Basics: Pie Crust

People will be impressed when you bake a pie from scratch.

This is one of the truest statements I can type, with confidence.

No, putting a frozen, fully assembled store-bought pie into a preheated oven does NOT count as baking a pie from scratch. It may be delicious, but it's still not made from scratch. You may like the taste and convenience of that prepackaged pie- and that's more than fine- but that pie's still not made from scratch.

Let us pinky promise and hold ourselves accountable to two things: 1. To withhold judgment on those who like their pies pre-made from Publix but baked to perfection at home but 2. To give credibility where it's due when bakers lovingly craft their pies from the essential ingredients.

Say you make the filling yourself, but use a ready-made pie crust. That pie will be semi-homemade and partially baked from scratch. People will be impressed. And they will tell you you're cool and amazing and thoughtful.

But. BUT! Say you go the whole nine yards, measure out the dang ingredients, mix the fruits and the sugars, AND roll your own pie crust at home. Can you imagine the accolades, the hugs, the adoring looks rightfully bestowed upon your boss self?? That you took the time to learn about pie crusts, get your arms covered with flour, and master the art of pie baking?

Yeah. This^ needs to happen.

Of course homemade pie crust isn't for everyone. Not everyone is meant to roll their own crust, let alone bake a pie in the first place. Still, it's more of a reason for someone to be impressed, knowing you're not used to dealing with pie dough. Plus it's really fun, not to mention totally worthwhile. At least give it a thought. Bear with me. Bear with the process. You won't regret it.

First things first, gather ye ingredients and materials.

Most pie crust recipes require:

- Flour (the amount specified in the recipe as well as extra for handling the dough)
- Some sort of fat (usually butter, shortening, or a combination of both)
- Salt
- Ice water.

As for materials, the list will vary depending on technique of assembling the dough. Most cooks will either use a food processor or prepare the dough by hand. I am going to write this post assuming that you will prepare this without a food processor, so I will show you the "long (but not that long)" way of preparing pie dough. With that said, you'll need:

- A large bowl
- Pastry cutter OR a fork OR two knives, all of which are optional if you so decide. But more on this later...
- Plastic wrap
- Rolling pin
- Sturdy surface, for example a clean countertop, large cutting board, etc.
- A knife or a pair of scissors

Carefully measure out your ingredients, in separate bowls.

The success to a good pie crust rests on 1. cold temperature and 2. quick handling of the dough.

I like to set aside both my flour+salt mixture and my butter/shortening mixture ahead of time. It's important that they are both in the freezer for at least 30 minutes before any work.

As for the butter, it's helpful to cut it into small pieces first then freeze. Shortening can be scooped and frozen without any additional prep work. Also notice that for the butter, some people just freeze the butter sticks then just grate them into the cold flour. I've tried this before, with great success. The only problem is that this works well for all-butter recipes. Grating doesn't work that well for crust recipes that call for cream cheese and certainly not for shortening. You also have to work fairly quickly, lest the butter melt a bit, but other than that, it's a great method.

Once both the flour and butter are well chilled, take them out of the freezer and put the butter into the flour bowl. Cover the butter pieces with the surrounding flour and incorporate them into the flour mixture. Just so that the butter is separated somewhat.

This is what's called a pastry cutter. It's a great tool for making pie/biscuit/scone dough. It literally "cuts" the fat into smaller pieces so it will be incorporated thoroughly into the flour.

It's not an essential tool, though. You can use a large fork or two knives to cut the fat, if you wish.

You can also break up the fat with your fingertips by pinching the fat into flat pieces. However, this runs the risk of you softening the butter somewhat, so I don't recommend it much.

This is how you "cut in" the butter using your pastry cutter or knives. You're also letting the butter pieces incorporate themselves into the flour, so make sure you scrape the sides and bottom as you work.

See how the mixture is really coarse and you can still see little butter pieces? This is good.

(If you're using a food processor, you would just pulse the dry and fat ingredients together until the butter is cut into small pieces with the flour.)

