Perfect Pie Crust

One thing that got me interested in cooking was making my own pie crust. Sure you can buy a frozen or pre-made one at the store, but they don't have that amazing homemade flaky melt-in-your mouth taste AND they have partially hydrogenated oil in them - a BIG no no! I like to start with Alton Brown's pie crust recipe:

Ingredients

* 3 ounces (6 tablespoons) butter, chilled
* 1 ounce (2 tablespoons) lard (or shortening), chilled
* 6 ounces (approximately 1 cup) all-purpose flour, plus extra for rolling dough
* 1/2 teaspoon table salt
* 1-2 tablespoon table sugar
* 1/4 cup ice water (or Brandy)

Equipment

* Food Processor
* 9" Pie Pan
* Saran wrap
* Rolling pin
* Pastry mat
* Weight scale (optional)
* Parchment paper (only for pre-baking crust)
* Pie weights or dried beans (only for pre-baking)

Directions

I'm not pasting Alton's directions here because I found some other tips to help those that do NOT know what they are looking for.

1) USE A FOOD PROCESSOR!!! If you do not have a food processor, this is going to be a ton of work that will exhaust you...not my kind of cooking!

2) Several hours before you begin your pie crust, put the food processor container and blade (not the machine) in the freezer.

3) About 30 minutes ahead of time, cut your butter (which should have been in the fridge or freezer) into 1/4 size chunks (or slightly larger) Put all the chunks on a plate and put it in the freezer

4) About 20-25 minutes ahead of time, get your shortening into about 1" size chunks. I keep my shortening in the freezer and then I use a scale to measure 1 ounce rather than having it at room temperature and trying to measure 2 TBS. The frozen shortening is tricky to get out, but basically I use a butter knife and chop out pieces - I do NOT recommend using a sharp knife - it's very easy to slip and slice through the container - or your finger!

5) Get a small bowl of ice water (for meat/meal pies) or Brandy (for sweet pies). I would say have at least 1/4-1/2 cup of ice water/brandy next to the food processor. If you don't have Brandy, you can use the water for a sweet crust too, but I prefer the light Brandy taste.

6) When you are ready to start, measure your flour out (I do it with a scale by weight, but you can do it by cup too) and have your salt ready. Once you start mixing, you need to be fast so nothing melts, so don't pull any thing out of the freezer until the moment you need it.

7) Get the cold food processor container and blade and set it up.

8) Put flour and salt into processor and pule 3-4 times. If you're doing a sweet pie, then also add 1-2 TBS of sugar at this time.

9) Put the frozen butter chunks into the food processor and pulse 5-10 times. Basically what you are looking for here is that the butter is covered in flour and mixed throughout the flour - not just all on top. It is still going to look like large chunks of butter.

*****Many recipes will tell you to mix until it looks like corn meal - this is too much mixing because you want little pea size frozen bits of butter and shortening in your crust when you put it in the oven. The butter and shortening melt at different temps and this will give you a wonderfully flaky crust.*****

10) Put frozen shortening chunks into the food processor and pulse 10 more times. You want the shortening to have broken down a little in size and by this time, the butter is also shrinking.

11) Begin to add your water, 1 spoonful or tablespoon at a time. Pulse 5-7 times between each spoonful. You will probably do this about 7-10 times. After about the 5th time, open the food processor between each spoonful and feel the dough. What you want is a dough that is a little crumbly but sticks together. You need to be confident that you can roll it into a ball, but not confident that you could roll that ball out into a crust. Don't worry...the fridge will help. Also, you should feel the small chunks of butter and shortening in the dough - this is PERFECT!

*****Many recipes say to mix the dough until it forms a ball in the food processor. Do NOT do this! It will require too much water and too much mixing and all your butter and shortening will melt. Too much water will cause your pie crust to shrink in the oven.*****

12) Once you're done mixing, dump the dough (in loose form) onto a large piece of saranwrap. With your hands on the outside of the saranwrap, begin to push the dough together to make a thick 4"-5" wide pancake.

13) Place pancake in fridge for at LEAST 30 minutes.

14) Once your dough is chilled, get out your pastry mat and lightly dust with flour. A pastry mat is pretty much just a mat that you roll things out on that has a little texture on it so the dough stays on the mat, but it's easy to peel the off once you're done.

15) Take the pancake out of the fridge and place on the pastry mat. Unwrap the saran wrap, stretch it back out to it's original size and lay over the dough. You are going to roll the dough out with the saran wrap in between the dough and the rolling pin so the dough doesn't stick to your rolling pin.

16) Roll the dough out - each roll in a different direction. This can be a little tiring and sorta works your core muscles. You need the dough to be around 12" in diameter to fit in your 9" pie dish. As your rolling, if one side gets too large, peel back the saran wrap, pull off the dough that's too much and place it in an area that needs to be larger.

*****As you are rolling the dough - you should see your little specs of butter and shortening. If you don't see these, then you over mixed or let things heat up and you won't get that wonderful flakiness. Sometimes they separate from the dough - this is ok, just smoosh it back into the dough or let it go as a casualty.*****

17) Once your dough is all rolled out and the saran wrap is still on top, covering the dough, you're ready to place it in your pie dish. This part can get a little messy depending on how much flour you used to cover the mat. Turn the entire mat (including the dough and saran wrap) over on the counter. Now peel off the pastry mat - this is easier if you go slow and "curl" the mat as you pull it back.

18) Now you have your pie crust on the counter top. Get the pie pan out and center it upside down over the dough. Slip your hand under the crust (so you're touching the saran wrap and not the crust) and place one hand on the bottom of the pan. Now flip! If you lose a few little pieces from the dough, that's fine - don't worry!

19) Now (still with the saran wrap on) push the dough lightly into the pie pan shape and around the edges. Once it's formed to the pan, peel the saran wrap off. Cut or tear any thing that's hanging over the edge of the pie pan.

20) Place saran wrap over your crust/pan and put in the fridge until you're ready.

21) If you are making a cooked pie such as pumpkin, apple, sweet potato, pecan, peach, etc then you are DONE!!! Your crust will cook in the oven. However, if you are making a pudding pie (regardless of whether it goes in the oven or not) such as lemon/chocolate merengue, banana cream, etc. then you need to cook it beforehand.

22) Pre-heat the oven to 425. To pre-bake your crust, you need either some pie weights or some dried beans.

23) Poke the bottom of your pie crust with a fork several times - this will prevent the pie crust from trapping steam and rising.

24) Cut a piece of parchment paper the same size (or slightly larger) as your pie bottom and place it in your pie. Cover the parchment paper with the beans or pie weights.

25) Place in the oven and bake in the oven for 10 minutes. Remove parchment and beans and continue baking until golden in color, approximately 10 to 15 minutes longer. Remove from oven and place on cooling rack (or a stove top that's not on). Let cool completely before filling.