Flaky Pie Crust
Active Time: 0 Hours 20 Minutes
Inactive Time: 0 Hours 10 Minutes
Total Time: 0 Hours 30 Minutes
Yield: 2, 9-in pie crusts
Difficulty: 3/5
A good pie relies heavily on a good pie crust; for the most part, if you're baking a pie then you'll use a flaky crust. However, depending on the pie recipe itself, you may want your pie crust to use either a very flaky dough or a mealy, moderately flaky, dough.
- Very flaky dough - If you're going to be prebaking your pie crust or if you're using a top crust.
- Moderately flaky, mealy, dough - If you're making a fruit, cream or custard pie.
Lard, butter and vegetable shortening are the three main types of fat used in making a pie crust. Even though lard will make the flakiest crust, many people don't like it for its flavor with a sweet pie, the health aspects or they just don't eat bacon. Butter will create a flavorful crust but will reduce its flakiness, whereas shortening is great for texture but contributes nothing to the flavor. This is why some chefs prefer a combination of butter and shortening, in the end though, it all comes down to personal preference.
In addition to the standard flaky pie crust, there is the graham cracker crust and crusts made from sweet dough (sweet dough is used for tarts, tartletts and some quiches).
Ingredients
- 3 c. all-purpose flour
- 1/2 c. butter, unsalted, very cold
- 1/2 c. vegetable shortening, very cold
- 7 Tbsp. water, very cold
- 1 tsp. vinegar
- 1 Tbsp. sugar (optional)
- 1 egg white (for egg wash, if prebaking pie shell)
Directions
- Sift together the flour, salt and sugar (if used) into a large bowl.
- Cut the very cold fat into the flour mixture. The easiest way to do this is by hand; using your fingers, gently mix the fat into the flour mixture. For a flaky crust (when used as a top pie crust or when prebaking is called for) you want your fat clumps to be pea-sized or slightly larger, for a more mealy crust (usually used for cream, custard and fruit pies) you want the mixture to resemble course cornmeal.
- Slowly add the very cold water, mixing gently with your hands just until the dough holds together. You want to make sure you avoid over mixing.
- Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes prior to using it.
- Take 1/2 of the chilled dough and place it on a lightly floured surface, using a warm dough will cause it to stick.
- Using a lightly floured rolling pin, gently roll out the dough until it is 2 inches wider than the pie pan you will be using, lifting and turning periodically to prevent it from sticking and to keep it even.
- Gently roll the pie dough onto the rolling pin, place the rolling pin above the edge of the pie pan and unroll the dough, fitting it into the pan as you do.
- Trim the excess dough and crimp as desired.
If prebaking for a flaky pie crust is called for:
- Cover the dough with parchment paper, press the paper against the sides, leaving a little bit sticking above the edges.
- Fill the pie pan with beans, rice or place in a pie crust weight.
- If you don't have a pie crust shield, use strips of tin foil and cover the edge of the shell and bake the weighted pie crust for 10 minutes at 350°F.
- Remove weights from shell, brush inside of shell with an egg wash, return to oven for another 5 minutes.
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