While you’re preparing the dough, it’s a good idea to chill your butter thoroughly before you attempt to work it in, if you’re using butter. Anytime the mixture gets overworked, you can stop, put the mixing bowl into the fridge, and let it chill back down to a workable temperature.
Use a food processor. The easiest way to cut the butter is to use a food processor, pulsing the flour mixture for a minute or two, until the butter is chopped up to the appropriate size. Use a pastry cutter for butter or shortening. A pastry cutter is a great way of chopping up the butter in a good uniform mixture, quickly and without much effort. Roll the pastry cutter through the flour mixture, clearing out the butter from behind the tines after you make each pass around the bowl, if necessary. It shouldn’t take more than a few minutes. Use a fork or two knives. If you don’t have a pastry cutter or a food processor, don’t fret. It’s possible, but takes slightly more hand strength and effort, to cut up the butter with the flat side of a table fork, using two knives to slice the butter in opposite directions, or even just using the end of a metal spatula. Just use your fingers with shortening. Shortening won’t be greatly affected by the heat from your hands or from the room temperature, making it easy to get your hands in and crumble up the shortening into the flour using your fingers. You can also do this with butter. Letting it get warm makes the mixture too glutenous and it won’t be flakey.
Be very gentle. The key to a flaky crust is to make sure you don’t overwork the dough. Pie crust is not bread dough, and if you overwork the dough, the crust will become quite tough and difficult to handle. Be a minimalist when it comes to mixing the water into the flour. Less touching means more tender dough.
It’s usually a good idea to chill the dough in the refrigerator until you’re ready to roll it out and bake with it. If you’ve already got the oven pre-heated and you’re anxious to get started, putting it in the freezer can be a good way to get the temperature down quickly. If you want to save the dough for a longer period of time, freeze it in a self-sealing freezer bag. When you’re ready to use it, let it defrost in the fridge overnight and roll it out normally.
Wax paper makes an excellent surface on which to roll out pie crust. Tape down a piece slightly larger than the diameter of the pie plate you hope to fill with the crust, and flour the surface gently. Many bakers will use wax paper in combination with pastry cloth or a second sheet of wax paper to fold the crust into a triangle for easy transport and use. A wooden or stone pastry board requires very little or no flour to roll out pie crust. This can be an excellent investment if you plan on making lots of pie crusts. It’s also common to place pie dough in gallon Ziplock bags and unroll them without removing them from the bag. It can be somewhat challenging to keep pie crust from sticking to the rolling pin, making it a useful easy-clean barrier that will keep the pin from sticking. Just make sure you chill the dough thoroughly and flour the dough before attempting to roll it out.
The amount of flour used to “dust the board” will vary depending on the fat content of the crust you’re making, the amount, and the humidity in your area. It’s always easier to add more, but it’ll be impossible to take flour away if you end up drying it out. Sprinkle no more than a tablespoon or two of flour on the board when you start out, and no more than a tablespoon on top of the dough on top.
Flip the dough over and flour the rolling surface again. Turn over the dough every two or three passes with the rolling pin, to avoid sticking it to the rolling surface. It shouldn’t take more than 5 or 10 passes to get the dough rolled out. The ideal pie crust is about 1⁄8 inch (0. 3 cm) thick, and even. Don’t worry if your crust doesn’t roll out into a perfect circle. Remember, you want to avoid over-working the dough, so it’s better to have a flaky crust that’s a little oblong than a perfectly-shaped crust that’s too tough. There’s nothing wrong with a slightly misshapen pie crust, because you can trim off excess bits after you get it into the pan.
If you rolled the crust out on wax paper, sandwich the crust between that piece and other piece, then fold it over, and over again into a triangle. You can store this in the freezer for easy use, or you can use it right away, unfolding it into the pie plate. If you rolled the crust out on the counter, you can either roll the crust up onto the rolling pin, unrolling it onto the pie plate, or you can use a pastry scraper and gently move the crust flat.
You don’t need to grease or flour the pie plate before you add the crust. It should release from the tin as it cooks. A tiny dusting of cornmeal in the bottom of the tin can help to unstick the crust, if necessary.
Blueberry, blackberry, or other berry filling can either be made from canned pie filling, or from fresh fruit. If you start from fresh fruit, add white sugar, to taste, and a tablespoon of cornstarch for each cup of fruit to thicken the juice. To make stone-fruit filling, like Cherry or peach, remove the pits by cutting the fruit in half or using a pitting machine. Remove the skins if desired, or leave them on. Cook down apple, rhubarb, and other crunchy or sour fruits, like gooseberries, to release the juices and soften the fruit. Add a small amount of cinnamon and brown sugar to the filling as it cooks to add fragrance and taste. Make pumpkin or sweet potato filling by mixing pureed pumpkin or sweet potato with sweetened condensed milk, nutmeg, cinnamon, clove, and other baking spices. To make Chocolate, coconut, lemon, or banana cream filling, you’ll need to pre-bake your empty pie crust before adding the cooked custard and cooling it in the fridge to set. Mincemeat, chicken, or other savory fillings by sautéing the ingredients completely in the skillet before adding them to the crust and baking them. All meats and vegetables should be cooked completely before being added.
Using a pastry brush (or just brushing it on with your finger), moisten the perimeter of the bottom crust with water or a single beaten egg so that it will stick to the top crust. Using a fork, crimp the top and bottom crusts together so it stays secure. Trim off excess dough with a sharp knife. You can cut slits in the top to vent the steam, or cut a more intricate design to your liking. You can use excess dough to create little shapes or designs on the top of the pie to decorate it. Alternatively, you can cut the top crust into several strips of dough, to create the lattice crust.
It’s also possible that too much water was added to the crust. It takes some practice to get the water right: you want to add very cold water until the dough just starts to come together. You’ll likely have to press the crumbs together to make it work, because there won’t be enough water to make it come together just by stirring.
It’s also possible that a soggy pie is the result of too little cornstarch being added to raw fruit. Blueberries, in particular, require lots of cornstarch to set up, and will release a lot of liquid when you start baking them. It’ll take some practice to get the cornstarch ratio correct. You’ll also need to let the pie rest a while before cutting into it.
Whole wheat flour tends to be much more brittle and difficult to handle than that made with white flour. Be very careful not to over-mix it.
Cookie crusts pair excellently with custard or cream pies, like chocolate or coconut. It’s less effective for fruit pies.
