No-Fail Pie Dough
NO-FAIL PIE DOUGH
Makes 2 crusts
I used to be really good at making short crust (pie dough) pumping out awesome pies, galettes and hand pies. Then all the sudden my dough got tough and chewy. I would make these awesome looking fruit galettes that would need a jack hammer to cut through the crust. WTF?? It turns out it has to do with the relationship between the flour and water. Water is great when making bread but not so great when making pie dough.
I found this recipe that explains it all and if you’re bored go ahead and read it. The genius lies in blending the butter and flour together first not leaving big chunks of butter but instead making a kind-a paste. At this point the flour and butter create a barrier that doesn’t allow the water to penetrate and thereby create gluten. I modified the recipe from Serious Eats to create a dough that has a ton of flakiness but also some texture. NOTE: You’ll need a food processor.
Ingredients
2 1/2 cups (350g) all-purpose flour divided in 1/2
1 1/2 tablespoons (20g) sugar
1 teaspoon salt
280g unsalted butter cut into 1/4 slices
6 tablespoons cold water
Additional Notes
By dividing the dough in 1/2 you can control how flaky the end product is. The half you blend with the butter first controls the flakiness. Adding the other portion of flour with water is what gives you the texture. Changing that ration controls how flaky you want the dough to be. I choose 1/2 & 1/2 but you can always do 1/3 & 2/3 or 2/3 and 1/3 if that makes sense?
Directions
Add the first 175g flour, sugar, salt and butter to the food processor and blend until paste consistency. Don’t worry you can’t overwork it. Remember there’s no water so no gluten production.
Tip the blended ingredients into a bowl and add the rest of the flour along with the water. I wouldn’t be tempted to add any more water than this recipe calls for.
Using a wooden spoon or spatula mix the dough together until there are no dry bits left.
Divide the dough into dough and knead them a little. Roll into balls and flatten. Cover with plastic wrap and put into the fridge to set or freezer if you’re not going to use it right away.
