*what Can I Use Instead Of Pie Weights
When you pre-bake an empty crust a.k.a. blind-bake, the dough tends to puff up and rise. Using pie weights solves this problem. Here are some alternative to store-bought pie weights.
- Dry Raw Beans beans should not be used for cooking following a blind bake but can be re-used to blind bake pie crust.
- Dry Raw Rice If using rice, it becomes toasted and can be used for cooking in pilaf recipes after it is use to prebake a pie crust
The Easiest Pie Crust Youll Ever Make
We have officially entered into pie season, and I couldnt be more excited about it! Apple pie is of course one of my favorites, but Ill pretty much take a piece of whatevers being served, especially if its made with my homemade pie crust.
I originally published this recipe several years ago, and since then Ive always felt I needed just a tad more dough, especially if I wanted to do a decorative edge. To solve this, Ive slightly scaled up the recipe so theres plenty of dough to work with. Its still the same easy, foolproof pie crust recipe that youve all loved over these past few years, but now theres just more of it!
My simple pie dough works perfectly for blind baked pies , and it can easily be doubled for two-crust pies or a lattice pie crust. Preparing the dough is a breeze, thanks to the help of a food processor, and it bakes up to be extra flaky and tender, extra buttery and extra flavorful.
All that extra comes from a surprising secret ingredientmore on that below.
Gemmas Pro Chef Tips For Making No
- I have over 30 Pies on this site! Use this pie crust for any of my pie recipes.
- If you omit the sugar, this pie crust can be used for savory dishes like chicken pot pie, quiches, or an Irish potato pie.
- If you want a richer pie crust, use milk instead of water.
- You can freeze the pie crust. When you are ready to use, take it out of the freezer, fill the crust with your fillings, and bake as the recipe instructs.
- This pie crust can be made gluten-free substitute, 1:1, gluten-free flour instead of all-purpose flour.
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Need Some Ideas On What To Do Now That You Have A Lovely Crust
Fill it with seasonal fruit for a stunning dessert, make my old-fashioned Cheddar Pear Pie, or grab a bag of peach pie filling from your freezer for a quick treat. The skys the limit!
You can also try my Honey Pumpkin Pie recipe and/or my Old-Fashioned Lemon Whey Pie recipe.
And dont forget to check out my Prairie Homestead Cookbook!
Add Liquids To Form Dough
Next, add the cold liquids to the dough, a little at a time. If you are using vodka add that first. At this stage we recommend mixing the dough with a rubber spatula. The rubber spatula has a wide, smooth surface that helps to promote lamination of thin, flaky layers in your dough. The rubber spatula also helps to avoid over-mixing which leads to tough, glutinous doughs. After the vodka, add ice water a small splash at a time. The dough should be fairly dry. Enough liquid has been added when a small piece of dough holds it’s shape when squeezed in your hand.
Also Check: Original Key Lime Pie Company
Easy Pie Recipes For Beginners
These quick and Easy Pie Recipes for Beginners are perfect for your next holiday celebration or as a fun Friday night treat!
Are you ready to become the superstar of your kitchen? These Easy Pie Recipes for Beginners will have you baking up a storm and looking like a pro in no time!
From no bake pies to fruit pies, and frozen pies to fresh berry pies youll soon become the master of them all! Plus as a little added bonus, youll love all of the easy pie recipes with few ingredients, too!
With so many easy pie recipes to choose from, adding a slice of pie to your day is going to be a cinch! Everyday is a good day for pie, so lets start making more pie and even more happy memories. Theyre perfect for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and those sweet lazy days of Summer!
Add a delicious slice of pie to your day with these fool-proof, no fuss easy dessert pie recipes!
These are my favorite easy pie recipes that everyone should know how to make
Basic Pie Crust Recipe
Rich, flaky, buttery tasting pie crusts made-from-scratch are easier than you think. Great pies begin with great ingredients and theres no reason to create a pie with anything but a homemade pie crust. Family and friends will love it when you tell them you made the crust too. Youll see and taste the difference. Put your fears aside and get ready for a whole new adventure in baking.
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Tips On How To Make A Flaky Pie Crust
What You Need To Make A Pie Crust
Heres all you need:
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Very cold butter your goal is to end up with tiny little bits of butter in the dough rather than melted or creamed butter mixed through the dough. The little bits of butter melt in the oven and create air pockets which makes the pastry flaky.
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Very cold water for the same reason as above
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Flour, salt and if making pastry for a sweet filling, sugar.
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Making The Dough By Food Processor Or By Hand
The folks at Cooks Illustrated insist on using a food processor for this method. We sort of agree It makes making the flour and butter paste easy.
Use the food processor to make the paste then add the remaining flour. Pulse a few times then transfer everything to a bowl and add water until the dough comes together. .
Using the food processor eliminates variability. If you have one, use it.
With all that said, we hate cleaning dishes and since a food processor means 5 parts to clean we tried this method by hand.
It worked.
