This may not be the most exciting of posts, but it is a useful post if you are planning on baking a pie with your very own homemade pie crust. I think everyone should bake their own homemade pie crusts!!
This is a pie dough recipe that I love and has always worked for me. It has butter and it has vegetable shortening in it. If you can get your hands on lard, it would be also fantastic! If you can’t, no worries! It turns out perfect using vegetable shortening.
I make sure my butter is very cold. I also use my food processor. I find that when I mix the dough together without, I sometimes overwork it. With the food processor, I can pulse it and control the consistency better. But that is just me. You may prefer to put it together on your counter using your hands.
Kate from the Art of Pie says the only equipment you need is a bowl, a knife and a fork. She also suggests you remember to “think happy thoughts”. And that’s funny she mentions that, because I do! Really, I do think happy thoughts when I make my dough. There is something so relaxing and truly joyous about making your own pie dough. Maybe it’s the gratification I know I will feel when I place the pie in the oven…no matter what kind of pie it is. I know that soon my house will have the most scrumptious smell…the smell of home baked pie. It’s actually what I am smelling now as I type this. I am baking my pumpkin pies for tomorrow!
Here are 3 of my pumpkin pie recipes for you to try:
maple pumpkin pie (crust and filling is vegan)
pumpkin pie and maple whipped cream
Some other delicious pies to consider:
baked’s tuscaloosa tollhouse pie
decadent brownie yogurt pie
apple with oat streusel toppping
key lime pie with meringue topping
blueberry limoncello pie with sourdough crust
olive-oil graham cracker crust
Pie baking tips:
Here is a great post on how to blind bake a pie crust.
Tips on how to avoid overbrowning your pie crust.
15 tips for making perfect pies.
The Art of Pie’s pie dough making tips.
Food52’s pie crust tips (for making by hand)
Hope my friends that celebrate Thanksgiving had a wonderful weekend! Tomorrow we will be back with our December #TwelveLoaves challenge…can’t wait to share it with all of you!!!
Need further pie inspiration…check out my pinterest board! #pielove
Easy Pie Crust
- 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour, plus extra for rolling
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 Tablespoons sugar
- 3/4 cup (a stick and a half) unsalted butter, chilled, cut into 1/4 inch cubes
- 1/2 cup of all-vegetable shortening (8 Tbsp)
- 6-8 Tablespoons ice water
- Combine flour, salt and sugar in a food processor; pulse it one time to mix. Add the butter pieces and pulse 4 times. Add shortening one tablespoon at a time and pulse each time you add a tablespoon. The mixture should resemble coarse cornmeal, with butter bits no bigger than peas. Sprinkle 6 tablespoons of ice water over flour mixture one tablespoon at a time. Pulse once after you add each tablespoon of water. If you pinch some of the crumbly dough and it holds together, it’s ready. If the dough doesn’t hold together, keep adding water, a teaspoon at a time, pulsing once after each addition, until the mixture just begins to clump together.
- Clean off your counter really well or use a pastry board or a nice cutting board. Flour your hands generously. Take the dough out of the food processor. Tilt the rolling pin and sprinkle it with flour as you rotate the rolling pin. Divide the dough into two balls and flatten each into a 4-inch wide disks. Sprinkle a little bit of flour on each disk and then wrap both separately in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 1 hour before rolling. When you are flattening the disks, you are not working the dough. You are just simply flattening the shape into a disk. If you are making the pie that day,
- make sure you refrigerate for at least an hour. Reserve the second disk for your next pie in the fridge. It can stay for up to 2 days in the refrigerator.
- When it is time to roll the dough out to make my pie, I take it out of the refrigerator and I usually let my dough sit out for about 5 minutes before rolling. It’s hot here in Florida. Doesn’t take more than 5 minutes to get to the perfect rolling temperature.
- On a lightly floured surface, using a rolling pin, apply light pressure while rolling outwards from the center of the dough. Every once in a while you may need to gently lift under the dough You have a big enough piece of dough when you place the pie tin or pie dish upside down on the dough and the dough extends by at least 2 inches all around.
- When the dough has reached the right size, gently fold it in half. Lift up the dough and place it so that the folded edge is along the center line of the pie dish. Gently unfold and be sure to not stretch the dough to fit. Fold pastry into quarter folds and ease into plate, pressing firmly against bottom and side.
- * If you are only making a single crust pie, use a pair of kitchen scissors to trim the dough to within 1/2 inch of the lip of the dish. Tuck the overhang underneath itself along the edge of the pie dish. Use your fingers in a pinching motion, or the tines of a fork to crimple the edge of the pie crust.
- *Fill with your choice of filling and bake according to the recipe. You may need to blind bake the crust, depending on the filling.
