Pie Basics: Flour, Crust and Cool
There are people in the world who are doing great things. Some look for a vaccine for Covid-19, others search for an end to climate change, others still teach goats to do yoga. So my goal looks a little shabby in comparison: I want people to feel capable of making pie crust without fear. Perhaps even pleasure.
I don’t like that there is a lot of hocus-pocus about pie crust. You do not need to sit in a deep freeze to keep your hands and utensils cold. You don’t need to adjust the humidity of your home before pie making. There is no magic to it; just follow a few simple guidelines.
If you want to make flaky crust (good for blind-baked pies and double-crust pies):
Use a low-protein, soft wheat flour, such as Gold Medal blue label flour. If you can’t find Gold Medal blue, then start reading the sides of bags and search for one that says it’s made with soft wheat (as opposed to, yes, “hard wheat,” which has a higher protein content, forms gluten more easily and is better for less delicate things, like cookies or bread.)
Your butter should be cold. Follow the recipe’s direction as to how small to the butter up before adding to the flour. Don’t go nuts and refrigerate your flour. No one has time and space for that in their lives.
Use ice water. Pour water into a measuring cup. Add ice. Measure your water from that.
Use inexpensive glass or metal pie plates. Personally I like the Pyrex I can buy at my local grocery. Both are good at heat transference and, bonus, the glass ones let you see how done the bottom is. Almost as much fun as a glass-bottomed boat.
Of course you can use a food processor (blade attachment) or stand mixer (use the paddle attachment). The food processor makes especially quick work of it all
Rolling dough tips:
Let the dough sit in the fridge for at least two hours before rolling out.
Using a pastry board? Put a damp piece of paper towel underneath to keep it from shifting all over your countertop while rolling out the dough.
Sprinkle flour generously over the pastry board, the rolling pin, the top of the pie dough, the dog, etc. to prevent sticking.
Roll your dough starting from the middle, using downward pressure and rolling to within an inch of the edge. Do not roll to the edge. Turn the circle 1/8th turn and roll again. Keep rolling (and checking if flour needed underneath) and turning until the dough is between 1/4 and 1/2-inch thick.
Use a good, reliable recipe.
