scoop cocoa or powdered sugar, with the inevitable lumps, into a bowl for weighing, rather than to try to measure out a level cup, lightly spooned. And I wouldn’t dream of trying to pack brown sugar into a cup when I can weigh it in a flash. Also think how much more pleasant it is to weigh a greasy substance like vegetable shortening rather than to smear it into a measuring cup, or to weigh sticky corn syrup or honey. Scales that have the ability to eliminate (the professional term is
tare
) the weight of the bowl also make it possible for the baker to add dry ingredients to the mixing bowl one after the other, rather than having to use separate bowls for each. They can then all be mixed together, eliminating the need either to sift the flour or to sift the dry ingredients together.

Pendulum scale

Another benefit of weighing is the ease of cutting or multiplying a recipe. And once in a great while, I have completed a filling or dough and suddenly wondered if I remembered to add an ingredient. When in doubt, all I need to do is weigh the final unbaked product. If it is less than the total weight of the recipe ingredients, my suspicions are confirmed and I can add what I left out.

Of course, an inaccurate scale is worse than no scale at all. The old-fashioned beam-balance scale (the food goes on one pedestal and is balanced by weights set on the other one) is accurate but slower than pendulum or electronic scales. I avoid scales made with springs, as over time and with use they may rust or wear out and become less accurate. The best electronic scales can and should be calibrated regularly, using weights. Less expensive electronic models may not be as reliable. As an alternative to a good-quality electronic scale, I prefer a simple inexpensive pendulum scale, such as the Cuisinarts one retailing for about $35. It weighs only up to 10 ounces/300 grams and is accurate to plus or minus 2 grams.

Digital scale

The two electronic scales that I have worked with for several years and which I can swear by are the Mettler laboratory scale, Model #SB16001, retailing for about $2200; and the Edlund Model #80, available through local food service equipment dealers for about $260. Both readily switch back and forth between ounces and grams. The Mettler’s accuracy to within 0.2 gram is sufficient to weigh a teaspoon of baking powder and its range of 35 pounds/16,000 grams makes it possible to weigh ingredients in one bowl for a large wedding cake. The Edlund’s capacity is only 5 pounds/2268 grams, with an accuracy of 0.1 ounce/1 gram.

If you have never baked by weight, borrow a scale and try it just once. I guarantee you will be an instant convert.

Measuring cups

Heatproof measuring cup

Measuring spoons

MEASURING CUPS AND SPOONS
Folcy stainless steel cups are the most attractive and among the most accurate (except for the 2-cup one, which measures slightly under). Tupperware’s cups are also excellent and include practical
-cup and ¾-cup sizes. Solid measures must have unbroken, smooth rims, making it possible to level off excess ingredients.