# Bulk Pie crusts



## missnibbles

So, I have opened a pie shop, and I have been going almost a year now.  I have been making my pie crusts 1/2lb of butter at a time in a small food processor.  Is there some bigger equipment I could use to make a bigger batch?  I"d like to be able to mix at least 1lb of butter in at a time.  Though, bigger would be nicer too, I'm just about to invest in a pie press, because the rolling is wearing me out, and I realized if I could make some bigger batches I would be in much better shape to keep up with demand.    I have a pretty ridiculously big fridge, so I could mix it all in there to keep it cold.  I just don't want to waste 5k on equipment to find out that I am barking up the wrong tree. Thanks for any help, I'd really appreciate it.


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## foodpump

A 20 qt mixer will be a lot of help. You can find them new or used and they are very common to find, and very reasonably priced.

I'm not a big fan of pie crust presses, you need a very "liquid" dough" to squish out into your forms, and you still have to scale out the dough into portions/balls to fit into the press. Most formulas for dough specific to a crust press use liquid oil, and not butter.

Many bakeries use a machine called a "dough sheeter". This machine has a conveyor belt on either end and a pair of s/s rollers in the middle. You can adjust the gap in between the rollers and roll out your dough as thick or as thin as you like. This is the same machine used for puff pastry and danish, basicallly for any dough you want to roll out. Bad news is these machines aren't cheap, table top models start at 5 thousand.

What I strongly suggest is for you to look for companies specializing in bakery equipment, they will have both new and used machines. At these stores you can see the equipment and try it out, and they won't make you buy it! Basically, familiarize yourself with the equipment and suppliers, you will need them one day. 20 qt mixers can be found at any restaurant supply store, new or used.


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## missnibbles

Hmm, I definitely don't want to change my recipe super drastically.  I didn't realize it would need to be so dramatically different for a press. 

I'm prepared to spend some money on equipment, I just really need the right equipment, it would be really frustrating to drop a bunch of money on something that is ineffective.  I will look at dough sheeters, that might be the right thing.

Can I cut butter in with a mixer?  I've got a kitchen aid I could start practicing with...

Right now I run the butter through a potato slicer, and then cut it in with the food processor.  Is there a better more efficient way?


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## foodpump

Yes, you can cut in butter with a mixer.  Hobart makes a special dough hook for this purpose, it looks like a flat beater, but with knife edges to cut in butter into flour.

This is what I do:  I unwrap my butter and toss into the flour, then take out the blocks and cut them into 1/2" thick slices, which I toss back into the flour.  Then I stack up the slices (they won't stick, because they are coated with flour) and cut them into strips and then into cubes (I am a cook, after all...) and toss it back into the flour.  What you have now are 1/2" chunks of hard butter that are flour coated and will not stick together. It sounds like a lot of work, but it goes very quickly. Using the "B" flat beater in the mixer, you can cut in the butter very quickly and efficiently.   

Check out the dough sheeters, you want the table top reversible ones.  They are very handy and can be used for a multitude of doughs.  DO NOT use any pizza making equipment, and don't let anyone tell you that a pizza roller is the same thing as a dough sheeter, a huge amount of differences.

Hope this helps


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## rom323

This might sound a little strange, but for batches of pie dough, or biscuits, where I need to cut 10+ lbs of butter, I force it through a wire cooling rack. It saves me a lot of time, and it comes out the same size as if you were dicing it. From there I usually finish working it in by hand.


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## missnibbles

How do you press it though a wire rack?  That sounds really hard to do.   Is the butter cold when you do this?


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## missnibbles

Ok, I will definitely need to get a hobart then, I didn't realize it came with any version of a pastry knife blade, that is exactly the kind of thing I need.  Thanks for hte warning about pizza equipment.   You guys are a great help!


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## toshibaaa

Would one of those potato fries cutter work on those cold butter? comparing to the wire method... Seem tough to do the wire


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## missnibbles

I currently use a potato fry cutter.  I had to remove several blades to make it so I can push the butter through cold. It seems fairly quick, other than it does waste some butter.


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## rom323

I have badass hands. And I press near the edge where it's sturdier.


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## missnibbles

Apparently you do!


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## bigbadpastry

I use a cheese grater on cold butter, it works great for me.  I make pie dough enough for 10 or 15 pies at a time, in a bowl, with my hands.  Mostly because the one time I put it in the hobart I had terrible dough that couldn't hold together,  it's a bit of work, but it's bulletproof every time. I am a little curious about the attachment that cuts in butter for you. Oh, and I freeze my dough disks, and that also works well for me.


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## missnibbles

Do you use like automatic grater?  Or grate by hand?  Sometimes I'm making 60 pies a day.   Sheesh, this little tiny farm stand pie shop is a lot busier then I expected.  So far it's just me doing the work, so I really need fast and efficient.


