Let's play around with pie crust
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Let's play around with pie crust
'Tis the season for pies, however you fill them
Bonjour! Bonjour!
Yes, I’m in Paris, but I’m thinking of all-American pies and all-butter pie crusts. How could I not when it’s November. And apple season. And when Thanksgiving, which could be called PieGiving, is just around the proverbial corner. (Please tell me that you saw the correction to the recipe for MY FAVORITE PUMPKIN PIE – now that would be good for Thanksgiving!)
And so this month’s BAKE AND TELL group project is pie! If you scroll down, you’ll find my recipe for All-Butter Pie Dough. Or at least the crust — the filling is the play-aroundable part and it’s all yours.
As always and of course, if you’re not a member of BAKE AND TELL, which is open to all (you’ll never find a sweeter group of bakers — ever! anywhere!), the recipe is still yours to have fun with. And if you want to post pictures, I hope you’ll tag me @doriegreenspan.
If you’ve already got a favorite pie crust, use it. The point of these projects is always the same — to get all of us into the kitchen to bake something we love and to share it with people we love.
About the crust
For years I made a crust that had both butter and shortening. It was a delicious crust and it had great texture, but sometimes it lost its flutes and sometimes it flopped over in the oven. It took a long time for me to give up the crust, but once I made this all-butter one, I didn’t have room in my heart for any other. As I wrote in BAKING WITH DORIE: This is my pie dough. Period.
It’s not only all-butter, it’s pretty much all-purpose. It makes open-faced pies, slab pies and double-crusted ones. It can even be used for galettes. It’s happy to hold just about any filling. It rolls without fuss — such a big deal! And it’s great for first-time or tentative crusters, for crust scaredy-cats, too: Even if you’ve never made a piecrust before, you can ace this one.
Have fun! I’ll jump into BAKE AND TELL and #pie to see how you’re doing. You can always tag me – I’m @doriegreenspan on Instagram and Facebook. And I’ll see you back here again soon.
Some of the links in this post may be affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I might earn a little flour-and-sugar money if you make a qualifying purchase after clicking on a link, which I promise to use while creating more stories like this. Thanks for your support.
ALL-BUTTER PIE DOUGH
Adapted from BAKING WITH DORIE
GOOD TO KNOW BEFORE YOU START
Temperature: Crusts love cold, so think of the fridge and the freezer as handy tools when you’re making dough. And make sure your butter is really cold — on the verge of frozen or frozen is what you’re looking for.
Mixing: I use a food processor to make this and just about every other dough. Whir the dry ingredients together, drop in the cubes of cold butter and pulse in long— 10-second or so —spurts. Stop often to scrape the bottom and under the blade of the workbowl. Keep pulsing until you’ve got moist clumps and curds. Don’t be surprised if it takes you 15 or 20 pulses to get a clumpy dough that holds together when you pinch it. Gradually pulse in the liquid and then stop! Don’t let the dough form a ball on the blade.
Rolling and chilling: I like to roll the dough out as soon as it’s made – it rolls so easily then. If it’s too soft, chill it a bit and then fit it into the pan. Whether you fit it immediately or a little later, you must, must, must chill it in the fridge or the freezer before you bake it. The dough’s got to be cold when it goes into the oven. Warm dough is the stuff of nightmares.
Crusts now and later: Once the dough is in the pan, you can freeze it for up to two months. You can also freeze the rounds of rolled-out dough and fit them into pans and bake them. If you’ve got the dough in metal pans, you can go directly from freezer to oven. If you’re using glass pans, pull the frozen set-up out of the freezer and let it sit on the counter while you preheat your oven.
Quantity: This recipe makes two 9- to 9 1/2-inch crusts, enough for a double-crusted pie, for two open-faced pies, or for one open-faced pie and a spare to freeze for next time.
Makes two 9- to 9 1/2-inch crusts
INGREDIENTS
3 cups (408 grams) all-purpose flour
1⁄4 cup (50 grams) sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons fine sea salt
2 sticks (8 ounces; 226 grams) unsalted butter, frozen or very cold, cut into small pieces (see above)
Up to 1/2 cup (120 ml) ice water
DIRECTIONS
PLAN AHEAD: The crust needs to be chilled for at least 1 hour.
Put the flour, sugar and salt in a food processor and pulse to blend. Scatter the pieces of butter over the flour and pulse the machine in long spurts until the butter is well incorporated. This could take more than a dozen blitzes. Add the ice water a little at time, processing after each addition. Stop when you have moist clumps and curds (you may not need all of the water)—don’t process until the dough forms a ball; pinch a bit of the dough, and it should hold together easily.
Turn the dough out, divide it in half and shape each half into a disk.
Working with one disk at a time, flour a sheet of parchment paper, center the dough on it, flour the dough and cover with a second sheet. Roll the dough into a round that’s between 11 and 12 inches in diameter.
If the dough is cold enough, fit it into a buttered pie pan (or the pan you’re using); leave whatever dough hangs over the edge. If it’s not cold, chill it until it’s workable, then fit it into the pan. Keep the second round between the sheets of paper and slide it onto a baking sheet. Freeze or refrigerate for at least 1 hour – longer is always better.
If you’re making an open-faced pie and need a partially or fully baked bottom crust, either crimp the dough that’s hanging over the pan to make a decorative edge or trim the excess dough even with the rim of the pan and press the tines of a fork against the dough.
Getting ready to bake: Center a rack in the oven and preheat it to 375 degrees F. Place the pie pan on a baking sheet and fit a piece of parchment or foil against the crust; fill with dried beans or rice.
To partially bake: Bake for 20 minutes, then carefully remove the paper or foil and weights and bake for another 3 to 4 minutes—you want the crust to be firm, but it doesn’t need to take on much color.
To fully bake: Bake for 20 minutes, then carefully remove the paper or foil and weights and bake for about 8 minutes more, or until the crust is beautifully golden.
Transfer the crust to a rack and let cool.
Storing: The rolled-out crusts or the unbaked pie shells can be wrapped well and refrigerated for up to 3 days or frozen for up to 2 months. You can also freeze baked crusts (in the pans) for up to 2 months.
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Let's play around with pie crust
I love the flavor of all butter crusts but they shrink up so terribly on me. Am I just not chilling them enough?
Dumb question I’m sure….generally speaking Should I partially bake The crust, fill it with filling, Then bake it fully?