Two Ways to Transfer Pie Dough

updated Jul 25, 2023

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With Fall being high time for pies and Thanksgiving getting closer, we thought we’d talk about pie crust. No, not about the ingredients (butter vs. shortening) or how to roll it out but rather how to get that floppy round of dough from your countertop to your baking dish.

Here are two sensible options, illustrated in some great Flickr photos we found. See larger shots and get our tips below…

Both of these techniques require that your dough be floured enough that it won’t stick to itself, for obvious reasons.

First up: The rolling method. Once your dough is rolled out, you simply roll it onto the rolling pin, then unfurl it into your pie plate. This works especially well when making a crostata, where you are unrolling the dough onto a flat surface.

(Image credit: Apartment Therapy)

The second method is folding. This is the way we usually transfer our pie crusts. You gently fold the dough in half, then in half again, making a triangle. It’s less likely to tear as you pick it up, and the beauty is that the point of the triangle goes right in the middle of the pie plate. So, if you’ve rolled out a decently uniform circle, the dough will unfold perfectly centered.