Flaky Pie Crust
Ingredients
Directions
Make the dough
Sift together the salt, baking powder, and flour.
Add the Snowdrift and cut it in with a knife.
Use your hands as little as possible.
Mix in cold water until a stiff dough forms.
Handle with care
Remember, the secret to good pastry is minimal handling and keeping it cool.
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 crust once mixed with liquid.
- Snowdrift or vegetable shortening
- Coats flour particles in fat, creating flaky layers and a tender texture.
- Cold water
- Binds the flour and fat into a dough without melting the fat.
- Baking powder
- Provides a small amount of lift for a lighter crust.
The step that matters
Cutting in the shortening and keeping the dough cold. If the fat warms or is overworked, it blends into the flour instead of staying in pieces. Those pieces melt in the oven and leave the flaky layers that make pastry light, so keep handling minimal and the dough cool.
“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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