How to Make A Pie Crust
The tastiest pies are builtfrom the crust up.
We'll show you how to hand make adelicious homemade pie crust with ease.
There are just 4 ingredients ina pie crust:
flour, water, salt and fat,like butter, shortening or lard
Keep these ingredients in yourpantry and you'll always be
just minutes awayfrom a perfect pie crust.
Before you get started, make sure thefat, water, and mixing bowl are well chilled.
Step One:Combine dry ingredients
Combine the flour and salt in theproportions called for by
your pie crust recipe,in a mixing bowl.
Step Two:Cut in the fat.
Some of the best pie crusts aremade with the combination of fats.
Half butter, for rich flavor,and half shortening or lard
for a satisfying flakiness.
You can experiment to see which fator combination you like the best.
Slice the cold fat into small piecesbefore you add it to the flour
and salt mixture to make it easier towork into the dry ingredients.
Use a pastry cutter to work the fat intothe flour, turning the bowl and scraping
the flour into the center as you go.
Work the fat into the flour until theclumps are the size of small peas.
These little bits of fat will formair pockets as the crust bakes,
making the crust beautifullyflaky.
Step Three:Add liquid.
Sprinkle the mixture with a littleice water, 1 tablespoon at a time.
After each tablespoon, mix in thewater gently with a fork.
Don't add into much liquid,or you'll get sticky dough.
Start for the minimum amountcalled for in the recipe you're using.
The mixture might look dryand crumbly after you add the liquid,
but don't add more.
Instead, test the dough bypicking up a handful and squeezing.
If it sticks together, its perfect.
If it's still too crumbly,add another half tablespoon of liquid.
Lightly toss the mixture,and test again.
Avoid over working the dough soyou don't end up with a tough crust.
Step Four:Refrigerate dough.
The dough needs to rest in the coldfridge so the flour will absorb
the liquid, and the dough will relax,and become easier to work with.
Transfer the dough to a resealablegallon sized plastic bag.
working from the outside of the bag,squeeze the dough together into a
flat disks shape.
If you've made enough doughfor a double crust pie,
divide the dough in half and put intoseparate bags, flattening the dough into disks.
Squeeze the air out of each bag,and refrigerate the dough for 1 hour.
Step Five:Roll out dough.
You'll need a rolling pin,a simple wooden one will do the trick.
Lightly flour a work surface.Remove a disk of dough from
the fridge and unwrap it.Place it on the floured work surface.
Flatten the dough slightly with yourhands and dust the top lightly with flour.
Dust your rolling pin with flour to helpkeep the dough from sticking to the
rolling pin;and roll outwards from the middle,
rotating a quarter turnafter every roll.
Continue rolling and rotatinguntil the dough is no thicker
than one fourth of an inch
Place the pie plate upside-downon the dough to see if it's big enough.
The dough should be at least 2 incheswider in diameter than your plate,
and 4 inches if your dish is very deep.
Step Six:Place the dough in the pan.
Gently fold the dough in half.If it's very pliable, you can fold
it into quarters. This makesan easy to transfer packet of dough.
Carefully transfer the folded doughto the pie dish and position the point of
the folded circle right at the center ofthe dish.
unfold the dough, and gently pressit into the pan,
making sure you press it intothe bottom edges.
If the dough crack or tears,don't worry, that's easy to fix.
Just wet your fingers with a little water,and press the dough back together.
Step Seven:Trim the edges
Use a paring knife, or kitchen shears,to trim the dough that hangs over
the outer edge of the pie dish.
Leave about and inch overhanging.
Crimp the edges if you're making aone crust pie.
If you're doing a double crust pie,roll out the other half so it's about
an inch wider in diameter than the pie dish.Transfer it carefully to a baking sheet
that's lined with parchment paper.Cover it all with plastic wrap,
and place into the fridgefor at least 30 minutes.
This prevents the dough fromshrinking during baking.
Now that you've prepared your pie crust,fill it up according to your recipe, and bake.
Use the extra bits of pie crust todecorate the top if you like.
Once you master pie crust basics,experiment with the ingredients to
change the flavor andget creative.
A homemade pie crust can't be beat!
Learn how to make a flaky homemade pie crust in seven easy steps. The tastiest pies are made from the crust up. In this video, you'll learn how to make homemade pie crusts in seven easy-to-follow steps. All you need are flour, water, salt, and fat (butter, shortening, or lard). You'll learn the proper order for mixing together ingredients and how to cut in the fat, and see why a combination of fats sometimes makes the best pies (with some fats adding flakiness to the crust and others rich flavor). You'll see tricks for easily mixing the fat into the dry ingredients and see what the mixture should look like when prepared just right, so you'll end up with a wonderfully flakey pie crust. You'll learn when to add the water and how much to add at a time. You'll learn how to test the pie dough for moisture and how to avoid adding too much water or overworking the dough, which will give you a tough pie crust. You'll also learn why the dough should rest in the refrigerator for an hour and how best to store it. Then you'll see a great technique for rolling out pie dough on a floured counter and learn how to judge whether the crust has been rolled out large enough to fit the pie pan. You'll also see how to gently fold the pie crust and lay it out in the pie pan and get great tips for trimming and crimping the edges and for fixing any cracks or tears in the pie pastry. You'll also see how to prevent the dough from shrinking during baking. Learning these easy techniques will help you bake the best homemade pies—from apple and cherry pies to pumpkin and pecan pies—even chicken pot pies! Find the best pie crust recipes @ http://allrecipes.com/Recipes/Desserts/Pies/Pie-Crusts/Main.aspx Facebook http://www.facebook.com/Allrecipes Twitter @Allrecipesvideo Pinterest http://pinterest.com/allrecipes/