Pie Crust
Ingredients
Directions
Make the dough
Combine flour, shortening, and salt in a bowl.
Chop together with a knife until flaky.
Stir in enough cold water to form a dough that can be rolled out.
Handle and store
Handle the dough as little as possible and keep it very cold.
Prepare the dough a day in advance and store it in the refrigerator.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
What each ingredient does
- Flour
- Forms the structure of the crust as water hydrates its proteins into gluten.
- Shortening
- Coats flour particles and creates flaky layers by staying solid until baking.
- Cold water
- Binds the flour and shortening into a dough that can be rolled out.
The step that matters
Handle the dough as little as possible and keep it very cold.. Overworking develops gluten, making the crust tough, and warm fat melts into the flour instead of forming flaky layers. Keeping the dough cold keeps the shortening solid until it bakes.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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