A homemade pie crust - one that is made from scratch, and by you (not your mother, or your grandmother, your husband, one of your kids, your neighbor or your aunt) can seem like a daunting task. It's certainly easier (but far less rewarding) to just buy one from the store.
I have finally found a recipe that I can follow, that's not crushed graham cracker crumbs or cookies of some sort. I mean, a real McCoy, 100% legit, Martha-Stewart-I-see- you, type of a pie crust. Finally, this is it!
My grandmother had shared her pie crust-making secrets with me years ago. Truth be known- I never bothered to follow her specific instructions until now.
"Meeka," she'd say, "You've got to make sure that your butter is cold, and the other ingredients are room temperature (like your flour, sugar, etc.)" and "You have to be sure and use ice water."
Ice water.
Okay, that sounds simple enough. This should be easy to follow. Right? Ice water seems easy enough to come by. Unless, you choose to translate the term, "ice water" into "lukewarm water" or at best, "cold water straight out of the tap." It should produce the same results, right? Not.
Even with the clearest of instructions, I have never once followed her recipe to a "T". Consequently, my pie crusts have never turned out just right. They have never been anything that I could be proud of. I have always wanted a 100% homemade pie from start to finish. And now, I have finally, finally found the crust recipe, that I have been looking for!
Homemade Pie Crust Recipe
(This recipe makes one pie crust)
1 1/4 all-purpose flour
1/2 cup of cold butter (cut into cubes)
1/2 teaspoon of sugar
1/4 teaspoon of salt
1/4 of ice water
Directions:
Starting with very cold butter, cut the butter into cubes.
In a separate bowl, combine the dry ingredients and add in all of the cubed butter, and begin to blend with a pastry blender, until crumbly.
Add ice water, one tablespoon at a time. *Note: This should be ice water, and not room temperature water, nor the coldest water that you can manage to get from the tap.
Add ice water, one tablespoon at a time, and continue to mix with the pastry blender gently. Add enough water until the mixture begins to form into a dough.
Once the dough begins to stick to the pastry blender, scrape all of it off and back into the bowl, with a fork and then scoop everything into a gallon size ziplock bag. This is my little trick to keep my hands clean while having full control over kneading the dough. Additionally, I don't mind the kids helping me to make the dough, nor do I have to worry about the cleanliness of their hands when they're kneading the dough on the outside of the bag. #momwin #bakerwin
Knead the dough for about 5 minutes and then flatten into a disc.
Firm up the edges, for a perfectly round disc-should you prefer. And then refrigerate for 2 hours or overnight.
I doubled the recipe and made two pie crusts, hence why I had extra flour & butter when I began to mix with my pastry mixer.
After 2 hours, remove the dough from plastic and place it on a floured surface, flour the top of the disc, and begin to roll out with your rolling pin.
If you're fancy enough, roll the flattened dough up around your rolling pin and then unroll it on to your pie plate. (I did not do that with this one, but did it with my top crust).
Crimp around the edges of the pie crust using about a finger spacing in between.
Line the unbaked pie shell with aluminum foil and then fill with dry uncooked beans. This will help your pie shell not to fill with air bubbles while it bakes.
Bake on 350 degrees for 15 minutes.
Remove from the oven and your ready to go. See? Now that wasn't so bad after all.
Will you try this recipe? Maybe even get it under your belt before the holidays? I want to hear from you. Drop me a comment below or email me at: thingsshemakes@gmail.com
Directions
- Begin with very cold butter.
- Dice the butter into cubes with a sharp knife.
- In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar & salt.
- Using a pastry blender, cut in butter, until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
- Add in the ice water, one tablespoon at a time and mix swiftly and gently.
- Add in just enough water to allow the dough to form into one loose ball.
- Flatten the dough into a disk.
- Wrap it tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours overnight.
- Roll the dough out into the desired size (a 12-13" circle for a 9" pie pan)
- Turn it frequently to maintain it's shape and to prevent from sticking.
- Gently roll it over the rolling pin and transfer it to your pie pan.
- Press the dough evenly into the bottom and the sides of the pie plate.
- Trim the dough by one inch, to overhang using kitchen sheers or a pizza cutter.
- Fold the dough under and seal it to form a rim, then crimp the rim with fingertips and knuckles.
- Using a fork, poke holes into the bottom of the pie crust.
- Wrap it with plastic wrap in the fridge or the freezer to set it's shape.
- The dough must be well-chilled before baking.
- Add some aluminum foil or parchment paper onto the dough and then weigh it down with uncooked rice, dry un-cooked beans or with pie weights.
- Bake in a pre-heated oven at 375 degrees F, for 15-20 minutes or until set and a just light brown. You don't want to over bake it in this process, because you will be re-baking it again once you add the filling.
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Please let me know if you tried this recipe. Was it doable for you? Do you think that you'll go this route or stick with a regular pie crust? I'd love to hear from you!
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