Cook: Best Pie Crust
I do not particularly like to bake. It’s very exact and you really have to follow the rules, which I am not that great at and why I like cooking over baking. But some really delicious meals can be stuffed into a pie crust which makes them even delicious-er. As previously mentioned, I love Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat because you learn the foundations of why something tastes so good rather than just blindly following the recipe. I used the All Purpose Pie Dough recipe but made one major change which is that I use my hands rather than my stand mixer to bring the dough together. Doing a little bit of extra work really makes a difference. I also use a cheese grater, so make sure you have one of those handy before you start this recipe.
Ingredients - this will make 2 balls of dough (enough for one bottom and one top pie crust)
2 1/4 cups of all-purpose flour
1 tbsp of sugar (heaping)
1 pinch of salt
16 tbsp of unsalted butter
1 tsp of white vinegar
1/2 cup ice water (or more)
Directions:
Gather all your ingredients. This is particularly important for pie crust since you are trying to keep everything cold.
1. Measure out 2 and 1/4 cups of flour, a large tsp of sugar and a pinch of salt into a large mixing bowl. Make sure that everything is thoroughly combined.
2. Use your cheese grater to shred your butter (using the largest setting). When you get to the point that you cannot use the grater, break the butter into tbsp sized chunks. It should be a mixture of textures.
3. Put all of these ingredients (the dry mixture, butter and 1/2 cup of ice water into the freezer for 20 minutes). If you do use a stand mixer, also put the detachable mixer in the freezer.
4. After everything has chilled, begin incorporating your butter into the flour mixture. Tip: use gloves suited for cooking, it provides an extra layer between your fingers which will get warm and help keep everything cool. Break up the butter into small chunks a little bit at a time until all of the butter looks like small walnuts in the flour mixture.
5. Slowly stream 1 tsp of vinegar into the butter, flour mixture. Then, start adding in the ice cold water a little bit at a time and mix it with your hands until it starts to come together. The dough will not fully come together. Don’t worry if there are crumbly bits. The most important thing to remember is not to over mix it, you should still be able to see chunks of butter. Once you use 1/2 cup of the water you should be ready to wrap and chill it. If you’re not sure if it’s ready, grab a small chunk and squeeze it into a ball… if it mostly stays together, you are good to go.
6. Dump your bowl onto a large sheet of plastic wrap. Try not to touch the dough. Grab the edges of the plastic wrap and form a large ball and twist it so that it’s tightly wrapped. The straggly bits will come together while the dough chills into the fridge. Cut the dough in half, re-wrap each half and refrigerate 2 hours (at a minimum or up to the entire night.)
7. After it’s been chilled, roll it out, and fill it up with whatever your heart desires. To easily get it into your pie pan, flour wax paper or your working surface and your rolling pin very well and throughout the process be sure to lift up the dough with a floured spatula. Once you get it to the right size, fold it in half (so it resembles a half circle) and put it into the pan. Carefully flip over the other side so it sits evenly into your pan.
You should be able to see the butter chunks, it should not be blended completely. That means more flakiness!
You can freeze extra dough. Wrap it twice in plastic wrap, once in aluminum foil and it should last for up to 2 months. When you are ready to use it, let it thaw overnight in the fridge before rolling it out.
Cheese graters work awesome for cutting up your butter.
Leave the butter in walnut sized chunks.
Crumbly bits are ok - this means your crust will be flaky!
