A Thoroughly Reliable and Tasty Piecrust
A Thoroughly Reliable and Tasty Piecrust
|
|
rate this recipe » |
| Hands-on time: | |
|---|---|
| Total time: | |
| Yield: | Two piecrusts, enough for 2 single-crust pies or 1 double-crust pie |
Ingredients
Crust
- 2 ½ cups King Arthur Perfect Pastry Blend
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 2 tablespoons confectioners' sugar
- 2 tablespoons buttermilk powder
- ¼ cup vegetable shortening
- 10 tablespoons very cold unsalted butter
- 1 teaspoon vinegar, cider or white
- 6 to 10 tablespoons ice water
Topping
- 1 teaspoon milk
- 1 tablespoon coarse sparkling sugar
Directions
1) Whisk together the Perfect Pastry Blend, salt, baking powder, confectioners' sugar, and buttermilk powder.
2) Add the shortening, working it in till the mixture is evenly crumbly.
3) Cut the butter into small (about ½") cubes.
4) Add the butter to the flour mixture, and work it in roughly with your fingers, a pastry cutter, or a mixer.
5) Don't be too thorough; the mixture should be very uneven, with big chunks of butter in among the smaller ones.
6) Add the 1 teaspoon vinegar and 4 tablespoons water, and toss to combine.
7) Toss with enough additional water to make a chunky, fairly cohesive mixture.
8) It should hold together when you gather it up and squeeze it in your hand.
9) Divide the dough in half, and gather each half into a rough disk.
10) Smooth the disks; it's OK if they have a few cracks in the surface.
11) Smooth the disks' edges by running them along a floured surface like a wheel.
12) Wrap in plastic, and chill for 30 minutes, or up to overnight. Or wrap in aluminum foil over the plastic, and freeze for up to 2 months.
13) When you're ready to make pie, remove the crust from the refrigerator or freezer, leaving it wrapped. Allow it to thaw (if it's frozen) or warm a bit (if it's been chilled longer than 30 minutes), till it's softened enough to roll, but still feels cold to the touch.
14) Next, measure the bottom diameter, and up the sides of your pie pan. If your pan is 7" across the bottom, and 1 ½" up each side, that's a total of 10?. This means you should roll your bottom crust to a diameter between 11" and 12", which gives you enough extra for crimping the edges.
15) Place the crust on a floured work surface; our silicone rolling mat is a fine choice. Roll it to the desired width. See the big chunks of butter? That's a good thing.
16) Place the crust in the pan by folding in quarters and placing in the pan.
17) Or you can simply pick it up with a piecrust lifter, and move it that way.
18) For a single-crust pie, fold the edges of the crust under, and gently squeeze them together.
19) Crimp as desired. It's nice to make a tall crimp, as the filling for a single-crust pie is usually fairly liquid (think pumpkin or custard), and it's good to have that tall "dam."
20) You can easily make a nice tall crimp with your fingers, as shown.
21) It'll look like this.
22) For a double-crust pie, leave the edges of the bottom crust as is (no folding or crimping). Once you've added the pie filling, roll out the top crust to the outside diameter of your pan, and place it atop the filling.
23) Trim excess crust with a pair of scissors, then press the two edges together.
24) Crimp as desired. A simple fork crimp is fast and easy.
25) Cut a hole in the center of the crust for steam to escape. Or slash the pie's top surface several times.
26) Brush with milk and sprinkle with coarse sparkling sugar, if desired.
27) Bake... enjoy!
Reviews
- Hands down, this was the best piecrust recipe I have ever used! It worked out perfectly! I would highly recommend it.
- I have always hated pie crust, that is until now. Finally a pie crust I can eat every last bite. This recipe is sooooo good I'm telling everyone I know to try it. Can't thank you enough for this recipe. Can't wait to make more and thinking of making and freezing. With my FoodSaver should last longer than 2 months in the freezer. I also used your apple pie filling. Didn't have the boiled cider (it's now in my shopping cart for next order) but used apple juice, very little I must say. Even though it was really runny it did work. Best Apple Pie I ever made. KAF your the best.
- I don't know we what all the fuss is about... Yes, I have a recipe from my mom from times gone by. But seriously, this recipe is DELICIOUS and so much quicker. My scale broke right before I made this. Even though I didn't have accurate measures, it was perfect. They are right - this recipe is very forgiving. I would definitely recommend this recipe to anyone who would like to make a delicious crust in a small amount of time. Thanks, KAF!
- I left out the sugar, so maybe that is why I did not care for this recipe. I thought it was boring. If I make it again, I will use salted butter, and add the sugar.
- One of my goals for 2010 was to learn to make a good pie crust. I was getting worried when around September I still hadn't had any luck with a good recipe. Then I found this one. Tried it once and it was fantastic. Beginner's Luck?! No, I've made it several times since then and it is consistently wonderful. It's so easy even I can't mess it up! We traveled at Christmas and I put all the dry ingredients in a zip lock bag so I could make MY wonderful crust away from home. So I accomplished one of my goals for 2010 by making not just a good pie crust but a great one. Thanks KAF!!! One question. When freezing the dough for later use, how do you defrost it. Overnight in the fridge or on the counter?
Freezing pie crust is a great idea! Freeze in the pie tin and take right out of the freezer, fill and bake. You may need to add a few minutes to the baking time - the freezing helps maintain the flaky layers of crust. Happy Baking! Irene @ KAF
- I have tried various recipes over the years. Never have I gotten the results that I have using this one. I used KAF Unbleached All-Purpose Flour, and I did use real buttermilk. Still, I would not change a thing, and guests raved. I will be pulling this out for Thanksgiving and using it in the Lyle's Syrup Pecan Pie recipe, and I will use it for an apple pie baked in a cast-iron skillet.
- Oh, thank HEAVENS for your recipe and photos! I can read pie crust recipes until I'm blue in the face, but it turns out this is something I actually had to SEE to understand. And the frank instructions were such a revelation. Big smears of butter! Not coarse crumbs, which my mind always interpreted as a sandy texture. My goodness, I am so disproportionately happy about my first good pie crust, and I have you all to thank. Wonderful, wonderful recipe.
- I'm new to baking and have to say that this recipe was not only easy to follow but produced GREAT results! I really appreciated the step-by-step instructions (clear!) and the helpful hints. Looking forward to making many more pies this fall! Thanks so much!
- AMAZING! It was a hit with my Family! It was easy to make and the result was amazingg! I used a bit of yoghurt instead of the buttermilk powder, and a little less water. The texture and flavor came out great! I also didn't use shortening, instead I just used butter. And also, I used regular non-bleached all purpose flour. Again, the texture and flavor were great!
- This is great recipe, I baked pumpkin pie last week with this pie-crust recipe, I add this to my recipe box, tasty, flaky and nice texture it was different from traditional one I like it, so my family :), I like to try new recipes and share them with friends Thanks KAF




