5 Steps to Master Perfect Pie Crust

There are certain things that people tend to shy away from in the kitchen. Pie dough from scratch is often one of them. For many, it all just seems so mysterious&mdash how to achieve that perfect flakiness?

Ever since I started my own Bay Area baking business, Marge, pie has become a major focus of my day-to-day life. It's what I sell the majority of at the farmers markets, what people are most excited to order, and what I've come to really love to bake the most. It's not quick to throw together like a simple drop cookie or a cupcake, but the slow steadiness of making a pie allows you appreciate it all the more. So I wanted to take time-out today to tell you that you can make a flaky pie dough. Here are 5 tips we use at Marge to ensure that we get the perfect crust each and every time:

1. Your ingredients should be very, very cold. Yes I'm speaking about your butter, but you should really even put your bowl of flour in the freezer as well and if you're using a pastry cutter, you can even throw that in the freezer for a few minutes, too. The colder the ingredients and equipment, the less risk there will be for the butter to melt or become overworked (an enemy to flaky pie crust).

2. Secret Ingredient? Use a dash of apple cider vinegar in your pie dough (add 1 teaspoon to your current favorite recipe at the time in which you're adding your ice water). Vinegar helps prevent the formation of gluten which makes for a tough crust.

3. Always let your dough rest for at least one hour. Again, it's all about gluten, and instead of going into the science behind it all, just trust me that after working your ingredients together and getting everything all excited, it's got to have time to relax in order for it to be on its best behavior when you're rolling it out.

4. Take charge of the flour: Use flour liberally to roll out your dough. Don't even think twice about it. However, once your dough is rolled to the appropriate diameter, take a pastry brush and brush off any and all excess (on both sides). The last thing you want is a nice round of pie dough that's cloaked in flour&mdash that will kill any hopes for light and flaky crust right there.

5. Don't stress. I know, it sounds silly coming from someone who makes pies every day. But I do firmly believe that if you relax in the kitchen and take things step-by-step knowing full well that they'll come out just fine&mdash they will. More or less. Sure, you may discover something that can be tweaked. But other than that, you'll have a pie in no time.

(Image: Megan Gordon)

Comments (29)

OK here is my 2 cents. Ditto the cold. Crisco--it just works for me, OK? I press my patties firmly between sheets of wax paper, about a 7 inch circle, and rest in the fridge, and they roll out like a dream. I tend to add just a touch more salt to the crust than called for because I like a slightly salty crust to enhance the sweet fillings.

I get a perfect, flaky pie crust every time with this recipe:
2 cups flour
generous pinch of salt
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil

That's it. Mix, roll out. No messing around with butter or shortening or anything else. Makes enough for one pie, top and bottom.

http://newbrokefoodie.blogspot.com/2009/11/super-easy-no-fail-pie-crust.html

These are really helpful-sounding tips. I've never made pie crust, not really because I was intimidated but more because I couldn't be bothered with the effort--I go for less labor-intensive baking. :) But this post has me inspired, esp. with summer fruit season around the corner. AND I just bought a Cuisinart--opinions on doing crust in the food processor (I guess I could freeze that bowl too) vs. by hand? *(I have repetitive stress issues with my hands/wrists, another reason I've been reluctant to try more physically laborious baking...)

I always use my food processor to make pie crust. I can make in crust in about 3 minutes. I mix (using frozen butter) form dough into ball, refrigerate, roll out dough, refrigerate, then, put pie together. A cookie sheet in the preheating oven keeps the bottom crust from getting soggy.

I have been working on perfecting my pie crust -- like, seriously making a lot of them -- for about 4 months. The thing I finally learned after lots of experimentation is that, for me, it's all about technique. If you're making it in a food processor, don't cut up the butter too much. If it's very fine, you can't make a flakey crust. Because of the tendency to pulse a bit too much in a food processor, using a pastry cutter often makes better crusts (not because of these myths that the food processor creates too much heat).

