Homemade Pie Crust

About this Recipe

Making pie crusts are not as intimidating as it seems. In Grandmother's kitchen we prefer to use butter in our pastry baking. You can make pie crust ahead of time and freeze the dough. We have a couple members in our family that believe the best birthday cake is not a a birthday cake at all! Apple pie will be requested hands down, every time! Homemade recipes for desserts, including pie recipes can hold secret ingredients passed down generation to generation and the making of them hold special fun for the home cook. Pie crusts can be used for sweet dishes like fresh fruit pies or for savory dishes like making a chicken pot pie. You can have just a just a bottom and make a crumble top, you can have bottom and a top that has the perfect crispy texture and light brown color, or, you can make a creamy pie filling like a banana cream pie. It all starts with the pie crust. Once you have the crust you can just let your imagination go wild with what you would like to put in there.

Grandmother's Tips for making a Homemade Pie Crust:

1. Using cold butter is what makes pastry crust more flaky. You can use a pastry cutter or grated cold butter.

2. Using very cold water helps the dough to hold its shape. It also keeps the butter cold longer and that helps in getting a flaky crust.

3. If you dough is falling apart rolling it, likely it is too dry so just sprinkle a little bit of cold water and work the water in with your fingertips to get to a less dry texture.

4. Refrigerating the dough also makes it easier to roll out.

5. A tough pie crust can indicate too much water. Be patient when learning to make pie crust. You will quickly learn when your pie dough 'feels' right.

6. The reason some recipes want you to chill a pie crust before putting in the filler, is so that the butter in the crust is firm when it goes into the oven for baking and it makes for a flaky crust.

7. Let the dough chill in the refrigerator at least 30 minutes before rolling out.

Baking your own pie means that you’ll most likely want to use fresh fruit for your pie. So if you’re choosing fresh fruit to use in your pie, make sure that it is indeed fresh with no mold growing on it. If there is some mold, you’re probably best to throw away the moldy pieces of fruit and choose ones that aren’t moldy. Or, you can avoid mold by buying premade pie fillings if you like. There are canned or jarred pie fillings that you can use, or you can also make your own from fresh non-moldy fruit and then store it away to use later on. It’s a good way to keep your fresh fruit and pies mold free and tasting great.

Besides mold, there are always plenty of other germs and bacteria floating around in your home, even in your kitchen. Which is why cleaning your kitchen up after preparing food is so important. There are some house cleaning tips you can try out to make things easier for yourself, though, and it will mean more time for enjoying your home cooked recipes and more time with family and friends too.


Ingredients

(Print)

Makes (2) 9" Crusts

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour, sifted

3/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup butter, cold

4-5 tablespoons ice cold water

Directions

Mixing the Dough:

1. Measure the flour into a mixing bowl and mix in the salt, add in the butter.

2. With a pastry blender or two knives, cut in until you have it the consistency of coarse meal.

3. One spoonful at a time, sprinkle with the cold water.

4. Mix lightly with a fork until the dough clings together and cleans easily from the bowl.

5. Separate into two evenly sized flattened balls and chill until you are ready to use or at least 30 minutes.

To Roll Pastry:

1. Use a lightly floured surface or a pastry cloth and lightly floured rolling pin.

2. Roll out each of the flattened balls.

3. If you only require one for the recipe, then just roll out one and you can freeze the other until you need it. store in a freezer bag.

4. Roll out the crust so it is about 1" larger than the plate you are putting it in.

5. If preparing a pie that requires a top, roll one crust slightly larger and use it for the bottom crust.

To Line The Plate:

1. Roll the pastry over your rolling pin and transfer it to the pie plate.

2. Unroll it and ease into place, being careful not to stretch the pastry.

3. Trim off any extra pastry, and freeze, or else use to decorate the top of your pie.

For Baked Pie Shells:

1. Flute the edge of the pastry in your favorite way.

2. Prick with at fork at 1" intervals and bake in a preheated oven to 450˚F for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown.

3. Cool before adding the cooked filling.

For Unbaked Pie Shells:

1. Prepare as above but do not prick the pastry.

2. Add the uncooked filling and bake as directed in the filling recipe.

Double Pie Crusts:

1. Add filling to the pastry lined pie plate and moisten the edge.

2. Roll out the top crust, roll over rolling pin and unroll on filled pie.

3. Trim off the excess pastry; seal the edge and flute.

4. Make slits in the center to allow steam to escape.

5. Bake as directed in the filling recipe.

ENJOY!

Return to this Homemade Pie Crust recipe or check out more recipes at Grandmother's Kitchen

Pastry is used in so many dishes that it is an important skill to master. To make pastry, it is not difficult and these tips will help ensure a good pastry result. Work in a cool, airy room. Plan to make pastry before the kitchen becomes warm from other cooking as a warm damp atmosphere gives unsatisfactory results. Use an all purpose flour and sift it after measuring. Use firm but not hard butter and ice-cold water for mixing.

Handle the flour and butter lightly. When rubbing butter into the flour, keep lifting it up and crumbling the mixture between your fingers. This movement helps to aerate the dough. Shake the bowl after 1-2 minutes to bring the larger lumps of butter to the surface and to show you how much more rubbing is necessary. This is especially helpful when making rich pie pastry as over-rubbing makes the pastry greasy.

Be sure the correct amount of water is added. This will vary slightly with the quality and type of flour as well as how long it has been stored. Too dry a mixture makes the dough hard to handle; it cracks when rolled out, crumbles after baking and will be dry to eat. Too wet a dough shrinks and loses shape while baking , and also results in tough hard pastry. The amount of water is usually given in a recipes, and it is important to add at least two-thirds of the given quantity to the dry ingredients before mixing begins. This avoids over-working and brings the ingredients quickly to a firm, smooth dough, especially when making the foundation dough for puff pastry.

A solid cool surface is best for rolling out pastry dough. Once dough has been rolled out, always scrape the board thoroughly before rolling out new dough to remove any that may have stuck and which might cause further sticking. Use a minimum amount of flour for sprinkling when rolling, otherwise too much will go into the pastry and spoil it. A heavy, plain rolling pin works best.

Chill completed pastry dough for about 30 minutes; this removes any elasticity, which might cause shrinkage, and gives the dough a chance to 'relax'.

When baking pastry, it is essential to preheat oven to the required temperature. The immediate heat 'sets' pastry in its correct shape, making it possible to control the exact length of cooking.

To keep your kitchen cleaner, there are some fun house cleaning tips you can implement like using some parchment paper or press and seal wrap to line your fridge shelves and drawers. That way, when you go to clean your fridge, just remove all of the items, toss the paper and replace it with new paper after wiping down the shelves. You can also use a drip pan in your oven so long as your oven is okay to do that in. That way, you don’t have to worry about cheese melting or drips in your oven.

References: Grand Diplome Cooking Course (1972, Hardcover), William Anne. Danbury Press, (1971) Pie Pastry.



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