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Piecrust


kaf-guaranteed

There are as many ways to make piecrust as there are bakers to bake them. We like a combination of vegetable shortening for flakiness and the shape-holding characteristics it gives to the dough, and butter for flavor. Leaving the butter in larger pieces and folding the dough over on itself a few times creates a flakier crust. You can add 2 tablespoons of sugar if you like a slightly sweeter crust.

Our guarantee: This piecrust will fill a deep-dish 9-or 10-inch pan, hold its shape, and be flaky and tender.

Ingredients

  • 2 1/2 cups Round Table Pastry Flour or King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
  • 3/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/3 cup vegetable shortening
  • 1/2 cup (1 stick) cold unsalted butter
  • 1/2 cup plus 1 to 2 tablespoons ice water

Directions

1) In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, and salt.

2) Cut in the shortening until it's in lumps the size of small peas.

3) Dice the butter into 1/2-inch pieces, and cut into the mixture until you have flakes of butter the size of your fingernail.

4) Add the water, two tablespoons at a time, mixing with a fork as you sprinkle the water into the dough

5) When the dough is moist enough to hold together when you squeeze it, transfer it to a piece of wax or parchment paper. It's ok if there are some dry spots in the pile. Use a spray bottle of water to lightly spritz these places; that way you'll add just enough water to bring the dough together without creating a wet spot.

6) Fold the dough over on itself three or four times to bring it together, then divide it in half and pat it into two disks 3/4-inch thick.

7) Roll the disk on its edge, like a wheel, to smooth out the edges. This step will ensure your dough will roll out evenly, without a lot of cracks and splits at the edges later. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 30 minutes before rolling.

Recipe summary

Hands-on time:
15 mins.
Baking time:
15 mins. to 20 mins.
Total time:
40 mins.
Yield:
2 9-inch crusts
Rate recipe
****+
Recipe comments (1) »

Tips from our bakers

  • People get nervous about piecrust, and in their anxiety they tend to work the dough too much. Cutting the butter in too far makes a mealy crust. Kneading it too much and/or adding too much water toughens the dough, making it more difficult to roll out.
  • Resting the dough in the refrigerator both after mixing and rolling out, will dramatically increase the quality of your results. This "time out" allows the gluten in the dough to relax (making the crust more tender), and firms up the fats in the dough (helping it stay flakier).

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Nutrition Facts
Serving Size 1/8 of 9" crust
Servings Per Batch 16
Amount Per Serving
Calories 150 Calories from Fat 90
Daily Value*
Total Fat 10g
Saturated Fat 4.5g
Trans Fat 0g
Cholesterol 15mg
Sodium 110mg
Total Carbohydrate 14g
Dietary Fiber 0g
Sugars 0g
Protein 2g
* The nutrition information provided for each recipe is determined by the ESHA Genesis R&D software program. Substituting any ingredients may change the posted nutrition information.

Reviews

Page:   1  
*****

08/03/2008

Joan from Boston

Having given up on ever making a decent pie crust, I've been using the premade crusts in the red box. I don't like being a slave to the premade crust, though, and recently I started trying some new recipes, but the results have been mediocre, as usual. I made this one a few days ago for Shaker lemon pie, and it turned out pretty well. I used it again today for blackberry pie, and it's really flaky. (Practice, you know.) I'm actually looking forward to making pie crust now. The instructions are good and the pictures are worth 1000 words. I also like the method of rolling the disks along the edge to smooth them. I used 0 trans fat shortening, and that works fine. Seeing the water amount in fractions of a cup instead of in tablespoons gave me the idea to measure water into a measuring cup and then drop in some ice cubes. One of my problems has been getting the amount of water right, and pouring small amounts of ice water from a measuring cup has really helped. My dough was really soft and pliable rather than stiff and hard to roll. This recipe makes a lot of dough! I've frozen the leftovers, and once I've made a third pie, I think I'll have enough leftover dough to make a crust for a quiche.

Page:   1