To Mix Pie Dough
Ingredients
Directions
Sift flour, salt, and baking powder together two or three times.
Rub in shortening until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
Add cold water and mix the dough as little as possible after adding the water.
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 structure of the dough once hydrated with water.
- Shortening
- Coats flour particles to keep the dough tender and flaky by limiting gluten development.
- Cold water
- Hydrates the flour so the dough holds together without being overworked.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas to lighten the dough slightly as it bakes.
The step that matters
Mix the dough as little as possible after adding the water. Once water is added, flour proteins begin forming gluten. Overmixing makes the dough tough and elastic instead of tender and flaky, so stop as soon as it just comes together.
“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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