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.Versatile Pie Dough

Source of Recipe

From "Screen Doors and Sweet Tea" by Martha Hall Foose


Recipe Introduction

"There are some things people feel they will just never make as good as their mothers'. I find this to be particularly true with pie crusts. My friend Corleigha is convinced she will never make a pie crust as good as her mother's. She lives in Mississippi, and her mother is over in Blytheville, Arkansas. Corleigha gets her momma to FedEx frozen homemade pie crusts to her. This pie crust freezes beautifully and will keep for several months in the freezer. I always figure if you are going to go to the trouble of making a little something, make a lot. You never know when you might need a pie crust. So double the recipe if the spirit moves you."

List of Ingredients

◦ 1 � cups unbleached all-purpose flour
◦ � cup cake flour
◦ 1 teaspoon salt
◦ 1 teaspoon sugar
◦ � cup (1 � sticks) unsalted butter, cold, cut into small pieces
◦ � cup vegetable shortening or lard, cold, pinched into small pieces


Recipe

Fill a small pitcher with ice water and set aside.

In a large bowl, combine the flours, salt, and sugar. Add the chilled butter and shortening pieces and toss with flour to coat. Using your fingertips, work the shortening and butter into the flour until there are no pieces of fat larger than a black-eyed pea. Sprinkle � cup ice water over the mixture and mix with a fork to combine and form a shaggy dough.

Gather the dough into a ball. Break off pieces of dough about the size of an egg. Using the heel of your hand, smear dough on your work surface with a pushing motion away from you. Repeat until all of the dough has been smeared. Gather the dough again and pat into a ball and press down to form a disk. Wrap and chill for 30 minutes in the refrigerator.

Place the disk between two pieces of plastic wrap. Roll the dough in one direction, rotating the disk one-eighth turn before each roll to help keep the crust in the shape of a circle. Peel and replace the piece of plastic wrap on the surface of the dough as needed as the circle gets larger. Roll the dough into an 11-inch circle. Remove one sheet of plastic wrap and press the naked side of the dough into a 9-inch pie pan. Carefully press out any air bubbles. Remove the remaining plastic wrap from the top. Fold the edge of the dough under to create a smooth edge and crimp with your fingers or the tines of a fork. Return to the refrigerator to chill for 30 minutes before baking, or wrap well and freeze.

Makes one 9-inch pie crust





❧ Notes:

� This smearing method of mixing the dough yields a remarkably flaky crust; in French baking the technique is called "frissage."

� I like to freeze these crusts in disposable aluminum pans inside zipper-top freezer bags. To conserve space, dough rolled between pieces of plastic wrap can be rolled into a cylinder, placed in a freezer bag, and frozen just like that. Allow the dough to come to room temperature before placing in a pie pan. Chill again before baking.

� To blind-bake or pre-bake a crust before filling, dock the bottom crust by piercing it several times with a fork. Line the crust in the pie pan with parchment paper or coffee filters sprayed with nonstick cooking spray, and fill with rice, beans, a small chain, or pie weights. Bake at 400� F for 12 minutes, remove the paper and weights, and bake for 5 more minutes or until the desired degree of doneness.