American Pie. The pie crust is the key, isn't it? It is to pie lovers, like my husband. My son, too. A pie crust has to be tender and flaky. Am I right? The debate goes on as to which is better-- an all butter crust vs. using shortening. In my beginning baking years, I used to buy Mrs. Smith's frozen pies. I was too intimidated to try making pie crust, from scratch. Then, I transitioned to buying ready made pie crusts. Eventually, I started to make pie crusts with my food processor. I'd whir the dough around for an eternity, not realizing that I was doing a fabulous job of building up the gluten. My pie crusts were tough, but at that time I didn't really notice. That's because I don't eat the crust. I'm one of those pie eaters, who scoops out the contents of the pie and tosses away the rest.
I married a man who loves pie. He loves pie crust. A lot. Seriously. He could eat pie for breakfast, and be totally content. His favorite summer pie is "
Olallieberry Pie". I shared this all butter pie crust (from Ina Garten) as a tutorial (and it's gotten a lot of views).
In the Fall, I believe that Pumpkin Pie is one of the most traditional desserts that graces a Thanksgiving table. Pecan comes in as a close second. Some years, I like to try new pumpkin desserts-- like Pumpkin Ice Cream, or Pumpkin Pana Cota. This year, I wanted to make traditional pumpkin pie. I wanted to try the shortening and butter approach of making a pie crust. One of my most trusted internet recipes sources,
King Arthur Flour, had several pie crust recipes. I watched their video, and I was totally sold on making a pie crust without a food processor! There are four kitchen tools/supplies that you need, for this technique-- a rolling pin, parchment paper, a pastry cutter (you could use two forks) and and a spray bottle. For those of you who say you hate to bake-- and worse, that believe you can't make pie crusts... watch and see.
I've own a pie crust shield for years, to prevent my pie crusts from turning too dark. The problem is, it ruins my pie crusts because I tend to use a deep-dish pie plate. I now prefer to roll foil to fit my pie plate. Spray the pie plate, so that the pie slices are easier to remove. You're welcome.
Measure your 3 cups of unbleached flour (of course, I only use King Arthur Flour), salt and 1/2 cup shortening (a printable recipe card is at the end of this post). Cut the shortening in until it's the size of small peas. I have to admit, it wasn't hard work at all.
I usually grate my cold cheese. But, like the recipe instructed me to, I cut the butter into thin slices and added it to the coarse flour and shortening. Very gently, with my hands, I mixed the butter with the flour. Then broke the butter to about the size of my thumbnail.
Ice water is important-- not cold tap water. The recipe said between 6-9 Tablespoons of water. I quit at 9 Tablespoons, while stirring it with a fork. I wasn't quite sure when to quit-- as the recipe said to quite when the dough is "shaggy" and "almost moist". So, remember that parchment paper and spray bottle I mentioned? Here's the quirky part:
Spread the shaggy dough on top of parchment paper. Take one side of the parchment paper and fold it over the dough and press down.
See? The dough is a bit dry, still (I should have added one or two more Tablespoons of water.)
Now spray with water, until the dough is moistened. The theory-- which makes complete sense to me, now-- is that we are not going to overwork the dough. We also want to allow those pieces of butter to stay whole. I press the dough, almost like a letter, to build layers. Finally, it all came together.
I cut the dough into unequal halves. Why? Because one pie plate is deeper and larger than the other!
I'm holding a cross section. Those will become tender layers of flavor. I totally have faith in that.
Gently pat the dough into a circle, wrap in plastic, refrigerate, and allow to rest for at least 30 minutes. You can certainly make the pie crust dough several days in advance.
Rolling pins... I have finally fallen in-love with my tapered rolling pin. As long as I run a little flour over the rolling pin, I don't have a problem with the pie dough sticking.
I finally mastered the simple art of rolling pie dough. Start from the center and roll out. I no longer roll back and forth, and now my pie crusts don't stick and they aren't tough, from being overworked. One last tip-- turn the dough a quarter turn. If the dough sticks, then add a little flour underneath. All my broken pie crust problems have been solved!
Can you see that nice chunk of butter in the right corner? It's simple science-- the butter causes the crust to steam = tender and delicious crust. I find that wrapping my pin around the dough, and then unwrapping it onto my pie plate works perfectly-- every time.
My crust was a little unevenly shaped. I simply took some excess trimmings, and added it underneath the area that needed more. Crimping will hide that patch job.
It's fun to play with my food.
Here's a more traditional crimp.
Here's how I did it, from an earlier post for a two-crust pie.
For my second pie, I snipped the dough with kitchen shears...
That's kind of fun-- a checkerboard crust.
FINAL NOTES: The prepared pie crusts should be chilled for at least 30 minutes before using. Yes, you can freeze these as well, and use them another time-- like the day after.
I simply don't see a need to buy pre-made pie crusts. Have you read the ingredients lately? I actually find pie crusts on the therapeutic side to make. There's something really satisfying when I roll out a pie crust and crimp it. It feels like a true accomplishment. Of course, the question is-- is this a good recipe?
VERDICT: This dough is very easy to work with, and rolls out beautifully. I found the pie crust to be truly tender. My husband really liked the pie crust a lot. He says it's just like his mom's old-fashioned pie crust. I still am a big fan of all-butter crusts, and I'm a tart kinda gal. I gave my husband the crust, and gutted the pumpkin pie. Considering I had some rather generous helpings of my revised sweet potato casserole (coming up soon), that was probably a better idea.
Here's a sneak preview to the pumpkin pie recipe, that was new to me. It was excellent. Yes, I will be sharing that one, too.
I was hoping to embed the King Arthur Video on this post, but I'm a little leery about playing around with HTML codes within my template. So, instead, here's the
link to see this really cool pie crust technique.
A printable recipe card is at the end of this post, and at the end of the video.
I keep saying-- King Arthur Flour doesn't pay me to promote their products, website or recipes. I do it, because I'm a very happy customer, and I have great results with their recipes. Plus, they're nice people to deal with on the phone.
This is the first, of many, loaves that I've made. Each time I make a loaf, it gets better. Oh! There's even a whole wheat version in their Healthy Breads in 5 Minutes a Day. Each cookbook has recipes that starts with the master recipe-- from cinnamon rolls to beautifully shaped breads.
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