Perfect Pie Crust From King Arthur Flour 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.

PERFECT PIE CRUST

Steps:

• Dice the butter and return it to the refrigerator while you prepare the flour mixture. Place the flour, salt, and sugar in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade and pulse a few times to mix. Add the butter and shortening. Pulse 8 to 12 times, until the butter is the size of peas. With the machine running, pour the ice water down the feed tube and pulse the machine until the dough begins to form a ball. Dump out on a floured board and roll into a ball. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
• Cut the dough in half. Roll each piece on a well-floured board into a circle, rolling from the center to the edge, turning and flouring the dough to make sure it doesn't stick to the board. Fold the dough in half, place in a pie pan, and unfold to fit the pan. Repeat with the top crust.