Pie Crust
Yields 2 crusts.
Ingredients
- 12 ounces flour
- 8 ounces butter
- 2-3 ounces ice cold water (would be 4 but butter has a high moisture content)
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon sugar for sweet pies
Directions
- To start, whisk together the dry ingredients. Take half of the butter--which must be cold--and cube it with a knife. Add the butter to the dry ingredients and rub it between your fingers until the dough resembles a coarse sand. This process usually takes a few minutes.
- Next, take the second half of the cold butter, cube it, and rub it into the flour with your fingers. This time leave the butter in larger pieces. The pieces should be larger than you think is reasonable--it is perfectly acceptable for many of the pieces of butter to be as large as your thumbnail. The first addition of butter is used to hold the dough together; the second addition of butter, when left in larger pieces, is used to create the classic flakiness of a pie crust.
- Next, ice cold water is added to the dough to bring it together. I usually fill a measuring cup with water, throw in a couple ice cubes, and add water by the tablespoon to the dough. For a full batch, start with four tablespoons of water and mix the dough until it is uniform. I prefer to use a dough whisk, but a large whisk or spatula will also work well. From here, it is important to add the water slowly so you can see how each tablespoon of water affects the consistency of the dough. Unless you have added too much flour, you should not need to add more than 8 tablespoons of water. The dough will appear drier than you think is reasonable. However, if you squeeze it between your fingers, it should hold firmly together.
- Place the pie dough onto a sheet of parchment paper. The dough will not stick to the paper, which makes it easy to shape. Using the paper as a tool, press down on the dough until it forms a disk. Most of the dough will come together easily, but you may have drier pieces around the edges. To bring these into the mix, fold the dough in half using the parchment paper. Press down on the disk and fold again in an alternating direction. Repeat until the dough is uniform (this typically occurs between 5-10 folds). As a bonus, the folding technique adds more of the coveted flaky layers.
- Shape the dough into a disk and wrap it with plastic wrap. Chill in the refrigerator for at least a half hour (but no longer than 2-3 days). Chilling the dough is important because it evenly distributes the moisture throughout the dough, resulting in a product that is easier to roll out and shape.
- When you are ready to form the crust, sprinkle a light amount of flour over the same parchment paper. Cut the dough in half (50/50 ratio) if creating a double crust pie or two single pie crusts. If creating a lattice pattern, cut dough in a 60/40 ratio since less dough is needed to cover the top. This ratio will provide extra dough for the bottom to make it easier to use and shape. Sprinkle a light amount of flour over the pie dough and roll out using a rolling pin. The parchment paper is a nonstick surface which allows you to move the dough around as you roll it out, preventing it from sticking to the paper. Roll out in one direction, physically move the dough (not the paper), and roll out from another angle to create a circular shape. Let the dough come to you instead of twisting yourself to roll the dough--this will help you keep the dough an even thickness. Using the parchment paper to help you roll out the dough makes it easier to move and transfer the dough when the moment comes. The dough should be approximately 14" round for a bottom crust in a 9" pie pan. The dough should be between 1/8" and 1/4" thick. Do not roll it thicker or it will not bake evenly; likewise, do not roll it thinner or it will be prone to ripping or tearing.
- I often roll the edge of the dough over my forearm and transfer it to the pie pan. However, you can also roll the dough over the rolling pin to transfer or simply flip over the parchment paper onto the pie pan. The dough holds together well enough that it can be moved around until it is centered. Typically, the dough is trimmed so that there is a 1" overhang over the edge of the pan. The extra dough can be used to patch any holes or fill in areas around the edge.
- Fluted crust: Roll out the second crust and lay on top of the pie. Pick up the upper crust and the excess from the bottom crust together and roll the edge under so it is contained within the pie pan. Use the thumb of one hand as a base, and the forefinger and thumb on your other hand to crimp the crust. When you have crimped the crust all around, push the crust in a bit at the base of the fluting—when the dough first heats up in the oven it will lose some structural integrity, you want the fluting to sag down onto the slope of the pie pan where it will be supported rather than to fall flat on the edge of the pie pan and lose it’s vertical structure.