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## bigbadpastry

Whoa!  I guess I would be using the grater attachment on the Hobart I may even freeze it first!  Dough hook attachment for the mixing?  I wonder if that would be better than the paddle that I used to make crappy dough.  Thanks for the food for thought!  Good Luck in Pie World!


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## saleem williams

I'm starting a pie shop soon and I wanted to know, when you bake your pies do you put them all into the oven together or do you bake them separately?


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## missnibbles

I have a double decker convection oven that I just bought, it can fit 4 pies per rack with a cookie sheet under them for ease of cleaning.  I do 8 pies per oven, so 16 at a time.  If I need to I can add another oven rack, making it 24 at a time, but one, I haven't needed it yet, and two, it makes getting them in and out of the oven more difficult.  Also, I could skip the cookie sheets and I could fit a lot more pies per oven rack, but it would be extremely obnoxious to clean up all those drips.

I am a pie shop in a farming community that has a lot of tourists.  My traffic varies wildly, and I'm still learning the business, it's just at the end of my first year.  Your oven needs are more dependent upon how and what you are going to cook and for how many pies and how many sales.


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## walker101

foodpump said:


> A 20 qt mixer will be a lot of help. You can find them new or used and they are very common to find, and very reasonably priced.
> 
> I'm not a big fan of pie crust presses, you need a very "liquid" dough" to squish out into your forms, and you still have to scale out the dough into portions/balls to fit into the press. Most formulas for dough specific to a crust press use liquid oil, and not butter.
> 
> Many bakeries use a machine called a "dough sheeter". This machine has a conveyor belt on either end and a pair of s/s rollers in the middle. You can adjust the gap in between the rollers and roll out your dough as thick or as thin as you like. This is the same machine used for puff pastry and danish, basicallly for any dough you want to roll out. Bad news is these machines aren't cheap, table top models start at 5 thousand.
> 
> What I strongly suggest is for you to look for companies specializing in bakery equipment, they will have both new and used machines. At these stores you can see the equipment and try it out, and they won't make you buy it! Basically, familiarize yourself with the equipment and suppliers, you will need them one day. 20 qt mixers can be found at any restaurant supply store, new or used.


Hi there food pump. Thank you for all of the great info! Do you mind if I ask a basic question? I want to open a pie shop in a very busy area, and I know how to make a pie or two, but this would require I make a lot of pies. Please please please tell me what I would need to make them in bulk. So far I am looking at the H600 60 quart Hobart mixer for the dough. Is that good for selling hundreds of pies at thanksgiving? or thousands over time? I know I want a Hobart gear driven mixer. How many mixers/ovens would I need and what size should I be looking for? Also if you know a good oven and refrigerator that would be greatly appreciated. I want to be able to make up to 200-300 pies per day if need arises. Does that sound like a lot of pies to you for thanksgiving in a very high traffic area? Thanks in advance. I apologize if this was already answered somewhere else on this site. I looked everywhere before I asked.


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## foodpump

60 is big, the bowl weighs over 40 lbs, and filled with dough would be closer to 90-100lbs. That's a lot of weight to take off the mixer and flop down on the bench to start portioning the dough. If you're built like a body builder, no problem otherwise A 30 or 40 qt will work well, you can make dough in the slower times and freeze dough, or even better, indv. rolled out top and bottoms, sandwiched between parchment.

You'll need a walk in cooler, something you can roll in carts into.
You'll also need a dough sheeter, a real one, no pizza crappola.

You need to shop for this stuff at a bakery eqpt. guy, because you'll need a deck oven. A restaurant supplier will try to sell you a convection, mainly because they don't know better, but also because they're too lazy to learn about deck ovens. A convection has no bottom heat and no deck, so your pies will have pale, soggy bottoms. A deck oven will guarantee crisp, well baked pie bottoms.

This is all production baking and you'll have to learn how to run a production schedule. The best and easiest way to do this is to work for a production bakery before you commit yourself and plunk your money down.


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## walker101

foodpump said:


> 60 is big, the bowl weighs over 40 lbs, and filled with dough would be closer to 90-100lbs. That's a lot of weight to take off the mixer and flop down on the bench to start portioning the dough. If you're built like a body builder, no problem otherwise A 30 or 40 qt will work well, you can make dough in the slower times and freeze dough, or even better, indv. rolled out top and bottoms, sandwiched between parchment.
> 
> You'll need a walk in cooler, something you can roll in carts into.
> You'll also need a dough sheeter, a real one, no pizza crappola.
> 
> You need to shop for this stuff at a bakery eqpt. guy, because you'll need a deck oven. A restaurant supplier will try to sell you a convection, mainly because they don't know better, but also because they're too lazy to learn about deck ovens. A convection has no bottom heat and no deck, so your pies will have pale, soggy bottoms. A deck oven will guarantee crisp, well baked pie bottoms.
> 
> This is all production baking and you'll have to learn how to run a production schedule. The best and easiest way to do this is to work for a production bakery before you commit yourself and plunk your money down.


