All About Pie

Any tips for making good pie crusts?

I am generally a talented cook and have no problems with recipies and cooking/baking without, but pie crusts and I don't seem to get along. They range from being tasteless to hard/stale, unless we are talking of dinner-pies such as Chicken, Ham, and Leek Pie. How can I get a nice flakey, non-bland pie crust that will taste good used for a fruit-pie?

Public Comments

1. Use butter-flavored shortening and ice water, and don't overwork it. Add a little more salt. Roll it out and chill it for about 30 minutes before baking. My pie crusts always turn out great!
2. I have always heard to use very cold water. go to FoodNetwork.com, and see if Paula Dean has her recipe for pie crusts on there, she's a southern gal, and they sure know their pies here in the south!
3. I too had a problem with making pastry and after many time wasting effortsI gave up and now use bought pastry, which is brilliant. I make really good bread though, maybe you, like me, are naturally a bit heavy handed?
4. Once you have made your pastry leave it in the fridge for about two hours to chill thoroughly, and then also use a margarine that is specially for pastries like stork
5. I used to have the same problem and then I discovered and this sounds corny to some Martha Stewart and the world of dough was no longer a mystery. If you want very good pie crusts see what she has on line. I don't work for her or anything like that. But you did asked so I'm saying it's the place to look. She has any dough you could think of and then some. Hope I helped.
6. French cooks make their pastries with egg and then you can mould the pie crusts better and into patterns.
7. The best thing to do is not to overwork the dough. And I have found the best way to make it is in a food processor. Cut the flour and shortening and salt in the processor until it makes coarse crumbs. Then run the blades and drizzle in ice cold water just until the dough starts to come together. You should be able to press the dough together but you should still be able to break it apart. Don't go all fancy and start adding egg or vinegar. Just use flour, salt, shortening (I like half butter and half crisco) and ice water. You'll get flaky if your dough still has tiny pieces of butter in it. The butter melts and creates steam when it bakes. That steam makes a little air pocket and that creates your flakes!
8. Use crushed digestives cookies.
9. Add a little extra shortening Rub the shortening all the way into the flour, salt mixture with your hands until there is no more shortening present in the dough. Use hot water instead of ice water Let stand for 10-15 minutes before you roll it out.
10. For a fruit pie dough I add sugar to the flour and beatened egg to the dough. Mix the sugar to the flour first and then add the egg instead of chilled water. Because making the perfect pie crust depends critically on room and ingredients temperature factors, I recommend you use a food processor (chill the bowl first to maintain it cool) adding the liquid ingredients slowly until it comes to the consistency you need. The texture is like a cookie dough crust- Delicious! TIP- for a super quick savory pie crust, I use chilled margarine soft spread (Parkay, or any other buttery flavored soft spread) and flour- that's all, DONT ADD ANY WATER. The spread is mostly water and oil and it texture/flavor is very good. Try it!
11. I promise this one works. I just made a batch of chicken pot pies, and they were a huge hit. This crust is almost impossible to f**k up. 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour 1 tsp salt 1/2 cup Crisco, chilled 2-3 Tbs ice water Stir flour and salt. Use a pastry blender/cutter or two butter knives to work the chilled shortening into the flour. Cut it over and over until the mixture looks like coarse crumbs. Drizzle ice water over mixture. With a fork, work it around until the dough starts to form. With your clean hands, work the dough into a ball. Wrap in plastic or wax paper and chill for at least 30 minutes. Longer works better. Pat the chilled ball with flour before you roll it out. This works! The crust will be very flaky and good. And of course, you can double the recipe for more crusts.