Pie Crust II

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This is the pie crust recipe that I used for Thanksgiving pies this year. I wanted to try an all-butter crust to see what all the fuss was in the all-butter versus all-shortening debate (although I’ve heard lard is the way to go). I did not have a lot of success with this crust.

It ended up leathery (which makes it awfully difficult to slice), which could have been due to a number of reasons. I had to make the dough well ahead of time because we were traveling for a wedding the weekend before Thanksgiving, so I attempted to freeze the dough for ten days (each covered with plastic wrap surrounded by aluminum foil and placed in a freezer-safe Ziploc bag). I thawed the pie in the refrigerator overnight, then prepared the crusts the following day. My theory is that I did not pulse the butter into small enough pieces, possibly overworked the dough when forming into disks, then the dough was dehydrated spending so much time in the freezer and refrigerator.

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I will say that the crust looked and smelled marvelous, even though it was extremely butter when par-baked (perhaps because I did not mix in the butter properly). I might give this recipe another go just to give it a fair shake, but it’s hard not to go back to the recipe I used before given the multiple successful pies baked with it.

PIE CRUST II
Based on recipe found here.

INGREDIENTS

1 1/4 cups (150 g) all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp. salt
10 tbsp. unsalted butter, cold and cut into cubes
2-4 tbsp. ice water, as needed

DIRECTIONS:

  1. Cube butter and shortening. Put in small bag in the freezer for 20-30 minutes. Add ice to a small glass of water.
  2. Mix flour and salt together in a food processor.
  3. Add chilled butter. Pulse until the mixture resembles coarse meal.
  4. Add ice water one tablespoon at a time, pulsing until the dough just comes together.
  5. Roll the dough out on a floured surface. Form the dough into a ball, then flatten into a 1″ thick disk.
  6. Wrap disk tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour and up to two days.
  7. Proceed with pie per recipe’s instructions.
Posted in: Pie