Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Wanted: Good Pie Crust Recipe - Instructions for Dummies a Must!

Ok, some of you may recall earlier posts where I discuss the making of pumpkin pie.  I have even posted my pie recipe about a year ago.  Something I've been struggling with, however, is the making of a really good pie crust to go along with the pumpkin pie.

I've explored various pie crust options that I've found online, and they are all pretty much variations on a theme:

3:2:1 ratios of flour : fat : water - give or take.

Without fail they require me to freeze the butter (I'm only interested in butter-based crusts because I don't care for transfats... I've been avoiding them  since before it became chic, you know, back when they were simply called "hydrogenated oils").  After I freeze the butter, I'm supposed to mix it all up in a food processor.  Great, if I had a food processor that actually worked.  I don't.  But I do have a lovely pastry blender that works fine.  I blend and blend and add bit by bit of water until the butter is the size of peas, and the dough just clumps together.  Yay.  So far it sounds perfect.

Then they tell me, "Wrap in plastic wrap and put it in the fridge for 30 minutes-overnight."

Seriously?  Overnight?  30 minutes I can do.  Usually I can even wait a couple of hours.  So I wait as long as I can, generally 2-3 hours.

Without fail, however, the dough will not stick to itself as I try rolling it out.  It's obviously not watered enough, even though I followed the instructions exactly, and it matched the description I was given in the recipe I was following.  So I end up having to add water.  That leads to an awful mess, dough that ends up over-kneaded, and ultimately, sub-par flavor.

I'm *this* close [picture forefinger about to touch thumb] to calling it quits on the home-made pie-crust ideal, and start buying Pillsbury. Please, somebody, save me from the fate of buying ready-made, industrial-strength pie crusts!

3 comments:

Christi said...

Disclaimer: I have not made this pie crust yet, but I plan to. It looks pretty fail proof, which is what I am going for!

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/No-Roll-Pie-Crust-I/Detail.aspx

Kristy said...

if you happen to find a good one let me know I need a good pie crust that I can make and roll out easily.

Jenni said...

My mom makes a good pie crust, but it sounds just like the one that failed you. You have to refridgerate it and stuff.

I just googled a non-roll pie crust (because I hate rolling it out) and found a good one. Though it's quite crumbly (which is what you get when you don't roll it).

I would just do a search and read reviews/ratings. I'm sure you'll find a good one if you put in the correct keywords in your search :)