You now add the ice water into your mixture.

A hint regarding the ice water: I don't usually bother to place a cup of water in the freezer. I worry about it freezing whole or not cold enough if I'm running late. Instead I just get a cup of cold water, fill it about 3/4 of the way, and just put few ice cubes in it. The water turns very cold, very quickly. I then take my tablespoon measure and scoop just the water out of the cup. Easy, right?

Another hint regarding the ice water: Usually most recipes call for no more than 1/4 cup of ice water, for double crust recipes. You may need only a couple of tablespoons of water for a single crust. This may seem like too little of an amount, but do resist the temptation to put more water in.

The purpose here is to add just enough water for the dough to come together and hold. An extra tablespoon may prove too much at times. So add only the amount specified, then add more- in small increments- to adjust for the dough, as necessary.

The crumbly dough is gathered together to form a ball. It should just hold together without falling apart, and it shouldn't be wet. (Again, watch how much water you put in the mixture.)

If it's too sticky and overly difficult to shape, use minimal dusting of the flour on your hands to coat the dough. Again, not too much.

This process should be fairly quick, and shouldn't take more than seconds. There should not be any kneading whatsoever. The reason is that you don't want the gluten in the flour to develop and consequently result in a tougher pie crust.

FYI, gluten is just protein in the flour. We got it? Cool.

Take the dough and gently pat it to a chubby disk, then roll the sides to even out the shape a bit.

Finally, wrap the disk in plastic wrap, and place in the refrigerator for at least two hours. (Or in the freezer for 30 minutes.) Overnight is best. This is what's called "resting" the dough before its roll-out. See, you want the gluten inside the dough to calm down a bit and behave. Unruly, hasty dough results in a tough, shrunken pie crust. And who wants to bite into that, right?

After a good rest in the refrigerator, the dough is ready to be rolled.

The extra flour really helps here, but again, use only what's necessary so the dough doesn't stick to the bottom. I also like to move and flip the dough periodically so as to loosen it up and make it easier to roll.

A spatula works wonders for when your dough does get suck.

It's also helpful for lifting it off the surface.

Now, for the million dollar question: How do you lift the crust onto the pie pan?

Answer: Just pick it up by its sides and throw it over the pan. WRONG!

It's simple. You just roll half of it over your rolling pin, slide the pan underneath, then cover it with the crust. Don't worry too much if your crust tears. You can easily patch the pieces by overlapping them slightly over one another and pressing down to seal them together.

Using a knife or scissors, trim the edges as is necessary for the type of border you want.

You can pinch the dough in places, like so in the first picture, to create a pretty fluted design. You can also cover the edge with dough, then crimp it with a fork, like in the picture of the pecan pie above.

Of course there are many many more designs, but I feel these are basic enough for a beginner.

Ahhhh, pie crust. Isn't that just beautiful?

You're going to be mad, but for most pie recipes, your pie crust will need to rest (again!) in the freezer before getting filled with fruit, nut, pumpkin, what-have-you, and baked to golden perfection.

It's the darn gluten. It needs its time-out, what can I say?

You will notice from this picture that the crust looks absolutely crisp and light and delicate. This is what I meant about the butter needing to be cut into the flour. Because there are considerably noticeable butter pieces within the crust, as it bakes the butter releases its moisture as steam to create that perfect flaky finish. Also, because the dough is handled as quickly and gently as possible, the gluten relaxes, and the crust holds its shape as best as possible.

The science behind cooking is breathtaking.

I know this is a pretty long tutorial. I know I tend to get extremely detailed, maybe a bit too much. I know from my own experience that homemade pie crust is really daunting. The first time I made pie crust I totally messed up. But by the second try, I had a better grip on the process, and my third pie crust was a huge success.

So...try making pie crust for yourself on a sunny Saturday afternoon? When everything is bright and you're as happy as you've ever been and there's someone you really love?

At least think about it?

Awesome. You rock. Thanks for reading ^^