The Best-Ever Homemade Pie Crust

Most of us will admit we like to eat pie but the same cannot always be said for pie crust! My demonstration will show you an easy way to make a delicious crust that will cause even pie crust shunners to stop and raise their eyebrows in tasty surprise. The two keys to this demonstration are good quality butter and plastic produce bags!

Curious now? Let's get started so you can see what this is all about!

The first thing you need to do is to gather all the kitchen tools and ingredients you will need.

Equipment:

Note: If all you have is produce bags with printing on them they will work but you have to be very careful that the non-printed side is all that touches the dough.

Ingredients for a 1-crust pie:

Note: For a 2-crust pie, just double all of the ingredients.

A few words about butter:

The butter is what 'makes' this pie crust. It's the flavor of butter – which just about everyone likes – that makes this crust worth eating.

Medical fact: butter is better for you than Crisco.

It is best to take the butter out of the refrigerator at least an hour ahead of time to let it soften.

If you forget to warm the butter ahead of time, you can soften it in the microwave, but be careful! Microwave the butter for no more than 10 seconds on high. Check it. If it needs more, then turn the stick of butter and microwave again for 5 more seconds. Continue the check-and-repeat-for-five-seconds process until the butter yields to a light squeeze but don't warm it so much that it collapses with barely a touch. If the butter begins to melt inside the wrapper, put it back in the refrigerator for a little while.

Making the dough:

Measure the flour and salt into the bowl, then mix lightly so the salt is distributed.

Using a table knife, slice the stick of butter into pats so that you get about eight or ten pats from a stick. Drop each pat of butter into the flour. Use the butter wrapper to grease the pie plate.

Use the pastry blender to combine the butter and flour. You want to get the pieces of butter to be no larger than the size of a pea. But you also don't want the butter to become too tiny because it's these bits of butter that make the crust flaky when rolled out. (I don't use a food processor for this reason.)

Finally, observe the dough mixture in the bowl. Does it look floury or is it mostly formed into course bits of combined flour and butter? A small amount of water will be used to bind together the flour that hasn't been moistened by the butter. The amount of water needed depends on how much water was in the butter, how soft the butter got, the kind of flour you used, and yes, it depends on the weather too!

Dribble one tablespoon of chilled water around the edges of the bowl where the finer flour particles tend to gather. Use a table fork to lightly but thoroughly toss the flour with the water. If it still looks floury dribble another tablespoon of water and toss again. Take a small amount of the mixture and squeeze it in your hand. When you open your fingers, if it falls apart easily you need more water or you won't be able to roll out the dough. If it stays in a ball even with a few light pokes, then it contains enough water. If it becomes sticky it contains too much water and the crust will turn out a little hard. There's nothing you can do about it at that point. Adding the right amount of water is the trickiest part of making pie crust and because of all the factors mentioned above there is no set amount. To give a general idea, I usually need between three and six tablespoons of water but there have been occasions where I needed 10 to 12 tablespoons (such as in New Mexico in the winter where humidity is zero).

Once the moisture of the dough seems right, form it all into a ball and we'll get ready to roll it out!

Note: if you have a hard time getting the dough to form a ball, crumble it up again and add a little more water.

Rolling the dough:

Take the sharp scissors and cut off the bottom of both plastic bags, then slit one side open so you have two large flat pieces of plastic. If you're using plastic wrap just tear off two pieces that are about four inches wider than the pie plate. It will be a bit narrow but will work if you're careful. We are going to roll the dough between these sheets of plastic which will make it much easier to place on the pie plate when we're done.

Spread one sheet of plastic on the table or countertop. Place the ball of pie dough in the center and flatten it so that it is about an inch thick. If large cracks appear around the edges, reform the circular shape by hand before you begin rolling. Place the second piece of plastic on top of the dough.

Begin rolling out the dough. It is best to roll the dough from the center to the edges. When cracks appear around the edge try to roll them shut and keep the dough as circular as possible. The plastic makes it very easy to turn the dough as you're working on it.

One thing to be aware of when using plastic for rolling the dough is that it can become wrinkled on the underside. From time to time, flip the plastic and dough over. After flipping, peel off the wrinkled piece of plastic, then reposition and smooth it out and continue rolling.

When the diameter of the pie dough is about three inches larger than the diameter of the pie plate – turn the pie plate upside down on the dough to check the size – you are done rolling.

Now comes the final magic afforded by rolling pie dough between sheets of plastic. Peel off the top sheet of plastic and put it aside. Position the pie plate on the far side of the dough from your body. Grasp the remaining sheet of plastic on the corners nearest you, pick it up and carefully drape it over the pie plate. With the plastic still attached, adjust the position of the crust so that it is centered on the pie plate. Then gently lift the edges of the dough and lightly press it into the bottom corner of the pie plate all around. When you have finished placing the dough, slowly and carefully peel off this second sheet of plastic.

If you are making a two-crust pie repeat the rolling process with the second half of the dough. Fill the bottom crust with the pie filling, then position the second crust over the top using the same technique as for positioning the bottom crust over the pie plate.

To form the rim on the pie crust, use your fingers to roll the rough edge of the pie dough under against the lip of the pie plate. If some parts of the rolled crust are thin or don't quite overlap the rim of the plate you can tear off bits of crust from places that have more than enough and add them to the thin areas. Don't be concerned with the aesthetics yet.

Finally, flute the edge of the pie crust. There are numerous techniques for making decorative fluting. Simply pinching the crust in even sequence all around will produce an attractive pie.

Baking:

For a double crust fruit pie, bake as directed in the fruit pie recipe.

For a single crust pie, such as pumpkin, custard, or cream pie, it is best to pre-bake the pie crust:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. This method pre-bakes the crust without using pie weights. In this instance it is important to be sure that the fluted edge of the crust is resting squarely on the middle of the pie plate's rim. This placement helps to anchor the top of the crust so that the sides won't slide down the inside of the plate during baking. It is also important to prick the crust all over with a fork – sides, bottom, and especially all around the corner where the sides meet the bottom. To keep the fluted rim from over-browning you may loosely tent it with strips of foil all around. Bake at 400 degrees for about 20-25 minutes until light golden brown. Keep an eye on the crust as it is baking. If it begins to puff up, prick it with a fork immediately and gently flatten the bubble with the back of a spoon, then continue baking.

After the crust has cooled, pour in the filling. If the filling requires baking, it is OK to bake the crust again as directed for the type of pie you're making. The fluted part of the crust will become a little darker but will still taste wonderful.

Bonus:

Need something delicious to put into your pie crust? Click this link for The Best Pumpkin Pie recipe.