- 1). Use cold ingredients. Do not make your pie crust with room-temperature butter or lard. Chill and sift your flour to prevent a tough crust. Add cold water to dry ingredients gradually.
- 2). Mix dough by hand. A perfect pie dough barely adheres together and has small cracks when pinched.
- 3). Cook your your pie crust using an un-greased glass pan. After placing the bottom crust into the pan, flute the edges or press with a fork. For fruit pies with a double crust, cut small slits in the top crust to vent.
- 4). Dust bottom and sides with equal parts sugar and flour. An alternative is to brush a well-beaten egg white or melted butter onto the unbaked crust. Do not glaze the top crust or it will trap moisture.
- 5). Refrigerate crust for 15 to 20 minutes. Add fruit filling thickened with cornstarch, flour or the commercial product of your choice.
- 6). Bake the pie in the lower third of your oven according to your recipe. For double-crust pies, author Rose Levy Beranbaun recommends baking for an hour at 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) directly on the oven floor, then moving the pie to a higher rack.
- 7). Let cool completely before serving.
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