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Cuisinart Dough Blade

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I use it to knead dough for pizzas. But silly question, do I use the dough blade or the metal blade for a pie crust/pate brisee dough?

Thanks guys!

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  1. I almost never use the dough blade and when my DH makes his wonderful bread in the processor I don't think I have seen him use it either, just the steel knife. I use the steel knife for pastry but when I make pizza dough I use the Kitchen Aid stand mixer. I guess if I was to make the pizza dough in the processor I would still use the steel blade. I think I have found in the past that the the plastic blade is too short. I find it pretty useless.

    1. I use the metal blade for pastry which the processor does beautifully. I haven't ever used the plastic blade. I think when I got my first Cuisinart I tried bread using the plastic blade and stopped pretty quickly because it does such a poor job. Like Candy I use my Kitchenaid for yeast doughs. The Cuisinart plastic blade is in a drawer somewhere.

      1. Definitely use the steel blade for pastry dough. Even if recipes don't specifically state this, that's what they intend when they tell you to use the food processor. Any recipe, for any kind of dish, that doesn't specifically tell you to use an alternate blade, intends for you to use the steel blade. I can see where Cuisinart and the other brands calling the plastic one the dough blade could be confusing, but however well it does or doesn't work, it was designed specifically for kneading yeast dough, not for pulsing ingredients, which is what you're doing when making pie dough and other short crusts.

        2 Replies
        1. re: Caitlin McGrath

          I hadn't thought of it that way, but it would be true of scones and biscuits, also.

          1. re: Caitlin McGrath

            Actually, if you read your owners manual, you'll see that for doughs in smaller batches, the steel blade is recommended. When you get up to your processor's capacity (mine is about 6 cups of flour + the liquid), the recipes start telling you to use the dough blade for mixing/kneading. For half-quantities, the recipes call for the metal blade. And for tart pastries and things, always the steel.

          2. My last Cuisinart didn't even come with a dough blade.

            2 Replies
            1. re: rainey

              It's a pretty recent addition for Cuisinart and the other brands, I think.

              1. re: Caitlin McGrath

                You mean to *not* provide a dough blade?

                My first Cuisinart ('78 I remember the year because my boss gave it to me when I left to have my daughter) came with a dough blade and I think the one I had in between had one too. But I didn't bother to hold onto either of them when I dumped the machines...