Grandma's Perfect Pie Crust - The Recipe Critic (2024)

FAQs

What is the secret to a great pie crust? ›

Start with chilled ingredients

Butter creates a sturdy, crisp pie crust. For this, it is important to keep all ingredients cold which will inhibit the development of gluten in the flour. Use butter right out of the refrigerator and add ice-cold water to make the dough.

Butter for flakiness and flavor, and shortening for its high melting point and ability to help the crust hold shape. You can use butter-flavor shortening if desired.

The acidic properties of vinegar inhibit gluten, some will say. This theory proposes that once the water and flour are combined, gluten starts forming, causing the dough to grow tough. Adding an acid, the theory goes, stops the gluten in its tracks and rescues the crust from toughness.

Keep the Butter Cold

With this goal in mind, the cardinal rule of pie crusts is to keep things as cold as possible.

The ingredients are too warm

The solution is simple: When making pie dough, the colder your ingredients are, the better. Ensure the butter is cold and the added liquid ingredients are chilled when making your pie dough.

Chill in the fridge for 30 minutes, or up to overnight. Tip: Chilling hardens the fat in the dough, which will help the crust maintain its structure as it bakes. And the short rest before rolling relaxes the dough's gluten, helping prevent a tough crust.

Similar to the shortening crust, the lard also produced a flat, crumbly pastry with noticeable greasiness. This one fared slightly better in the test because the lard provided more flavor than the shortening, with just a hint more richness.

The cons: Butter can be harder to work with than lard or shortening because of its lower melting point, so the dough temperature has to be just right. If it gets too warm, it will be too soft to handle and will tear easily. Butter is a firmer fat, so if it's too cold, your dough will be more difficult to roll out.

If you want a rich, buttery flavor, a higher fat content butter is best, which means a French or European product may be the right choice. The fat is where the flavor resides, so more fat means more flavor. In addition, when butter is blended with other ingredients, it creates small pockets in the pastry.

Addition: Vodka

As the pie bakes, most of the alcohol cooks off and dries out of the crust, leaving you with a light, flakey crust (and no offensive flavoring). The alcohol evaporates even better than water, so hypothetically, you are always better off using an alcohol/water combination rather than water alone.

Why did my pie dough turn grey? ›

“Well-wrapped, pie dough can be stored in the fridge for two to three days, or in the freezer for up to three months,” says David. “After day three in the fridge, you can expect your dough to oxidize, turning a grayish color.” This is completely normal, but can be postponed by adding a bit of vinegar to your recipe.

Unlike water, alcohol does not contribute to the formation of gluten, the network of proteins that can cause a crust to turn leathery. Because the alcohol burns off quickly in the oven, drying out the crust, we could add enough vodka to keep the dough wet and extremely supple.

With docking, the holes allow steam to escape, so the crust should stay flat against the baking dish when it isn't held down by pie weights or a filling. Otherwise the crust can puff up, not only impacting appearance but also leaving you with less space for whatever filling you have planned.

The cardinal rules of pie dough: Keep it cold, work fast, and don't overwork your dough.

Most instructions will have you defrost the crust, prick the bottom of the crust all over with the tines of a fork, and bake at 375°F to 450°F for 10 to 12 minutes.

Chill the shaped crust for at least an hour before baking to maintain those crimps you worked so hard for.