Vinegar Pie Recipe: A Favorite!! (2024)

FAQs

What does vinegar do in pie? ›

Vinegar helps tenderize pie dough because it slightly inhibits gluten development, leading to a crust that is flakier and easier to work with.

What Does Vinegar Pie Taste Like? No, vinegar pie is not bitter, tart, or sour. In fact, it's sweet! The flavor of your pie is a bit dependent on the type of vinegar you use (more on that below), but the combination of fruit vinegar, sugar, lemon juice, and butter creates a sweet, slightly lemony, and even juicy pie.

If too much vinegar is added to a recipe, it can make the dish overly sour and unbalanced in flavor. This can also make the texture of the dish unappetizing.

But there are two much more important perks to using vinegar: it provides a little insurance against overworking the dough. And, that splash of vinegar will keep your dough from oxidizing and turning gray.

Mixing baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) and vinegar (acetic acid) causes a chemical reaction that produces a salt (sodium acetate) and water, as well as carbon dioxide gas. In this demonstration, baking soda is placed in a balloon that is attached to a flask holding vinegar.

It is used to flavor dishes — often to add a brightness or a “punchy” flavor to whatever you are making — and as a preserving and pickling agent to keep foods fresh.

Sugar, vinegar, flour, maybe some water, and if you're lucky, a bit of butter and an egg. That's the entire list of ingredients for a classic vinegar pie, which, depending on where you (or, more likely, your grandparents) grew up, will inspire fond memories—or perhaps some deep, bewildered revulsion.

To put it very simply, it develops when a fruit or grain is allowed to sit for a long period of time. Over time, bacterial growth occurs and combines with oxygen, which creates acetic acid (also known as pure vinegar). This acid is what gives the liquid its punchy, sour flavor.

Sour and tart with a pungent smell, vinegar is hard to miss. Its acidic flavor makes it an ideal companion to any meal where you need an extra punch. It's commonly found in dressings or drizzled over high-fat meals like fish and chips, where the acid cuts the fat.

- Add some sugar or honey to the dish. Sugar and honey can counteract the sourness of vinegar and add some sweetness to the dish. You can start with a small amount and adjust according to your taste.

Why use lard and butter in pastry? ›

The oilier the food, the more likely it will be harder when it cools, so cookies made with butter will be crisper and cookies made with lard will be chewier. You'll also find biscuits and pie crusts and pastries made with lard are truly amazing, flaky, and so light.

The acid in the apple cider vinegar tenderizes the dough by slowing the gluten production in the dough. This prevents it from getting tough and elastic like bread dough. Love me tender. If you've ever bitten into a slice of pie with a tough crust, you know the value in a tender, flaky pie crust.

Though the science is sketchy, a few professional pie bakers swear that it improves the texture of the crust, and they wouldn't dream of making pie dough without it. (Others swear by similarly acidic ingredients like lemon juice.) The acidic properties of vinegar inhibit gluten, some will say.

Egg yolks: Egg yolks bind the dough together and also make it more pliable and easy to work with. The fat in the yolks also adds flavor and makes the dough more tender and flaky. Butter: Unsalted and always very cold! It's important the butter is always very cold, you want it to be solid when it goes into the oven.

Add Fresh Ingredients: Incorporate fresh fruits or berries into the store-bought filling. For example, if you're using a canned cherry pie filling, add fresh pitted cherries to improve the texture and flavor. Enhance Flavor with Spices: Adjust the flavor with spices and seasonings.

As well as adding flavour, vinegar can preserve food, improve the appearance of a dish, and even fill in for missing ingredients. For example, if you've run out of fresh lemon or lime, you can always use ½ teaspoon of vinegar in place of a teaspoon of citrus juice for that flavoursome tang!

Why do some pie crust recipes call for vinegar? Vinegar can affect the gluten development in dough. Gluten gives dough structure, but too much gluten development can make dough tough. Acid can hinder gluten development; so, a bit of vinegar (or lemon juice) can make pie dough slightly more tender.

Vinegar: use half the amount of vinegar to replace lemon juice and replace the remaining liquid with water if needed. White wine: only for cooking, use an equal amount of dry white wine to replace lemon juice.