Readers find oil pastry quick and easy to make

A little while ago, Marguerite Gallison in Bangor asked for a recipe for a pie crust made with oil instead of the usual hard shortening like butter, lard, or one of the hydrogenated fats that many of us use.

About 15 of you kindly sent along recipes and advice, and credited everything from the Betty Crocker Cookbook to high school Home Ec class to the side of the Mazola (or Wesson or some other oil) bottle for the source. Several of you have been making an oil pastry for years.

Ethel Pochocki of Brooks says she has used hers for 50 years (I hope I am not giving away her age here) and Patti Forbes in Harrington says her 94-year-old mom has “always” used an oil pastry. Jeanine Gay in Belfast sent me a photocopied recipe that is labeled at the top “1943 – 7th Grade Home Ec. Recipe Book.” (Surely that wasn’t Jeanine’s!) When Linda Pieper in Glen Cove learned to make pie crust from her grandmother in the mid-1950s, it was an oil pastry. So we have established that they have been around for quite a while. In fact, one of you pointed out that Marjorie Standish included oil pastry in her classic Cooking Down East.

Many of you said that the oil pastry was “so easy.” Roberta Grove said, “I wouldn’t think of using any other recipe – it is so quick, so delicious, and very little cleanup.” Diane Collar in Eastbrook said that her mother was a “pie-making fanatic” because the oil pastry was so easy. Neva Health in Rockland said, “It has never failed me, I use it when I want only one crust,” as in quiche or the top of a pot pie. So I was absolutely stricken when I had a hard time with it, and didn’t like the result very much. What is wrong with me?

Of course, oil doesn’t work the same way that the hard fats do. As my friend Sharon Daley, who manages her cholesterol entirely by careful cooking and eating, says, “It is really not that great, but the oil crust is the only one I can eat and feel halfway all right about.” Gail O’Donnel of Belfast said, “It can be tender, but not flakey.” That would appear to condemn it with faint praise. Apparently oil pastry has its adherents, as Ethel said, “I’ve never found it tricky, just easier than the ‘normal’ pastry. But that’s because it suits me. To each his own.” Good point.

When I took all the recipes and lined them up, I found the most common proportion for one crust was one cup of flour (plus often two tablespoons more), 1/2 teaspoon of salt, 1/3 cup of oil, and 2-3 tablespoons of water. About a third of the recipes called for milk instead of water. Another thing I noticed is that to make two crusts, we can’t just go around doubling the recipe. Instead we usually go from 1 cup to 13/4, and from 1/3 cup of oil to 1/2.

Rosemary West in Alexander likes to use whole wheat flour and finds the 1 cup flour and 1/3 cup oil with 2-3 tablespoons of milk works well for her. Gail Crowley whisks her water and oil together until it is frothy, and said, “I think the trick is very cold oil and water and the whisking.” Priscilla Frennette in Glenburn mixes the water and oil, too, using a fork.

Then there are the rollers and the pressers. Almost all of you advised to roll it between two sheets of waxed paper (which I did, suffering the most annoying kind of paper wrinkling and then when I straightened out the paper, the dough cracked; fortunately you can just shove it together again.) Nola Connors and Priscilla both advised to dampen the counter before putting down a sheet of waxed paper to prevent it from sliding when you roll, which I did. Nola wrote, “After the dough is rolled out, turn over into pie plate, gently peel wax paper off and fit to plate.” I found I really did have to handle the dough with a piece of paper still attached to it to ease it into a plate. Or I else could have used the dough pressing method.

Gina Doyle in Corinna and Jean Anderson, my friend and neighbor on Islesboro, both use the mix-in-the-plate and press-it-out method. In fact, I have watched Jean do that; she has a favorite blueberry pie recipe with a pressed crust that she was making one day when I was visiting.

I never feel like I am a great pastry maker, and I struggled with these, too, but the results weren’t bad. I have opted to give you the recipe that gave me the least trouble, not a great standard for judging but there you go. Choosing when to use this crust is part of the key to success. I don’t think it is nearly as good for double crust pies as it is for open pies. I tested the crusts using aluminum pie plates with a pumpkin pie filling, and starting the pies at 400 degrees for ten minutes and, dropping to 350 for the rest of the time.

The other thing you must do is toss the dough, oil and water together with a fork, and work quickly and lightly. This insures tenderness. I chilled the dough for a while before rolling it out, but to tell the truth I don’t think it made any difference.

Good luck.

Send queries or answers to Sandy Oliver, 1061 Main Road, Islesboro 04848. E-mail: tastebuds@prexar.com. For recipes, tell us where they came from. List ingredients, specify number of servings and do not abbreviate measurements. Include name, address and daytime phone number.

Oil Pastry

Yields one 8-9 inch pie crust.

1 cup all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup of vegetable oil

2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons water

Put the flour and salt into a bowl and toss them together. Mix the oil and water together and pour into the flour, tossing with a fork until a ball begins to form. Finish forming a ball of dough with your fingers, handling the dough as little as possible. Place between two sheets of waxed paper and roll out quickly. Remove the top sheet of paper, using a spatula blade to ease off the dough if it sticks. Then lay your pie plate over the dough. Flip it over. Gently peel the waxed paper away, easing the dough off into the plate. Repair any cracks by pushing the dough together with your fingers. Proceed with the rest of the pie making as you usually do.