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.Buttermilk Pie Dough

Source of Recipe

From "Pie Academy" by Ken Haedrich


Recipe Introduction

"You've probably heard of buttermilk pie�it's a Southern staple and one of my absolute favorites. But did you know that you could make a delicate *piecrust* using buttermilk? It's delicious, and once you've made this, I know you'll become a fan as well. I can't think of any sweet or savory pie that this crust wouldn't go with. The buttermilk can make it just a touch stickier than doughs made with water, so don't dawdle when you're rolling it. One-half cup may seem like a lot of liquid for a single-crust batch of dough, but that's what it takes."

List of Ingredients

◦ 1 � cups all-purpose flour
◦ � teaspoon salt
◦ 1 teaspoon cornstarch
◦ 10 tablespoons (1 � sticks) cold unsalted butter, cut into �-inch cubes
◦ � cup cold buttermilk


Recipe

Combine the flour, salt, and cornstarch in a large bowl. Scatter the butter on a large flour-dusted plate. Measure the buttermilk into a 1-cup glass measuring cup. Refrigerate everything for 10 to 15 minutes.

Transfer the dry ingredients to a food processor. Pulse several times to mix. Remove the lid and scatter the butter over the dry mixture. Replace the lid. Pulse the machine six or seven times, until the butter is roughly the size of small peas. Pour the buttermilk through the feed tube in a 7- to 8-second stream, pulsing as you add it. Stop pulsing when the mixture is still crumbly but starting to gather in larger clumps.

Turn the mixture out onto your work surface and pack it into a ball, then knead it once or twice to smooth it out. Put the dough on a sheet of plastic wrap and flatten it into a �-inch-thick disk. Wrap the disk and refrigerate for about 1 hour before rolling.

Makes one 9- to 9 �-inch standard or deep-dish pie shell





❧ Double-crust version:

Double all of the ingredients and refrigerate them for 15 minutes prior to mixing the dough. Pulse the machine seven to eight times, adding the buttermilk in an 8- to 10-second stream, until the dough just starts to gather in large clumps.
Proceed with step 3.


❧ To make this dough by hand:

Combine the flours, cornstarch, and salt in a large bowl. Add all of the fat; toss to coat with the flour. Using your fingers, rub and squeeze the butter pieces to flatten them out. (To make it easier, push the butter against the bottom of the bowl with your thumbs; you'll get more leverage this way.) Using a pastry blender, cut in the fat until you have pea-size clods and everything looks like it has been touched by the fat.

Drizzle half of the buttermilk over the mixture. Using a fork, mix well to distribute the buttermilk. Sprinkle on the remaining buttermilk and continue to mix until the dough pulls together.

Turn the dough out onto your work surface and pack it into a ball, then knead it gently two or three times. Put the dough on a sheet of plastic wrap and flatten it into a �-inch-thick disk. Wrap and refrigerate for 45 minutes to 1 hour before rolling.


❧ Variation�Sour Cream Dough:

Sour cream can be substituted for buttermilk. In step 2, spoon � cup plus 1 tablespoon cold sour cream into the processor, dolloping it here and there in big spoonfuls. Pulse the machine again, seven or eight times, until the dough starts to form good-size clumps. Gather and shape the dough into a disk, as above.