Here are a few simple hacks to make your pie crust worthy of a Hollywood Handshake. The secret? An everyday tea towel!
Professional grade pie crust is within your grasp, literally. Just follow these instructions and you can’t go wrong. You’re going to need a food processor, some ice cubes and a few clean tea towels. Ready? Here goes.
For the flakiest crust you need a food processor. You need ice water. And you need cold butter cubed. Assemble all of that and let’s begin.
Here is the only recipe you’ll need. Into the processor put 2.5 cups of flour, 2 Tbsp sugar and 1/2 tsp salt. Next add 16 Tbsp of cubed cold butter and pulse* 10 times at 1 second intervals. Then add 1/2 cup + 2 Tbsp of ice water and pulse again. 10 times at 1 second intervals. This dough creates a super flaky pie crust every time.
*pulse, never puree.
Do Not Overmix – this is big. Huge in fact. Overmixing is the number one cause of flaccid, underwhelming crust. In fact, all of these tips focus on how not to overmix. The dough should still be crumbly when you are done mixing. And this is where the tea towels come in.
Finish the mixing by dumping the contents of the food processor into your clean tea towels. Split the contents between two clean towels. Gather up each towel into a “beggar’s purse” to combine the crumblies and voila! The result will be a pastry disk worthy of the most discerning pie baker. Pop it in the fridge and assemble your pie filling. And that is what we’re going to talk about next – filling!
But first, to give credit where it’s due – all pie crust hack tips are from Alexandra’s Kitchen (@alexandracooks). We love this twitter account – follow her recipes for everything from Enchilada Sauce to Dutch Baby pancakes. Her videos are quick, easy to follow and super informative.
Now, when it comes to filling the world is your oyster at this time of year. Apples! Pears! Quince! The Produce Section is absolutely bursting with harvest bounty. And your pie doesn’t have to be sweet, you could make a Swiss Chard Pie or a Chicken Pot Pie or a Steak Pie!
This stunning Caramel Pear Pie is from one of our favourite recipe sites, Sally’s Baking Addiction
That’s a lot of options. Our pick, if we absolutely had to pick? Well we’d go with this Caramel Pear Pie from Sally’s Baking Recipes. Try it with your new pie dough techniques and get ready to be blown away. Hollywood Handshake here we come!
Please, we beg of you, go wild. Make all the pies! We are currently in maximum autumnal season. If there is ever a better time for pie making we just don’t know it. As Martha says, “Bakers Gonna Bake.”