Pie Crust Dough
Recipe by: Willow Bird Baking
Yield: pie crust for one 9-inch pie
Ingredients:
2 cups flour
1 teaspoons salt
3/8 cup (6 tablespoons) cold lard or shortening (I recommend lard)
3/8 cup (6 tablespoons) cold butter, chopped
3-4 tablespoons cold water
1 egg and 1 teaspoon water, lightly beaten together, for egg wash
Directions:
Pulse flour and salt together to combine. Add the lard in hunks and pulse for about 10 seconds (literally stand there and count!) until it's the texture of coarse sand. Add in the chunks of cold butter and pulse for about 10 pulses (count 'em!) until butter pieces are no larger than small peas. Add 3 tablespoons of ice cold water and turn food processor on low -- the dough should form a dough ball in a few seconds. If the dough remains crumbly and doesn’t come together, add another tablespoon of water. Add as little water total as is required for the dough to form a ball. Scoop the dough onto a sheet of plastic wrap, form into a disk, and chill for at least 20-30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 450 degrees F (if you're blind baking the crust without a filling in it; otherwise, preheat according to your recipe instructions). Roll the disk of dough out between two sheets of lightly floured parchment paper until it's around 2 inches larger than your (9-inch) pie plate all around. Use the parchment to help you drape the dough over your rolling pin, and then use the rolling pin to gently transfer the dough to your pie plate. Situate it in the plate without stretching the dough (lift the edges and let it fall down into the corners of the dish). Fold the excess dough around the edges and crimp, trimming where necessary.
If you're filling the crust prior to baking, fill it and bake according to your recipe. If you're blind baking the crust to fill later, cover the dough with parchment paper and fill this with pie weights or dried beans, pressing to the edges. Bake for around 20 minutes at 450 degrees F. Remove weights and paper, brush the egg wash onto the crust, and bake 5-10 minutes more until golden brown (shield the edges with foil if they begin getting too dark). Let the crust cool completely. Fill according to your recipe.
TIPS:
- When preparing a mise en place for this recipe, chop your butter, measure out your shortening, and fill a jar with ice water first. Stick all of these ingredients into the fridge to get ice cold while you complete the rest of your mise en place.
- Your goal is to keep your fats and your crust dough cold as you prepare it, so don't handle it too much. The cold hunks of fat in your dough are what will create the flaky layers in your crust as it bakes.
- I roll out my crust dough between two sheets of parchment paper with a little sprinkling of flour on either side. Periodically I'll stop to lift the paper from the dough to be sure it's not sticking and flip the dough to check the other side as well. The parchment allows me to use much less messy flour.
-For a double crust pie, double the recipe form into two disks to chill. Roll out each disk separately. Situate the first half of the dough in the pie plate as usual, fill it, and top with the second half. Trim and fold the edges of the top crust under the lip of the bottom crust, crimping the two together. Cut a vent in your pie.
Read more at BakeBakeBake: http://bakebakebake.livejournal.com/3524730.html#ixzz1yv3inuWm
Recipe by: Willow Bird Baking
Yield: pie crust for one 9-inch pie
Ingredients:
2 cups flour
1 teaspoons salt
3/8 cup (6 tablespoons) cold lard or shortening (I recommend lard)
3/8 cup (6 tablespoons) cold butter, chopped
3-4 tablespoons cold water
1 egg and 1 teaspoon water, lightly beaten together, for egg wash
Directions:
Pulse flour and salt together to combine. Add the lard in hunks and pulse for about 10 seconds (literally stand there and count!) until it's the texture of coarse sand. Add in the chunks of cold butter and pulse for about 10 pulses (count 'em!) until butter pieces are no larger than small peas. Add 3 tablespoons of ice cold water and turn food processor on low -- the dough should form a dough ball in a few seconds. If the dough remains crumbly and doesn’t come together, add another tablespoon of water. Add as little water total as is required for the dough to form a ball. Scoop the dough onto a sheet of plastic wrap, form into a disk, and chill for at least 20-30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 450 degrees F (if you're blind baking the crust without a filling in it; otherwise, preheat according to your recipe instructions). Roll the disk of dough out between two sheets of lightly floured parchment paper until it's around 2 inches larger than your (9-inch) pie plate all around. Use the parchment to help you drape the dough over your rolling pin, and then use the rolling pin to gently transfer the dough to your pie plate. Situate it in the plate without stretching the dough (lift the edges and let it fall down into the corners of the dish). Fold the excess dough around the edges and crimp, trimming where necessary.
If you're filling the crust prior to baking, fill it and bake according to your recipe. If you're blind baking the crust to fill later, cover the dough with parchment paper and fill this with pie weights or dried beans, pressing to the edges. Bake for around 20 minutes at 450 degrees F. Remove weights and paper, brush the egg wash onto the crust, and bake 5-10 minutes more until golden brown (shield the edges with foil if they begin getting too dark). Let the crust cool completely. Fill according to your recipe.
TIPS:
- When preparing a mise en place for this recipe, chop your butter, measure out your shortening, and fill a jar with ice water first. Stick all of these ingredients into the fridge to get ice cold while you complete the rest of your mise en place.
- Your goal is to keep your fats and your crust dough cold as you prepare it, so don't handle it too much. The cold hunks of fat in your dough are what will create the flaky layers in your crust as it bakes.
- I roll out my crust dough between two sheets of parchment paper with a little sprinkling of flour on either side. Periodically I'll stop to lift the paper from the dough to be sure it's not sticking and flip the dough to check the other side as well. The parchment allows me to use much less messy flour.
-For a double crust pie, double the recipe form into two disks to chill. Roll out each disk separately. Situate the first half of the dough in the pie plate as usual, fill it, and top with the second half. Trim and fold the edges of the top crust under the lip of the bottom crust, crimping the two together. Cut a vent in your pie.
Read more at BakeBakeBake: http://bakebakebake.livejournal.com/3524730.html#ixzz1yv3inuWm