Thank you so much for the excellent information Foodpump! That was way more detailed than I expected and super fast reply! You rock! Have a good weekend and best wishes for you and your family!


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## KtzPotPies

missnibbles said:


> So, I have opened a pie shop, and I have been going almost a year now. I have been making my pie crusts 1/2lb of butter at a time in a small food processor. Is there some bigger equipment I could use to make a bigger batch? I"d like to be able to mix at least 1lb of butter in at a time. Though, bigger would be nicer too, I'm just about to invest in a pie press, because the rolling is wearing me out, and I realized if I could make some bigger batches I would be in much better shape to keep up with demand. I have a pretty ridiculously big fridge, so I could mix it all in there to keep it cold. I just don't want to waste 5k on equipment to find out that I am barking up the wrong tree. Thanks for any help, I'd really appreciate it.


Did you ever purchase a pie press? Thinking about getting one and wanted to see what you thought of it.


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## KtzPotPies

foodpump said:


> A 20 qt mixer will be a lot of help. You can find them new or used and they are very common to find, and very reasonably priced.
> 
> I'm not a big fan of pie crust presses, you need a very "liquid" dough" to squish out into your forms, and you still have to scale out the dough into portions/balls to fit into the press. Most formulas for dough specific to a crust press use liquid oil, and not butter.
> 
> Many bakeries use a machine called a "dough sheeter". This machine has a conveyor belt on either end and a pair of s/s rollers in the middle. You can adjust the gap in between the rollers and roll out your dough as thick or as thin as you like. This is the same machine used for puff pastry and danish, basicallly for any dough you want to roll out. Bad news is these machines aren't cheap, table top models start at 5 thousand.
> 
> What I strongly suggest is for you to look for companies specializing in bakery equipment, they will have both new and used machines. At these stores you can see the equipment and try it out, and they won't make you buy it! Basically, familiarize yourself with the equipment and suppliers, you will need them one day. 20 qt mixers can be found at any restaurant supply store, new or used.


I have opened a local Pot Pie business that is going well. I need to increase the quantity of pie crusts that I can make at a time. I'm currently making 2 double crust pie crusts at a time and that isn't sustainable for much longer because it takes so much time for the quantity that I need. I use a combo of flour/butter/lard/water/salt. Would a big commercial mixer be my best bet? I use a pie sheeter to roll my dough out (it's AMAZING) but need to figure out the mixing part.


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## chefpeon

KtzPotPies said:


> I have opened a local Pot Pie business that is going well. I need to increase the quantity of pie crusts that I can make at a time. I'm currently making 2 double crust pie crusts at a time and that isn't sustainable for much longer because it takes so much time for the quantity that I need. I use a combo of flour/butter/lard/water/salt. Would a big commercial mixer be my best bet? I use a pie sheeter to roll my dough out (it's AMAZING) but need to figure out the mixing part.


Did you read this whole thread? The answer to your question has already been addressed in posts above along with some other valuable information that may be of use to you.


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## KtzPotPies

chefpeon said:


> Did you read this whole thread? The answer to your question has already been addressed in posts above along with some other valuable information that may be of use to you.


Yes, I did. I specifically wanted a reply from foodpump because he is a professional pastry chef and explains everything very well. I have searched around online for making pie crust in bulk and have found very very little info and was just looking for some guidance.


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## chefpeon

KtzPotPies said:


> Yes, I did. I specifically wanted a reply from foodpump because he is a professional pastry chef and explains everything very well. I have searched around online for making pie crust in bulk and have found very very little info and was just looking for some guidance.


Actually we are all pastry chefs; this is the Professional Pastry Chefs forum. 
The answer to your question is in the posts previous to yours. What wasn't answered? To make pie crusts in bulk you would definitely want a commercial mixer. Foodpump also described what kind of beater you would want to use with it too. See above.


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## KtzPotPies

chefpeon said:


> Actually we are all pastry chefs; this is the Professional Pastry Chefs forum.
> The answer to your question is in the posts previous to yours. What wasn't answered? To make pie crusts in bulk you would definitely want a commercial mixer. Foodpump also described what kind of beater you would want to use with it too. See above.


I know that as you multiply recipes that the recipe may need to be adjusted a bit for making it in bulk. Is this true of pastry? Or is simply multiplying my regular recipe good enough?


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## chefpeon

KtzPotPies said:


> I know that as you multiply recipes that the recipe may need to be adjusted a bit for making it in bulk. Is this true of pastry? Or is simply multiplying my regular recipe good enough?


No adjustments are necessary. All you need to do is multiply it to make the amount you need.


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