Pie crust recipe/Flaky and crisp Pie Crust recipe.

Making of a Pie Crust. My family’s favorite go-to butter pie crust recipe yields flaky pie dough every time. This recipe includes a simple video that demonstrates how I made it. I demonstrated how to make the crust by hand in the video. At home, make a simple and quick pie crust anytime you like. Only a few ingredients are required to prepare this flaky ideal pie crust such as Flour, butter, sugar, salt, mixed with some ice water.

To begin the recipe, I cut the cold butter into cubes, which I then combine with the flour. Until the butter and flour mixture turns crumbly, with lots of butter chunks. Then I have added just enough water to make a dough ball out of it. A consistent homemade pie crust recipe, or rather a pie crust process, that yields dough that is easy to roll out.

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What makes a pie crust flaky and crisp?

Gluten is a pie crust’s worst enemy. Some gluten is fine and even necessary for structure, but too much can cause serious problems. So keep this in mind: less gluten formation equals flakier, softer pie crusts.

Vodka was used in place of some of the water in a few pie recipes but not everyone wanted to add vodka. Well, the reason for adding vodka is to stop creating gluten although water does. But substituting vodka with some of the water results in the pie crust becoming flakier and more delicate.

What matters more than the vodka is how you blend the flour and fat i.e butter together to get the right flakiness in your Pie crust.

When it comes to pie dough, don’t forget that gluten is our enemy. While doing some analyses I found that if more than half of the flour is coated well with the fat, that helps prevent to form of gluten in the flour and results in a better pie crust.

Consider that way say if each flour particle is coated with butter. The flour has a hard time absorbing water because of this coating, which aids in the prevention of gluten toxicity.

Tips and tricks to store and use the pie crust.

Wrap the pie dough tightly to keep it sealed. (I wrap everything with food wrap.) You may also use a ziplock bag. Pie dough can be stored in the refrigerator for up to three days and in the freezer, for 1 month or more if kept properly packed and untouched.

Note: When you’re ready to use frozen pie dough, put it in the fridge overnight to thaw. It can be difficult to roll out the dough directly from the freezer. Do set it on the counter for a few minutes to warm up before rolling it out.

Ingredients required to prepare a Pie Crust

Making handmade pie crust pays dividends in the form of a flakier, tastier product than buying pre-made. Use this list of simple steps to make a flawless pie crust every time, from choosing the best ingredients to utilizing the appropriate method.

• Cold butter (unsalted) 4 oz plus 2 oz
• All-purpose flour 1 cup + 1/2 cup
• Sugar 2 teaspoons
• Salt 1/2 teaspoon
• Ice water  16 to 20 teaspoons or as required
• Some butter to grease the pan

Short Summary for the recipe

• Use chilled, unsalted butter bars. Cut it into cubes. Each bar consists of 4 oz of butter. I have used approx. 4oz + 2oz of butter. If not using the butter immediately then make sure to refrigerate until used.
  Next, into a mixing bowl take 1 cup + 1/2 cup of All-purpose flour, into it add 2 teaspoons of sugar, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, and give it a mix.
  Now add the chilled butter cubes and start to mix these. The mixing of the butter and the flour is the most important part of this recipe. So make sure to watch the video to understand the process. Coat the butter cubes with flour which acts as a prevention to the butter not to melt easily through the warmth of your palms. To prevent butter or the fat from direct contact with your palms helps control the temperature of the butter.
  Once you are done coating all the butter cubes nicely with the flour, gently start pressing on the butter cubes to mix. At this point start adding ice water gradually into it and mix. Add water as required. Just add the right amount of water. Use teaspoons slowly and mix. While you add the water rub the coated butter cubes gently between your palms to break them into smaller chunks. This makes the mixing process easy and you simply don’t need to knead the flour and the butter in order to prepare a pie dough. It just needed to be mixed until started forming a dough. At this point, the texture might look somewhat grainy because the butter is broken further into smaller chunks.
• As soon as it starts to come together simply grab to collect and to the rest leftover flour add a few more drops of water and collect. The point is not to knead the dough. Just mix the flour with the butter until you achieve a crumbly or grainy sort of texture. Once you collect all of it gently shape it as a ball. Then press and flatten a little bit before you wrap it using a food wrapper or a air tight ziplok bag, to refrigerate or freeze. Keep this refrigerated minimum of 30 minutes before you roll it out. In this recipe i have refrigerated the dough overnight. If you want to store the dough for more longer period of time then make sure to freeze it packed and untouched.
• Once you planned to prepare the pie. Take the dough out from refrigerator (if from freezer then thaw before use) Then sprinkle some dry-flour on the surface, place it in the center, roll it gently until flat and thin using a rolling pin. I have used a 9.5-inch baking sheet for this pie recipe. So I rolled it thin and large. If you are using a smaller baking pan then you may roll it small. The baking time may vary depending on the thickness of the pie that you prepared.
• Once done rolling, fold it from the center and carefully tranfer into the baking pan. Chill the baking pan before transfering the rolled out dough for best results.
• Set the pie nicely into the pan. Use a fork to make a ptterned design. Make pores all around into the base of the pie and onto the sides. And bake it at 350 degrees farenheight for about 25 to 30 minutes or until you see it turned out slightly golden brown in color and look crisp.

