Finally! How to Make the Perfect Pie Crust – Guaranteed!

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I’m fifty-seven years old. I was fifty-six when I finally mastered the perfect pie crust. I’m a little embarrassed to admit that until last year, I gave up and purchased pie dough, simply to make my life easier. Well, long story short, I decided that a personal ‘mission’ was in order, and I embarked on a journey to learn how to make the best pie crust ever. Luckily, it wasn’t a very long journey.

You wouldn’t think that creating a fantastic French apple pie would be that hard, would you? After all, how hard could it be? It’s just apples, a dash of salt, some cinnamon, sugar and a bit of flour. Well, the trick is making the crust so it’s not gooey – that’s the hard part.

I’m a firm believer in using kitchen gadgets and small appliances – they make your work so much easier. This recipe uses a food processor and, if you follow these directions to the ‘t,’ you’ll be successful. The trick is to remember that the butter should be ice cold and the surface on which you roll out the dough should be cold, too, if possible. (A marble board and rolling pin is handy – pricey, too. Don’t sweat it if you don’t have one.)

Here goes.

The Perfect Pie Crust! Yay!

This will make enough for a top and bottom crust.

• 2 ¼ cups of all-purpose flour
• 2 sticks of ice-cold butter (Cut the butter sticks into small cubes, put it on a plate and place it in the freezer for 30 minutes.)
• ¼ teaspoon salt (I use table salt)

• About 6 tablespoons of ice-cold water (Measure 6 tablespoons and then put a couple of ice cubes in it.)

Instructions:

1. Place the flour and salt into your food processor and pulse a couple of times to combine them. Remember: don’t take the butter out of the freezer until you’re ready to add it to the processor – the butter should be ice cold, but not frozen.
2. When the butter is ready, add it to the processor and don’t add it in one giant clump – spread it around a little. Pulse about 10 to 12 times to combine the ingredients. It’s important to ‘pulse’ and not ‘blend.’ You’ll have some small bits of butter, as well as some chunkier pieces. That’s exactly what you want.
3. Here is the tricky part – the water. After you combine the flour, salt and butter, pulse while you add the water. Add the water slowly – you don’t want the dough to be wet. You’re looking for the consistency of damp sand. If you need to add a little more water, go ahead!
4. Important: flour your countertop or cutting board with a little flour – it will keep the dough from sticking.
5. Carefully dump out the dough onto your counter or cutting board. It should NOT stick together at this point. Gently, handling the dough as little as possible (you don’t want the heat from your hands to break down the cold butter), shape the dough so the particles begin to adhere to each other. Don’t force it, but you don’t want the dough dry, either. At this point, you’ll have a ball-shaped chunk of dough.
6. With a sharp large knife (actually, any knife will do, but the larger knife will be safer), cut the dough in half and place each half into a small plastic storage bag. Seal it and gently shape the dough into a round disk. Same with the other half – just remember not to handle it too much.
7. Put each bag in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
8. Put a little more flour on your rolling surface. Working one bag at a time, remove the dough from the bag and place it on your floured surface. Flour your rolling pin and roll the dough into a round shape large enough to drape about 1” over the sides of your pie plate. Important: roll the dough with strokes that go away from your body only. After each stroke, turn your dough one-quarter turn. Keep your board or counter floured to prevent sticking. Same goes for the rolling pin.
9. When the pie crust is large enough, place your rolling pin on the side of the crust that is away from your body and gently roll it up onto your pin. Then, gently unroll it over your pie plate.

Voila! There’s your bottom crust (maybe the only crust)! Gently ease the crust into your pie plate, trim the edges of crust with a pair of scissors and tuck the sides under around the circumference of the plate. Gently press the dough so there aren’t any puckers, etc. If you happen to crack or tear the dough, just patch it – it won’t be the end of the world and no one will notice!

Prick the sides and bottom of your crust with a fork – this will keep it from getting soggy.

That’s it. I know you might think it’s a lot to do, because this explanation is long. You gotta trust me on this – just try it. Who cares if it takes you a couple or three tries? Once you get it, it will be a piece of cake.

Or . . . pie.

By: L.A. O’Neil from www.kitchen-blender-reviews.com

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