Never fear the pie dough! It can be mastered. Yes, pie dough can seem like a daunting task, but with enough preparation anyone can make it. The trick is not to panic! When I first started making pies, I stressed too much about it. My experience has lead me to stay calm and set up all the ingredients in advance. I also have stopped making pie dough by hand. It is a good skill to have, but cutting butter with either a pastry knife or two knives, isn’t the quickest way of making it. I now make the dough in a food processor and that takes a lot of stress and time away. It is necessary for the butter to stay cold and working as quickly as possible helps ensure the butter doesn’t have time to warm up. Using a food processor cuts the time down significantly.
Once you get the hang of making this dough, you won’t ever need to look at the recipe. It will just be part of your repertoire. When people come over and eat your pies, they will remark on how flaky and wonderful the crust is. You will feel like a true baker. Have a fantastic Thanksgiving and enjoy!
Pie Dough
makes enough for a covered pie
2 ½ cups unbleached all-purpose flour, retaining ¼ cup for adjustments
2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, refrigerated and cubed
1 teaspoon kosher salt
3- 4oz ice water
2 teaspoons sugar (optional)
Sift together 2 ¼ cups flour, salt and sugar. Keeping the remaining ¼ cup of the flour on hand if you need to adjust the dough later. (The sugar is optional. Some people like a bit of sweetness in the crust. I usually leave the sugar out since the fillings are sweet enough for me.)
A note on measuring flour: The most accurate way to measure flour is to spoon the flour into the measuring cup. (The handheld measuring cups not the glass pitcher types made for liquid) You spoon the flour into the measuring cup until it starts to overflow and then you level off the top with a knife. I almost never do this type of measuring because it takes too long for me. I scoop the measuring cup into the flour bag or flour container and make sure the flour is fluffed. Then I level it off with a knife. Essentially you don’t want to pack a measuring cup with flour because it will give you an incorrect measurement.
Once you have sifted the flour, salt and optional sugar, pour flour mixture into food processor.
Then, fill a small glass with two ice cubes and top with water.
Take butter out of the refrigerator and cut into small cubes. (If cutting the butter takes longer that expected, just pop the butter in the refrigerator for a few minutes to chill down.)
Place butter into food processor and pulse until the flour/butter mixture looks like coarse corn meal. There should be pea sized pieces of butter throughout.
Then start drizzling in the ice water while pulsing.
You have added enough water when the dough just starts to come together.
You should be able to squeeze some dough and have it stick together.
If you feel like you added too much water, add a tablespoon or two of flour.
Once you feel like you have the right consistency, spread a large piece of plastic wrap out on your counter or on a cutting board.
Pour out half of the dough in the middle of the plastic wrap.
Using the plastic wrap as an aid, smoosh the dough into a ball and then flatten into a disc.
Wrap the plastic around the disc.
Do the same with the other half of the dough.
Put both discs of flour in a freezer bag and put in the refrigerator for a couple of hours before rolling out.
You can make this several days ahead OR you can freeze it and defrost overnight.
If this dough is for Thanksgiving, I would make it at least two days in advance. Better to get it out of the way!
When you go to roll out the dough, don’t be worried that the dough is as hard as a rock. It will slowly warm up as you apply pressure and roll.
Roll out on a lightly dusted board.
When you have put the dough into the pie tin, pop the pie tin in the refrigerator before filling and baking. This will ensure the dough is nice and cold before baking.
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