Perfect Pie Crust
“The first thing I do when I'm thinking about making a butter-based pie crust is to cut up the butter into cubes and put them in the freezer. They should chill at least 15 minutes in the freezer.”
Ingredients
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 Tablespoons sugar
3/4 cup (a stick and a half) unsalted butter, chilled, cut into 1/4 inch cubes
1/2 cup Crisco All-Vegetable Shortening Baking Sticks (8 Tbsp)
6-8 Tablespoons ice water
Variation 1: Swap out 1/2 a cup of the flour with ground blanched almonds or almond flour
Variation 2: Replace Shorting with Butter (an all-butter crust)
Preparation
Put flour, sugar, and salt into the bowl of a food processor and pulse a couple of times to mix. Add about half of the butter and shortening to the food processor, pulse several times. Then add the rest of the butter and shortening, pulse 6 to 8 times until the largest pieces of butter are about the size of large peas. Sprinkle the mixture with about 1/4 cup of ice water (make sure there are no ice cubes in the water!) and pulse again. Then add more ice water, a tablespoon at a time, pulsing once or twice after each addition until the dough just barely begins to hold together. You know that the mixture is ready if when you pinch some of the crumbly dough together with your fingers, it holds together. Be cautious with the amount of water you add, too much and the crust will be tough.
Carefully empty the crumbly dough mixture from the food processor on to a clean, dry, flat surface. Gather the mixture in a mound. At this point, if you want, you can do what the French call fraisage: push down with the palm of your hand on the dough crumbles a few times. This will help flatten the pieces of butter into layers which will help your crust be flaky.
Divide the dough mixture into two even-sized mounds. Use your hands to form each one into a disk. Do not over-knead! Kneading develops gluten which will toughen the dough, not something you want in a pastry crust. If you started with cold butter you should be able to see small chunks of butter speckling the dough. This is a good thing. These small bits of butter will spread out into layers as the crust cooks so you have a flaky crust!
Sprinkle each disk with a little flour, wrap each one in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for one hour or up to 2 days.
Remove one crust disk from the refrigerator. Let sit at room temperature for 5-10 minutes in order to soften just enough to make rolling out a bit easier. Roll out with a rolling pin on a lightly floured surface to a 12-inch circle; about 1/8 of an inch thick. As you roll out the dough, check if the dough is sticking to the surface below. If necessary, add a few sprinkles of flour under the dough to keep the dough from sticking. Carefully place onto a 9-inch pie plate. Gently press the pie dough down so that it lines the bottom and sides of the pie plate. Use a pair of kitchen scissors to trim the dough to within 1/2 inch of the edge of the pie dish.
Add filling to the pie.
Roll out the second disk of dough, as before. Gently place onto the top of the filling in the pie. Pinch top and bottom of dough rounds firmly together. Trim excess dough with kitchen shears, leaving a 3/4 inch overhang. Fold the edge of the top piece of dough over and under the edge of the bottom piece of dough, pressing together. Flute edges using thumb and forefinger or press with a fork. Score the top of the pie with four 2-inch long cuts, so that steam from the cooking pie can escape.
How to Pre-Bake a Pie Crust
If your recipe calls for a pre-baked crust, as many custard pie recipes do, follow all the steps above until you get to the point where it says to put in the filling. Note that you will need to make only a half recipe if you are only doing a bottom crust. Freeze the crust for at least a half-hour, until chilled. This is an important step in pre-baking. Otherwise, the crust will slip down the sides.
Line the crust with foil or parchment. Fill it about two-thirds full with dried beans, uncooked rice, pie weights, or granulated sugar.
Bake the crust in a preheated 375°F oven for 20 minutes, set on a baking stone if you have one. Remove the crust from the oven and lift out the liner and weights. (If you’ve used sugar, save it for your future baking; it’ll be lightly toasted and yummy!)
Egg Wash
A lovely coating for a pie can be achieved with a simple egg wash.
1 Tbsp heavy cream, half and half, or milk
1 large egg yolk
Beat egg yolk with cream and brush on the surface of the pie with a pastry brush.
Keywords: dessert
