Here are a few tips to help you make a perfect pie crust with a recipe for a 9-inch double crust
pie.
• Necessary tools You don’t need much, but a food processor or a pastry blender are very
helpful. If you have neither, I have used 2 knives with success. On the other hand,
besides an empty win bottle, I haven’t found a good substitute for a rolling pin, which
you’ll need to roll out the dough.
• Cold Keeping everything cold is half the battle in making excellent dough. If the butter
warms up, it can make your dough too soft and it can melt on you. Butter can be cut
ahead and put back in the fridge. Even your flour can be refrigerated. And it is essential
that the water you add is ice cold. Some people like to make their pies in the morning,
before the kitchen heats up. But keeping this tip in mind, if you have to take a break
from making your crust, or your pie is ready to go in the oven but it seems a little soft and
sticky, place everything into the refrigerator to firm it all up.
• Butter I know there are many people who can argue that a combination of butter and
shortening or butter and lard make the tenderest, flakiest pie crusts, but you couldn’t pay
me to eat Crisco or hydrogenated oils and I don’t have access to organic lard from grass-
fed cows, so that’s not an option. Organic butter is a natural, whole food and I’m ok with
it in moderation.
• Flour Here’s the problem. I hardly ever use white flour. It’s refined and processed and
basically a dead food with no nutrition. I love using whole wheat pastry flour or white
whole wheat flours whenever I can in place of white flour, but not in pastry dough.
Whole grain flours tend to be result in a much drier, more crumbly dough which isn’t
very easy to roll out. It also tastes more “whole wheat-y” which my family doesn’t care
for when they’re eating an apple pie. If you must include some whole grain in your
dessert, you can make the dough with half white and half whole wheat pastry flour. I
used to make half my pies like this for Thanksgiving and my sister-in-law and I were the
only ones who would eat the wheat ones. What’s the point of that? Another option is to
use white spelt flour, which is more water soluble than wheat flour, is a little more
digestible and has a sweeter flavor. White spelt flour makes very nice pastry. If you just
can’t go there, fruit crisp is always an option!
• Water Pie crust recipes should give you a range for how much water to use because it’s
impossible for every cook to be working under the same conditions. Moisture is
something that will vary in the air, flour and butter that we use. Always start with the
lower range of water listed and increase as needed.
• Don’t over mix Pie crust is not like cake batter. You actually do NOT want to
completely blend the butter into the flour. In fact, it is ideal if you have little pea-sized
pieces of butter in your dough. When the crust bakes in the oven, the heat will cause the
moisture in the butter to steam up, creating the wonderful flakiness you want.
• Give it a rest This is a step you don’t want to skip since it accomplishes two important
things. Allowing your dough to chill out in the refrigerator helps the gluten in the dough
relax so you don’t have tough pastry and it also firms up that butter again (see second tip
