Traditional American Pie Crust Recipe 445 Food

TRADITIONAL AMERICAN PIE CRUST RECIPE - (4.4/5)

Steps:

• 1. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour and salt. Cut or rub in the shortening or lard, until the fat is the size of small peas. 2. Cut in the cold butter, leaving the butter in pieces the size of your thumbnail. 3. Sprinkle the ice water, one tablespoon at a time, over the mixture, tossing the mixture together with fork as you go. Continue until the dough is just moist enough to hold together when pressed. 4. For a 2-crust pie, gather a little more than half of the dough and pat it into a disk; wrap in plastic and chill for an hour (the larger portion will be the bottom crust.) Do the same with the remaining dough for the top crust. If you're making two one-crust pies, divide the dough evenly, wrap and chill before rolling. 5. Roll the crust until it is about 1/8-inch-thick and about 2 inches larger than the diameter of the pie plate. This gives you enough to make a good high rim (single crust shell) or to match with the upper crust (double crust bottom). Fill and bake as your recipe directs. Tips from our bakers When the dough is almost moist enough to hold together, try pouring the shaggy mixture out onto a piece of parchment paper. Use a spray bottle to moisten the dry parts of the dough without waterlogging it. Then fold the dough over on itself, like a business letter. Repeat the process until all the dry bits of dough are evenly moistened. This will create lots of nice layers in the dough (click on the video to see this being done). After rolling out your crust and lining your pan, put it in the refrigerator until you're ready to fill and bake the pie: this will improve the flakiness and texture of the crust. Pie crusts can be made ahead and frozen for up to a month. To keep the bottom crust from getting soggy, try brushing it with egg white and chilling before adding the filling. You can also use melted butter to create a barrier between the fillings moisture and the crust. Lightly grease the pie plate with non-stick spray before putting in the bottom crust; this will make taking the slices out of the pan much easier later.

PIE CRUST

Steps:

• Place butter and lard in freezer for 15 minutes. When ready to use, remove and cut both into small pieces.
• In the bowl of a food processor, combine flour and salt by pulsing 3 to 4 times. Add butter and pulse 5 to 6 times until texture looks mealy. Add lard and pulse another 3 to 4 times. Remove lid of food processor and spritz surface of mixture thoroughly with water. Replace lid and pulse 5 times. Add more water and pulse again until mixture holds together when squeezed. Place mixture in large zip-top bag, squeeze together until it forms a ball, and then press into a rounded disk and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
• Place 2 metal pie pans in the refrigerator to chill.
• Remove dough from refrigerator. Cut along 2 sides of the plastic bag, open bag to expose dough, and sprinkle both sides with flour. Cover again with plastic and roll out with a rolling pin to a 10 to 11-inch circle. Open plastic again and sprinkle top of dough with flour. Remove pie pans from refrigerator and set first pan on top of dough. Turn everything upside down and peel plastic from bottom of dough. Place second pan upside down on top of dough and flip again. Remove first pan from atop dough. Trim edges if necessary, leaving an edge for meringue to adhere to. Poke holes in dough and place in refrigerator for 15 minutes.
• Place a large piece of parchment paper on top of dough and fill with dry beans. Press beans into edges of dough and bake in the oven for 10 minutes. Remove parchment and beans and continue baking until golden in color, approximately 10 to 15 minutes longer. Remove from oven and place on cooling rack. Let cool completely before filling.

PERFECT PIE CRUST

Steps:

• In a large bowl, whisk together the flour and salt to combine. Add the butter, tossing the cubes through the flour until the pieces are separated from one another and each piece is coated.
• Cut the butter into the flour by pressing the pieces between your palms or fingertips, flattening the cubes into big shards and continuing to toss them in the flour to recoat the shards. The size of the butter will vary depending on the kind of pie you're making: For fruit pies, stop when the butter pieces are about the size of walnut halves. For custard pies, stop when the butter pieces are smaller, about the size of peas.
• Make a well in the center of the mixture. Add 3 tablespoons ice water and mix it in by tossing the flour in the bowl. (This tossing movement lets the moisture incorporate without allowing too much gluten formation.)
• Continue to add ice water 1 to 2 tablespoons at a time until the dough begins to come together. As it comes together, fold it over itself a few times to make sure it's homogenous. The dough should hold together without noticeable cracks (a sign of underhydration), but it should not be wet or tacky to the touch (a sign of overhydration).
• Form the dough into a disk about 1-inch thick. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour before using, and up to 2 days. (It can also be frozen for up to 3 months, then thawed overnight before using.)

