I am good at making pie pastry. It is one of my few talents. I even won a pie baking contest. The New Jersey Peach Council held a peach pie competition in every county one year. Whomever won their county’s contest moved on to the finals for the overall best New Jersey Peach Pie title. Well, I won in my county, but, get this, the Jersey Peach Council accidentally left me off the email regarding when the final competition would be, so I missed it! Son of gun. They must have felt badly, because they offered me a chance to go on New York’s channel 11 morning news to demonstrate how to roll out pie dough. I made the big time! My husband drove me into the city early one morning. When we got to the news studio, I was ushered into a room to get my make-up done. I felt important as I sat there in that make-up chair getting dolled up. When I was just about camera ready, the make-up lady asked me, “So, how many pies did you eat?” She thought I was there because I had won some pie eating contest. Ouch. That was humbling.
There are three things to keep in mind when making pie pastry:
- If you want to get good at it then make it often. You can freeze the dough for up to 3 months.
- For the first couple of times, make it by hand using a pastry cutter . You get a good feel of the dough by doing this.
- Don’t be afraid of it! Let’s put pie pastry into perspective here… what most people are used to is store bought pie pastry, and store bought isn’t even half as good as homemade (even if you screw it up!). Be fearless.
You can see my YouTube video on making pie pastry in a food processor here.
Today, I made some pie pastry in the food processor. It is a very quick and easy way to make the dough. Just be sure to not over mix. Here’s how to do it:
Place the already mixed together flour, sugar, and salt into a food processor. Add the chilled butter.
Pulse about 5 to 8 times until the mixture resembles large breadcrumbs.
Add the chilled water, and pulse another 10 to 12 times, or until the dough begins to pull away from the center.
The dough should stick together when you pinch it. Wrap it up in plastic, and refrigerate it for at least 1 hour, or up to 3 days.
See the specks of white? That is butter, and that is exactly what you want.
Here’s some science for ya: you want the dough to be speckled with butter pieces. Those butter pieces are solid, and have not thoroughly mixed with the flour. This means that when the dough bakes, the water in the butter will evaporate, eventually pushing up the layers of dough, thusly creating a flaky crust. You dig? Here’s another tid bit: the butter that has been incorporated binds around the flour which prevents the formation of gluten. That’s how you get a tender crust. Okay, now go to it, and be fearless.
- 2 1/4 cups (281 g) All-Purpose Flour
- 2 TBS (25 g) Sugar
- 1 tsp. (5 g) Salt
- 1 cup (227 g) Unsalted Butter, cut into 1/4" pieces
- 6 to 8 TBS Water, chilled
- In a food processor, pulse together the flour, sugar, and salt to combine.
- Add the chilled butter pieces, and pulse until mixture resembles large breadcrumbs (about 8 times).
- Pour in 4 tablespoons of cold water and pulse 5 times. Check to see if mixture is pinching together. Add another 2 to 4 tablespoons until desired mixture.
- When ready, cut the dough in half, wrap up each pastry piece in plastic, and refrigerate for at least 1 hour or up to 3 days.
- Food processor
- *This butter pie pastry makes enough for two crusts. Cut recipe in half if only one crust is needed.
