King Arthur Flour Pie Crust Recipes

PERFECT PIE CRUST FROM KING ARTHUR FLOUR

Steps:

• Sift together the flour and salt in a large bowl. Set to the side.
• Size your butter. One stick cut into small pieces, the other cut into fairly large pieces (double the size you'd usually cut for a pie crust.
• Work in the stick of smaller butter with a dough scraper (my new favorite tool and very easy to clean). It's not going to have the same impact that double the butter would in terms of working in, but go for the regular pea sized consistency.
• Now, add the bigger hunks of butter. Gently coat them with flour in the mixture, so they won't stick to you when you squeeze them.
• one by one, squeeze all of those pieces of butter until they're flat like pancakes. You don't have to be too precious about it. Grab, squeeze, then move on to the next one.
• Give the mixture another stir with your pastry scraper. Now, start adding the water. Switch back to your dough scraper.
• Keep on adding it bit by bit until the dough forms a shaggy consistency, still floury but you can clump it together.
• Gather, form into a ball, and place on top of a sheet of plastic wrap. Wrap the plastic on top of it, not too snugly, and then flatten it into a disc with your hand. Doing it this way, I learned, helps the dough spread out into the plastic and is just less messy.
• Chill dough in fridge.
• Proceed with your recipe as usual.

TRADITIONAL AMERICAN PIE CRUST RECIPE - (4.4/5)

Steps:

• 1. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour and salt. Cut or rub in the shortening or lard, until the fat is the size of small peas. 2. Cut in the cold butter, leaving the butter in pieces the size of your thumbnail. 3. Sprinkle the ice water, one tablespoon at a time, over the mixture, tossing the mixture together with fork as you go. Continue until the dough is just moist enough to hold together when pressed. 4. For a 2-crust pie, gather a little more than half of the dough and pat it into a disk; wrap in plastic and chill for an hour (the larger portion will be the bottom crust.) Do the same with the remaining dough for the top crust. If you're making two one-crust pies, divide the dough evenly, wrap and chill before rolling. 5. Roll the crust until it is about 1/8-inch-thick and about 2 inches larger than the diameter of the pie plate. This gives you enough to make a good high rim (single crust shell) or to match with the upper crust (double crust bottom). Fill and bake as your recipe directs. Tips from our bakers When the dough is almost moist enough to hold together, try pouring the shaggy mixture out onto a piece of parchment paper. Use a spray bottle to moisten the dry parts of the dough without waterlogging it. Then fold the dough over on itself, like a business letter. Repeat the process until all the dry bits of dough are evenly moistened. This will create lots of nice layers in the dough (click on the video to see this being done). After rolling out your crust and lining your pan, put it in the refrigerator until you're ready to fill and bake the pie: this will improve the flakiness and texture of the crust. Pie crusts can be made ahead and frozen for up to a month. To keep the bottom crust from getting soggy, try brushing it with egg white and chilling before adding the filling. You can also use melted butter to create a barrier between the fillings moisture and the crust. Lightly grease the pie plate with non-stick spray before putting in the bottom crust; this will make taking the slices out of the pan much easier later.