Totally agree on the apple cider vinegar for all fruit pies -- beautiful consistency and a little tang!

A piece of advice from my grandma that I would never follow - she was a huge fan of lard. While I find the idea foul, she swore by it, saying nothing got the crust as flaky. She only switched to Crisco later under duress when the family revolted.

For what it's worth...

My future mom-in-law makes her pie crust (very flaky and pale) with Crisco but she says it's even easier to make with lard, which is how her mother did it.

I had always heard that if the butter got soft you could always stick the dough in the fridge or freezer to harden it back up again before rolling out to bake.

I personally only like the tender, flaky crusts for cream and custard pies. Crispier, crunchier crusts I like better for fruit pies. Except cherry, cherry needs a flaky crust too for some reason.

I never make my own pie crust, but I might have to try it after this. It's just crust, after all!

I love the last tip: Don't stress. In baking, you've got to put intention into everything you do. When I'm distracted or in a bad mood, my baked goods come out a little off. Sometimes it's hard to put my finger on exactly what is missing- and then I know it was love.

Crisco all the way. And a pastry cutter. And ice water. It's how my grandma does it, it's how my mom does it, and it's how I do it. Best crust ever. Light and flaky. Love to see that there's not a revolt here against Crisco.

Totally agree that food processor = godsend for piemaking.
Also, I find that clear glass pie pans give me nicer crusts than metal/ceramic ones.

The CI vodka crust has come out very good every time I've made it. That said, I have very little experience making pie crust.

I have made pie crusts for forever- and I started with crisco, moved to crisco+butter, butter with 1-2 tsp crisco and finally to leaf lard+ butter- the last is the ultimate for flakiness and flavor- I feel better too, as then my pork supplier is able to use even more of the lovely pig- really, give it a try-

I've had good success with just flour, sugar, salt, butter, and ice water pie dough recipes after a little practice.

I always have a pound of butter in the freezer so I usually pull out a frozen stick, roughly chop it and use my food processor work it into small pieces with the dry ingredients.

The other thing is to make sure you do not over work your dough. If you use a food processor, a few pulses after adding your liquid is all you need for the moisture to be evenly dispersed. Stop, grab some dough and squeeze it. If it forms a loose dough and stays together, and you still see pieces of butter/fat, you're done. Dump out the dough on your bench, press it together into a disk without kneading it, and get that disk into the fridge to rest.

Pie crust is one of those things everyone and their mother has an opinion about and will tell you you're wrong or how to do it better.

I always thought the ice cold butter, bowl, tools thing was just ridiculous. I'll grab some butter out the fridge and use that or, blasphemy, just a stick of room temp crisco and guess what- I make fantastic pie crusts.

We're not diffusing a bomb here guys- its crust. There's no need to be so anal about is the bowl icy cold and did you use ice water and blah blah. People made amazing pies before fridges were commonplace in the home. How ever could they have done that! lol

Just don't overmix it. Warm, cold, whatever- just don't overmix and any pie crust you make will be fine. Stop before you think its done and it'll be fine.

What is wrong with lard? Unless you are vegetarian/muslim/jewish there is no reason to shun lard for pie crusts and in my opinion it does make the very best crust.

Lard has all of these connotations of unhealthiness but it has less saturated fat than butter does (if you care about such things).

I use vegetable oil because requires less mixing (and thus less gluten development) to bring together. Also, if you are doing a pre-baked shell, like for a cream pie or something else that tends to sog up a crust, after you bake it, put a thin layer of white chocolate over the bottom of the crust, wherever it will be covered up by filling (it won't stick as well on the sides but don't worry about it) and let it harden before you fill the pie. It keeps your crust from absorbing too much moisture from the filling so it stays flaky and a little crisp and oh man you have got to do this seriously it will change your life.