We used a pastry cutter to cut the butter into part of the flour and made it as close to a paste as possible. The flour was moistened by the butter and the mixture looked like fresh breadcrumbs it was not powdery from flour. Then, we cut in the remaining flour and added water until the dough came together.
The dough made by hand was just as easy to roll out and turned out just as flaky. In fact, the photo above is actually from dough made by hand, not the food processor.
So, if you dont have a food processor or are like us and hate the extra dishes, give making it by hand a go.
Homemade Pie Dough Pastry Tips
Make this a day ahead to save time. Wrap and refrigerate. When you are ready to make your recipe, roll out the dough and line the tart pan or pie pan.
Use cold butter and ice water when making the crust. This will help keep the crust flaky.
After mixing and gently rolling out, wrap the dough in plastic wrap and let it rest in the refrigerator at least an hour. This process will help firm the fats and soften the dough helping the flaky crust shine through.
Kneading the dough too much or adding too much water can toughen the dough, which can make it difficult to roll out.
On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough into a large round. Your desired size. When transferring the pie dough, fold it over the rolling pin and unroll on top of your pie plate, tart pan, or other container.
If your crust cracks, it is okay, no need to stress. Wet your finger and then gently press the dough back together. It is okay if the crust does not look perfect, it will still taste delicious and it takes practice to get those perfect looking pastries.
Recommended Reading: Key Lime Pie Co
How To Make No
I know I talked about how great and easy this recipe above, but can you believe you can do it all in your pie pan!? Heres how you make no-roll pie crust :
How To Make Homemade Pie Crust In 4 Easy Steps:
Cooks Tip: Do not add too much water or it will be sticky and difficult to roll.
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How To Make A Simple Homemade Pie Crust:
In a medium bowl, combine flour and salt.
Stir in oil and water, mixing until just combined and form dough into a ball.
Chill 30 minutes before rolling or pressing into shape.
Place dough into a greased pie pan. .
Press dough out evenly until it covers entire pie pan including the sides. Make sure you press it thin where the side and bottom meet. Crimp edges if desired.
Perfect Crust For A Quiche Or A Tart
While a short crust should be tender and flaky and slice easily, it should also be substantial enough to hold up to a filling like a quiche. If you are going to use this crust for a quiche
Make a buttery and rich short crust tart dough in minutes.
Even novice bakers who might shy away from a homemade pie pastry should give this recipe a try. It is easy to roll out and produces a delicious tender and flaky crust every time.
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So After All That Talk Did It Work
Yes. It really did. Our pie crust was tender with long thin layers of dough, making it perfectly flaky.
We love this method for two reasons:
What Youll Need To Make Pie Crust
Some pie crust recipes call for all butter some call for all shortening, lard or oil and some call for a combination of fats. I like to use a blend of butter and shortening. The butter lends delicious flavor and flakiness, while the shortening makes the dough easy to work with and also helps it hold its shape. Its important that the butter and shortening are both very cold.
As for the dry ingredients, in addition to all-purpose flour and salt, I like to add a bit of baking powder to my homemade pie crust. It helps the crust expand into the pan, rather than shrink and slip down the sides as it bakes .
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A Fail Proof Flaky Pie Crust Recipe
I LOVE pie..and pie crust. It is just so irresistibly flaky and delicious. Ive tested plenty of recipes over the years, trying all butter, all-vegetable shortening, all lard, combinations of all three, adding only ice water, trying a vinegar/egg slurry and the list goes on. After literally trying recipes for ten years, the be-all-end-all recipe for me ended up being an experimental version of the pie crust my Mom made from the Tenderflake packaging. Tenderflake is a brand of shortening found in Canada, comparable to Crisco. This recipe is a doctored up version of their recipe- its a great recipe as is, but Ive tweaked it slightly to yield a crust that is slightly salty, can be rolled thick or thin and is consistently flaky every time.
The Myths Behind Flaky Pie Crust
On paper, classic pie dough is a mind-bogglingly simple recipe. Combine flour with a bit of salt and sugar, cut in some butter, lard, and/or shortening, then add just enough cold water to get it to come together into a disk. Roll it out and bake. That’s it.
The underlying difficulty in the technique comes during the first stage of cutting the butter into the flour. Unless you make pie dough day in and day out, it’s close to impossible to accurately cut butter into flour to the same degree on a consistent basis. Don’t cut it in quite enough, and you need to add extra water to absorb the excess dry flour, resulting in the over-formation of gluten, and a tough, leathery crust. On the other hand, cut it in just bit too much, and you end up with way too little dry flour. Rather than having well-structured flaky layers, you end up with a crust that crumbles into sandy pieces, like this:
Serious Eats / J. Kenji López-Alt
That is the reason why you sometimes need to add a couple tablespoons of water and other times up to twice as much to get the dough to come togetherit’s got nothing to do with the relative humidity of the air, as many books will have you believe. Indeed, in the short time that it takes to make a pie crust, flour will absorb approximately 0.1% of its weight in water, even in the most humid of environments. That’s a small enough amount to effectively be zero.
Serious Eats / J. Kenji López-Alt
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