I like making pie. If you invite me to any sort of gathering, I will probably bring a pie. Fair warning. I've also noticed that whenever I bring a pie to something or talk about pie making I'm met with a certain amount of "wow-factor". Now, it's not that I don't like being impressive (wink), but I think that sentiment is misplaced in this instance. Pie making....it is sort of a bit of work but it's also totally doable. On the baking spectrum I'd say it's harder than cookies but easier than...okay those are the only two types of baked good I'm familiar with. Let's say it's less work than dinner. Especially depending on the type of filling you choose. However, it seems to be the crust rather than the filling that inspires awe, and one of the first questions I always get is if I made the crust from scratch. Why yes. Yes I did.
This is my go-to recipe and method, fine tuned and modified from several different recipes and techniques that I've tried over the years. It's a very basic recipe, centered around butter. I'm not too particular about the flour. Most often I use all-purpose but have also done half all-purpose, half whole wheat, too. My two "special" techniques are to use frozen butter, grated using a cheese grater, and to add vodka to help moisten the dough at the very end if needed
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups flour - divided into 1 1/2 cups and 1 cup
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 2 Tbsp sugar
- 16 tablespoons (2 sticks) unsalted butter - frozen
- 1/4 cup cold water
- 1/4 cup cold vodka
Combine 1 1/2 cups flour, salt, and sugar in a large bowl. Whisk with a fork to combine.
Use a cheese grater to coarsely grate the butter into the bowl. It's important that the butter be frozen but sort of beginning to thaw so that it can be both easily grated and able to be worked into the flour (I usually let mine sit out of the freezer for 10 minutes or so while I assemble the rest of the ingredients).
Use a pastry blender (you can see mine to the top right in these pictures or see
here) to break up the butter and begin to work it into the flour. I use sort of a rocking and twisting motion. It should look something like this.
Add the remaining one cup of flour and use the pasty blender to work it in. It will still look pretty questionable at this point and you'll start to wonder if this is going to work out all right. Trust me, it's fine. The mixture will be pretty dry and crumbly still and won't really be sticking together yet. The main thing is that it should be relatively homogeneous - with same sized butter chunks (something that's helped by the grating process) and no un-butter touched flour. Next, sprinkle the water over the dough. You want to truly sprinkle it over the whole surface instead of just dumping it in the middle. This will help the water work into the dough. At this point I usually set the pastry blender aside and use my hands. Use a folding and pressing motion to work the water into the flour mixture. Take from the bottom, lift, and press into the top. It should start to stick together and feel like it has the potential to form a ball. How ball-like it becomes depends mostly on how cold the butter is and how warm your hands are. Sometimes you'll be able to form a really nice ball at this point and won't need any extra moisture. For my last batch, the dough looked like this:
Not very ball-like. So...this is where the vodka trick comes in. Vodka works well for pie dough because it moistens it so that it's manageable and sticky, but doesn't add flavor and burns off in the oven. This means your crust will be easy to roll out but remain flaky and light in the end.
Sprinkle the vodka over the dough and use the folding and pressing motion to work it in with your hands. At this point you should be able to easily form your dough into a ball.
Divide the ball in half and form into two equal smaller balls (one for the top and one for the bottom...or one to save in the freezer if you're making a single crust pie). Flatten the balls into roughly five inch disks. The disks don't have to be precise and it's fine if they have cracks around the edges. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour or up to two-ish days. If you want to save on in the freezer for later you can add a layer of aluminum foil and keep for up to three months(for sure, or even up to six if you're feeling crazy).
When you're ready to roll out, take the dough out of the fridge and let it warm up a bit. Maybe 15 minutes or so. If you've taken it from the freezer, let it thaw to room temperature. Place on a floured surface. My preferred method is a floured flour sack on the kitchen table. I like using the kitchen table because it's easier to roll out on an arms-length surface instead of a high counter top. Sprinkle the top with more flour.
Roll out in a clockwise motion with a floured rolling pin. The rolling pin will follow the path of the clock hand. Continue going around in a circle until the dough is the desired size. There might be cracks around the edges, which is fine. If you've got a particularly large crack you can break off pieces of dough from the other edges to patch them.
When you're ready, carefully roll the dough around the rolling pin and use the rolling pin to transfer it to the pie plate, then unroll.
For two crust pies, unfold the second crust over the filling using the same method. For the edges, I use the method my Mom taught me of folding the excess edges under and crimping between two fingers, like so.
From here, you can finish and bake according to whatever recipe you're working from. Well folks, that's it! Hope you give it a try!