I used the Pioneer Woman's recipe when I made pie for the first time about a month ago. She says to freeze the dough, even if you plan to use it soon, and you can keep it frozen for awhile. I just used the last of it, and honestly, the crust was way better than the fillings both times I used it!!!

I use a medium wire whisk to "cut" the butter/shortening into the flour. All those little bits of fat get perfectly coated in flour, I think. It works quickly and efficiently, resulting in a wonderfully tender and flaky crust.

The CI vodka recipe really does work and it makes the most forgiving dough -- so much so I thought I had screwed it up the first time I made it and it turned out to be the most flaky yet tender crust I have ever made.

I would seriously recommend the book "Pie" by Ken Haedrich, it is a great cookbook, just dedicated to all types of pie. His explanations for different recipes are easily understandable too. I have been cooking from it for more than 5 years, I LOVE PIE!! Here is the amazon link:
http://www.amazon.com/Pie-Tried---True-Delicious-Homemade/dp/155832254X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1304016723&sr=8-1

@jmorri26: I don't think anyone implied that this topic is anywhere close to the realm of diffusing a bomb. And PS. scientifically speaking, colder ingredients do make for flakier crust. But I'm sure your crust tastes like anger, regardless.

geez purdygirl, cmon now lighten up :) Way to have a sense of humor about things!

I was just saying, quite sarcasticly at that, that to most people scared of crusts the whole cold ingredients thing gets people a little nuts most of the time with pies when its nothing to be so scared of and not being so strict with it isn't going to make a bad crust- bad technique will.

I'll check next time I bake one though and see if I can figure out what anger tastes like for you and let you know ;)

@purdygirl Your comment does seem pretty uncalled for. Be nice, people!

I follow my grandmother's recipe and it works like a charm. I'd love to try my food processor though. I've made many tart crusts that way.

My mother always swore by butter Crisco. I used to use it too back when I was younger UNTIL I looked at the label *shiver* If i'm going to go for hydrogenated oils and artificial flavour I might as well go storebought. I'm surprised to see so many people saying Crisco all the way when just a few weeks ago many were berating the Philly cooking creame for the exact same reason.

Thanks for the vinegar tip - I hadn't heard of this one before.

I'm going to try that vinegar tip next time I make pastry – is it appropriate for tart shells as well?

And I just couldn't go without saying this... I'm sorry to be mean, but to my ear "Marge" is a rather awful name for a bakery/patisserie – it conjures up images of margarine and disgusting baked items made with it. I suppose to an American sensibility – accustomed to things like Crisco, maybe that doens't seem so bad – but to my Anglo-Aussie food consciousness, margarine is the epitome of gross, cheap, non-food rubbish that seems to only still be in production because of rabid "Flora" marketing campaigns and the wartime sensibilties of people my Nana's age. Ugh.

As someone with a grandmother named Marge, who was a fabulous cook and baker, I find RosieGreenie's comment pretty mean-spirited. It looked like from reading about Megan Gordon's company she did too - it's a name, a pretty common one from the time.

Susieque22, I know that the shop name was meant to conjure up the name and its era, not the substance. That's why I said "to my ear", and then explained why, and didn't just say "ew marge is gross and you are grosser-er".

@jls116: I use a similar recipe:
• 2 C minus 2 Tbsp flour
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 C plus 1 Tbsp oil
• 1/4 C milk
Measure, mix, roll. So easy.

@Leah Hope: The white chocolate tip is brilliant, thank you.

I've found that glass pie plates are superior to metal pie plates. The crust cooks hotter and faster in glass and therefore avoids sogginess. Also, I use only one brand of flour - for everything. Some flours have more soft wheat and some more hard wheat (glutens), and I go for consistency. My preference for a balanced, consistent flour is Gold Medal All Purpose, but I've heard that King Arthur's is good - I just don't rock the boat at this point. And yes, leaf lard makes the best crust imaginable. I love the meditative exercise of cutting the lard into the flour - either by pastry blender or knives.