Ah, my Grandma’s Pie Crust; one of the few recipes she passed on to me. I have missed my grandmother dearly for so many years, but I think of her dearly when I make her pie crust. She never had it written down, it was all verbal and I had the sense at one time to write it down. I was still in my teens, so me having good sense was hit and miss. Look at that flakey crust below; Browned Butter Pear Pie!
The few tips she had were flour to fat ratio, baking powder, and cold water. I see a lot of recipes using ice cold butter; in her words “cold shortening is for people who overwork the dough.” Hence, she did not believe butter or fat needed to be cold to have fantabulous flakey pie crust. And, in my experience, she’s right. Now, don’t get me wrong, I am not casting shade on cold butter users, I use cold butter a lot. As some of you know, I can be an impatient baker and I know my way around butter or shortening that is NOT cold.
The dry ingredients are always stirred together first, the butter or shortening cut in until crumbly and pea-sized. These pea-sized bits of butter/shortening create pockets in the dough that when baked makes the dough flakey.
Pie Crust Dough Tips
- Do NOT pack down flour when measuring, but do level with a knife.
- Vegetable shortening or Butter or 50-50 of each is perfect.
- Use COLD water, especially if your fat of choice is at room temp (water will be added all at once).
- Never knead pie dough. Stir just enough until it forms a ball. You want to keep those pockets of butter!
Once your dough ball is ready, generously flour your countertop surface and section off half of the dough for the bottom crust. Lightly pat the dough into an approximate 4-inch disc and roll out about 2 inches larger than the pie plate. I used 50-50 butter and shortening for the dough used in these pictures.
Roll out the dough on a floured surface to about 1/4-inch thick, slightly thinner is okay too. This is a soft dough, and if you haven’t worked with softer pie dough, I would suggest to roll it up onto the rolling pin and unroll over pie plate. If your first attempt tears, I would just leaving the tear instead of re-rolling. Fix the tear by using water or egg wash, overlap pieces, and press together to seal. If it’s the bottom crust, no one is going to see a tear.
Once in the pie plate, trim off the extra dough. The bottom crust is now ready for blind-baking, single crust pie, double crust, or filling and crumb topping. Please HAVE SOME FUN! Cut out some leaves, change up the design for single crusts; baking is fun so play with the dough, just don’t overwork it!
Blind Bake Crust (aka pre-baked)
Sometimes you want a baked pastry/flour crust for other pies as even some baked pies call for blind baking a pie crust. Here are the simple steps:
- Preheat your oven to 350 F and line pie crust with foil that goes up the sides. Gently press in the foil as form fitting as possible, without crushing or tearing dough.
- Fill foil with about 1 pound of dry beans or rice and bake in oven for 15 minutes. Remove pie crust from oven, remove foil with dry beans, and return crust to oven for an additional 7 to 10 minutes.
- You have just pre-baked (blind baked) your pie crust to be used with any pie, cream, custard, baked, etc.
I used tines of a fork for criss-cross pattern and crimped the other crust by hand.
And, as you will have some extra pie dough trimmings, roll out the left over dough and place on a parchment lined baking sheet. Brush the top with melted butter and sprinkle on brown sugar or granulated sugar with cinnamon. Bake at 375 F for 15 to 20 minutes, depending on your oven for what we call Pie Crust Cookies! *See recipe notes using leftover dough for a savory snack.
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Grandma’s Pie Crust
Ingredients
Grandma's Pie Crust – for one Double crust 9-inch pie
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons sugar (omit for savory pies)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/8 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 cup shortening or butter or half of each
- 1/2 cup cold water
Instructions
- In a large bowl, stir all of the dry ingredients together (flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt).
- Using a large tine fork or pastry cutter, cut in the shortening/butter of choice until pea-sized and crumbly.
- Add the cold water all at once and mix just until it forms a ball (do not knead or over mix). Divide dough in half.
- Roll out one half on a generously floured surface about 2 inches wider than the pie plate (11-inches for a 9-inch pie). As this is a soft dough, roll up on to rolling pin and unroll onto pie plate.
- If you are making a top crust, after you have added your filling, wet the edges with water or egg wash, and roll out top crust, but it only needs to be about 1-inch wider than pie plate.
- Crimp the edges as desired, by hand or with fork, and bake as directed for pie.
Notes
