I've been watching my mom make pie crust ever since I was a little girl. Cutting the fat into the flour, adding ice cold water, stirring with a fork. I would sit at the island and watch the rhythm of her arms rolling out the dough, always from the center outward. She transformed it from a squat disk into a beautiful sheet of thin pastry. It's an art that is best learned by watching and doing together, an old hand guiding yours as you learn the feel of the dough. My mom learned from her mother-in-law, my Grammy, who has made countless pies in her century of life. My mom taught my sister, who then taught me on a weekend of sister fun.
Jack helps me sometimes, measuring flour or stirring the fork. Someday Emma will help too. Passing on the family tradition, over a century old.
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I've done my best to explain our process as thoroughly and simply as I can. Hopefully it helps you in your quest of the perfect crust!
Pie Crust
Makes 1 double crust pie
Total Time: 20 minutes
2 1/2 cups + 3 T. flour (12 ounces)
1 1/8 tsp. salt
1 1/4 cup cold shortening (8 ounces)
1/2 cup ice water (4 ounces)
You will also need 2 - 3 T. of cream to finish the top
Before you begin, measure out the shortening and stick it in the freezer for 10 - 15 minutes.
It's important that the fat stays cold or your crust will not be as flaky.
Stir flour and salt together in a large bowl.
Remove 6 T. of the flour/salt mixture to a small bowl. Set aside.
Remove shortening from the freezer.
Using a pastry cutter, cut the shortening into the large bowl of flour and salt.
If you don't have a pastry cutter, you can use a small plastic cup. Hold it upside down, and use the lip to cut the shortening into the flour.
Continue cutting the shortening in until you have small pea-sized lumps.
Then, mix 6 T. ice cold water (again, ice cold water helps keep that fat from melting) in with the reserved 6 T. of flour/salt. Stir together with a fork.
Pour half of the flour/water mixture into the large bowl of flour/shortening.
Pour in a circular motion around the outside of the bowl.
Using the fork, stir in a circular motion until the pastry begins to come together. Then pour in the rest of the flour/water mixture and stir again with the fork until the dough clumps together.
Dump pastry out onto a sheet of plastic wrap or into a large plastic bag. Flatten into a large rectangle and place in the freezer or fridge while you prepare the filling of your specific pie (15 to 30 minutes).
(This is when I'd cut up apples, or strawberries, etc.)
Pie Assembly:
When filling is mixed together and dough has chilled for 20 minutes or so, you are ready to assemble your pie.
Start with a well-floured counter and rolling pin. Keep the flour nearby. Having a bench scraper handy is also really useful (pretty much essential).
Cut the dough in half with the bench scraper and put one half back in the fridge for later.
Form dough into as perfect a circle as you can.
If you used the freezer, the dough may need a minute to warm up a little before you can work with it.
Take care to fortify the edges so that they don't crack as you roll out the dough.
Roll the dough with the floured rolling pin gently. At the beginning you aren't really trying to roll out the dough, but just gently trying to get the dough to be a cohesive unit.
If cracks form around the edges, just push the dough back together and roll over the spot (with a well-floured pin!) a few times.
Continue rolling out the dough -- gently apply pressure, always starting in the center and rolling outward. Try not to "push" the dough too much, or your crust will shrink when it cooks. Aggressiveness doesn't mix well with pie dough.
Use the bench scraper to loosen the dough from the counter after every few strokes with the rolling pin. You can also use the bench scraper to lift the dough from the counter to dust the counter with more flour. If dough starts sticking at all, re-dust the pin and counter with flour.
Roll out the dough large enough to cover the bottom of your pie pan.
Carefully loosen the dough from the counter with the bench scraper and begin to roll it onto the rolling pin.
It's ok if the crust overlaps onto itself on the pin. Because you've been flouring the surface, it shouldn't stick to itself.
Carefully roll the dough out over the pie pan and tuck down into the bottom of the pan. If there are spots along the edge where there isn't enough dough, you can tear off an overhanging edge and patch the missing spot.
Then proceed with your recipe.
Add flour to the bottom of your crust if needed and dump your specific fruit inside.
Note: If you are making a pie that only needs a bottom crust, then at this point, you can skip rolling out a top crust and just finish the bottom. You would do this by cutting off the extra dough with a bench scraper or knife and crimping the edges between your fingers (see pictures below). If baking the crust before filling it (as I do for Chocolate Pie), make sure to poke the bottom with a fork before baking it or it will bubble and puff.
Set pie dish aside, pull out the second half of dough from the fridge and roll it out like you did the bottom crust.
Then you are ready to finish assembling your pie.
Using your fingers, apply a little bit of water along the edge of your bottom pie crust.
This acts like the glue that holds your bottom and top pie crust together.
If you forget this step, your pie will leak juices.
Then roll the top crust onto your rolling pin, as before, and roll it out over your pie dish.
Gently press down on the edges to glue them together.
Then cut off the excess dough with the bench scraper or a knife.
Pinch the dough together with your thumb and fore-knuckle at a 45 degree angle all along the edge of the dough.
Wah-lah. Beauteous. Poke a few holes into the center of the pie to allow the steam to escape.
Then spread a little cream over the top of the pie crust. This is important. My family thinks it's the secret to a great pie. It creates a beautiful, golden sheen to your crust. If you don't do this, or you use milk, your crust will be pale.
Bake according to recipe directions.
Don't be discouraged if pie dough is daunting the first time you make it. With practice, it will become a lot easier and you will fall into a rhythm of what works for you.
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