Pie Dough for One Pie
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the dough
Sift the flour, salt, and baking powder together two or three times.
Rub the shortening into the flour until well mixed.
Add the cold water gradually, handling the dough as little as possible.
Chill and roll
Chill the dough thoroughly before using for best results.
Roll out the dough for the bottom crust thicker than for the top crust.
Bake
Place the pie on the bottom of the oven to ensure the bottom crust cooks properly.
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
- All-purpose flour
- Forms the gluten network that gives the dough its structure.
- Shortening
- Coats flour particles to keep the dough tender and flaky.
- Cold water
- Binds the flour and fat into a dough without melting the shortening.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas to lighten the crust slightly.
The step that matters
Handling the dough as little as possible. Adding water and working the dough develops gluten, which makes the crust tough. Keeping the mixing light and the dough cold keeps the shortening in distinct pieces, which gives a tender, flaky crust.
“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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