ALL-AMERICAN PIE

Steps:

• Combine flour, sugar and salt in a food processor; pulse to combine. Add butter; pulse until crumbly. Transfer mixture to a large bowl. Gradually add ice water, tossing with a fork until dough holds together when pressed. Divide dough in two, making one portion slightly larger. Shape each into a rectangle; wrap and refrigerate 1 hour or overnight., For apple pie filling, in a large saucepan, combine apples, 2/3 cup apple juice, sugar, cinnamon and apple pie spice; bring to a boil over medium heat. Cook and stir until apples soften, about 10 minutes. Combine cornstarch and remaining apple juice; add to saucepan. Return to a boil, stirring constantly. Cook and stir until thickened, about 2 minutes. Remove from the heat. Stir in vanilla. Cool to room temperature, stirring occasionally., For cherry pie filling, in a large saucepan, combine sugar and cornstarch; gradually stir in cherry juice until smooth. Bring to a boil; cook and stir until thickened, about 2 minutes. Remove from the heat. Add the cherries, cinnamon, nutmeg and almond extract. Cool to room temperature, stirring occasionally., For blueberry pie filling, in a large saucepan, combine 1 cup blueberries, water and butter; simmer for 4 minutes. Combine the sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon and salt; add to saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. Cook and stir for 2 minutes. Stir in lemon juice and remaining blueberries. Cool to room temperature, stirring occasionally., Preheat oven to 425°. For crust, on a lightly floured surface roll out larger portion of dough to a 17x12-inch rectangle. Transfer to a 15x10x1-inch baking pan. Press onto the bottom and up the sides of pan. Line crust with a double thickness of foil. Fill with pie weights, dried beans or uncooked rice. Bake on a lower oven rack until edges are golden brown, about 20 minutes. Remove foil and weights; bake 6-8 minutes longer or until bottom is golden brown. Cool on a wire rack., Meanwhile, roll out remaining dough to a 15x10-inch rectangle. Using a pastry wheel and star cutouts of varying sizes, cut out stars and stripes for decorative topping of flag pie. Bake at 400° until golden brown, about 15 minutes for stripes and 8 minutes for stars. Cool on a wire rack., To assemble, place blueberry filling in 1/3 of crust; fill remaining portion of crust with "stripes" of cherry and apple fillings. Top pie with star and stripe cutouts.

PERFECT PIE CRUST

Steps:

• Dice the butter and return it to the refrigerator while you prepare the flour mixture. Place the flour, salt, and sugar in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade and pulse a few times to mix. Add the butter and shortening. Pulse 8 to 12 times, until the butter is the size of peas. With the machine running, pour the ice water down the feed tube and pulse the machine until the dough begins to form a ball. Dump out on a floured board and roll into a ball. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
• Cut the dough in half. Roll each piece on a well-floured board into a circle, rolling from the center to the edge, turning and flouring the dough to make sure it doesn't stick to the board. Fold the dough in half, place in a pie pan, and unfold to fit the pan. Repeat with the top crust.

BEST EVER PIE CRUST

Steps:

• In a large bowl, combine flour and salt. Cut in shortening until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in water until mixture forms a ball. Divide dough in half, and shape into balls. Wrap in plastic, and refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight.
• Roll out dough on a floured counter. Don't over work it. Use as directed in pie recipe.

PERFECT PIE CRUST

Steps:

• Cut each stick of butter into 8 pieces, and refrigerate until needed. Place the flour, salt, and sugar in a large mixing bowl, and mix to combine.
• Add the chilled butter. Using a pastry blender, incorporate the butter into the flour mixture; the mixture should resemble coarse meal with small pieces of butter, the size of small peas, remaining visible.
• Drizzle 2 tablespoons ice water over the flour-butter mixture, and blend. Repeat with an additional 2 tablespoons water. At this point, you may have to add more water: When a handful of dough squeezed together just holds its shape, you've added enough; if the dough crumbles, continue incorporating water, 1 tablespoon at a time, checking the consistency after each additional tablespoon.
• Turn the dough out onto a clean work surface. Divide into two equal pieces, and place on two separate sheets of plastic wrap. Flatten, and form two disks. Wrap, and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
• Lightly dust a clean, dry work surface with flour. Place the chilled dough in the center of the work surface, and dust the dough as well as the rolling pin with flour. Position the rolling pin on the center of the disk, and begin rolling the dough away from you. Give the disk a quarter turn, and roll again. Continue turning and rolling until you have an even 1/8-inch thickness. Turning the dough as you roll will prevent it from sticking to the work surface. A dry pastry brush is handy to remove any excess flour during and after the rolling process.
• Lightly butter the pie plate. To minimize stretching when moving the dough, roll it around the pin, lift up, and unroll over the buttered pie plate. Using your fingers, gently pat the dough into place. Trim any excess dough with a paring knife or kitchen shears, leaving a 1-inch overhang; then fold dough under to reinforce the edge.