Basic Pie Crust
Equipment
- food processor (optional, can use pastry blender or 2 knives and mix by hand)
- rolling pin
Ingredients
- 210 g chilled all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 tbsp sugar
- 130 g vegan butter, well-chilled and cut into cubes
- About 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons ice water as needed
Instructions
- Pour two thirds (140 g) flour, 1/2 tsp salt, and 1 1/2 tbsp sugar into a food processor and pulse until combined, about 2 seconds.
- Add 130 g vegan butter and pulse until dough collects in clumps, about 15 seconds.
- Add remaining 70 g of flour and pulse until mixture is evenly distributed (4 to 6 quick pulses). Empty mixture into a medium bowl. If dough has warmed up too much, refrigerate for 10-15 minutes before continuing.
- Add 1/4 cup water, mix together with a fork until dough is slightly tacky and sticks together. Dough should look shaggy but form together into a ball easily. If you need extra water add it 1 tbsp at a time. Don't over hydrate or over mix.
- Knead once and form a ball, flatten each into 4-inch disk or puck shape. Wrap plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 30 minutes. At this point you can store dough for later use (see below) or continue.
- Remove the dough from the fridge. Let it rest at room temperature for 10 to 15 minutes before rolling, to allow the butter to soften up a bit.
- Roll out the dough - Flour your work surface and rolling pin. Starting from the center of the dough, roll out gently several times. Rotate the dough a quarter turn, if it wants to stick add a little more flour. Continue until the dough is the desired diameter and thickness, about 1/8th inch thick and 12" in diameter for a 9" pie, use your pie pan as a reference. Place it in a pie pan. Trim crust to fit pie or optionally make a decorative edge. Let your pie crust rest in the refrigerator for at least 10 minutes after rolling and putting into pie pan before use.
Storage
Refrigerator - About 3 days
After forming dough ball (step 5 above), wrap in plastic wrap and place in refrigerator.
Freezer - "a long time"
After forming dough ball (step 5 above), wrap in plastic wrap and place in refrigerator to firm up (30-60 minutes). Once dough is chilled and firm, place in plastic bag and put in freezer. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator before rolling into crust.
Notes
- This recipe makes enough dough for 1 open face pie crust (e.g. pumpkin or pecan pie). Double the recipe to make a double crust pie.
- Keeping your ingredients cold is important when making pie crust. chill your butter and flour. If your kitchen is warm you way need to pause the process to refrigerate/freeze the dough for a few minutes before continuing to the next step. Its especially important to keep the butter from melting. Your body temperature is high enough to melt butter, the more you handle the dough, the more it melts which will mess up the final product. Chilling the butter/dough as you work with it will help prevent this. At the same time, you don't want the dough too cold when rolling it out.
- poking the bottom and sides of the crust with a fork after putting it in the dish is known as a dock. It allows steam to escape while baking so the crust doesn't puff up, however with more liquid pie fillings docking can cause the crust to get soggy. Pie weights do a good job of keeping bubbles from forming on the bottom, but not so great with keeping bubbles from forming on the sides. If you dock the sides because of your filling, bubbles may be unavoidable.
- Blind baking the crust may not be desired depending on what kind of pie you are making. Check your recipe to be sure so you don't undercook or overcook your pie crust.
Experiments
Quest for the Perfect Pie Crust.