Step By Step Directions to prepare a pie crust that is easy to make, flaky, and crisp.

• Use chilled, unsalted butter bars. Cut it into cubes. Each bar consists of 4 oz of butter. I have used approx. 4oz + 2oz of butter. If not using the butter immediately then make sure to refrigerate until used. For this recipe we need chilled butter to start with the recipe.

• Next, into a mixing bowl take 1 cup + 1/2 cup of All-purpose flour, into it add 2 teaspoons of sugar, 1/2 teaspoon of salt and give it a mix.

• Now add the chilled butter cubes and start to mix these. The mixing of the butter and the flour is the most important part of this recipe. So make sure to watch the video to understand the process well. Coating the butter cubes with flour acts as a prevention to the butter not to melt easily through the warmthness of your palms. In other words, to prevent butter or the fat from direct contact with your palms which helps control the temperature of the butter.

• Once you are done coating all the butter cubes nicely with the flour, gently start pressing on the butter cubes to mix. At this point start adding ice water gradually into it and mix. Add water as required. Just add the right amount of water. Use water in teaspoons slowly and mix. While you add the water, rub the coated butter cubes and the flour gently between your palms to break them into smaller chunks.

• This makes the mixing process easy and you simply don’t need to knead the flour and the butter in order to prepare a pie dough. Its just needed to be mixed until started forming a dough. At this point, the texture might look somewhat grainy because the butter is broken further into smaller chunks.

Collect the dough

• As soon as it starts to come together simply grab to collect and to the rest left over flour add a few more drops of water and collect. The point is not to knead the dough. Just mix the flour with the butter until you achieve a crumbly or grainy sort of texture.

• Once you collect all of it gently shape it as a ball. Then press and flatten a little bit before you wrap it to refrigerate or freeze.

Storing the Pie Dough

Wrap the pie dough tightly to keep it sealed. (I wrap everything with plastic wrap.) Or you may also use a ziplock bag. Pie dough can be stored in the refrigerator for up to three days and in the freezer, for three months if properly packed and untouched.

Rolling and shaping of the Pie Dough

Take it out from the refrigerator minimum after 30 minutes and unwrap the dough.

Gently press and roll until flat and thin. I have used a 9.5 inch baking pan for this pie recipe. So i rolled it thin and large. If you are using a smaller baking pan then you may roll it small.

Sprinkle some dry flour on the flat countertop and gently roll out with the help of a rolling pin. As soon as you roll it you’ll see that cracks start to form around the dough and it is completely normal. Simply roll to flatten. I have rolled it out thin and large according to the pan size that I have used. Make sure to roll out according to the pan size that you are using to bake this pie crust.

Note: Before you roll and bake this chill the baking pan before transfering the pie to be baked for best results.

In between rolling sprinkle some dry flour as required to avoid stickiness. Towards the end of it remove any extra flour from the pie crust. Fold gently from the center and transfer into the baking pan as shown in the image below.

Preparing the Pie crust to be baked

Use an oven-safe baking pan. Brush up the pan with some oil or butter and place parchment paper on top of it to stick. Brush the top of the parchment paper with some butter all around

Then transfer the rolled-out pie onto the pan. Press gently to set the pie inside the pan so that it fits well.

Next, trim out the edges with a scissor and shape them. I have used a fork to give some patterned design to the edges. Make pores using the fork all over the base and to the sides. This step is important because it helps prevent the pie to puff while you bake them. Refrigerate back to chill minimum for 30 minutes before you bake, to get the best result.

Filling the Pie

Fill the pie with ingredients that have less liquid in it to prevent it from sogging at the base.

Bake in a pre-heated oven at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for about 25 to 30 minutes or until it just gets slightly golden brown in color and looks crisp. This is what the outcome after baking this as shown in the picture below. The thin crisp and flaky pie crust is all set to be enjoyed.

Serving

Once done baking let it cool and chill sometime and then slice it up and enjoy. It gets more firm and crisp once refrigerated and is amazing.

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