Comments on: I now enter Phase II of Learn to Bake.

By: frankie

frankie — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 16:35:47 +0000

I just tried your recipe today and wanted to say thank you, because it was really tasty! :)

By: Lenore

Lenore — Wed, 28 Feb 2007 21:37:02 +0000

I use the Best Recipe pie dough recipe and it is very reliable and makes a remarkable workable dough. It uses a food processor for cutting in the fat, which makes things very easy. It also calls for a long series of refrigeration and freezing, most of which I ignore. Some chilling of the dough helps, though.

Don’t worry about cracks when you put your dough down into the pie plate. They can be patched with extra dough trimmed off of the edges. Use a little bit of water to help glue the pieces together.

If you are pre-baking a shell (as for a custard pie) and don’t have pie weights, you can put a layer of aluminum foil down and put almost anything oven safe on the foil to keep the dough weighted down. My mom used dried beans.

By: Rebecca

Rebecca — Sat, 24 Feb 2007 01:37:27 +0000

Try my recipe; it has an egg in it, which makes it much easier to work with than “classic” recipes, more tender than flaky, but also delicious.

http://technically.us/eat/articles/2006/10/05/cooking-101-moms-pie-crust

By: Anne

Anne — Fri, 23 Feb 2007 04:07:33 +0000

Here's the Martha Stewart pie crust recipe

By: Anne

Anne — Fri, 23 Feb 2007 03:59:46 +0000

OK, I may get some flack for this…but I’m a big fan of making pie dough in the Cuisinart. I use an all-butter crust, and I use Martha Stewart’s pate brisee recipe, which I’ll link later. I actually set the timer so that I don’t overwork the dough in my machine. Yes, I set the timer for 10 seconds. Actually, I set it for 12 so I have 2 second’s worth of wiggle room.And yes, I know I’m a dork.

It so much less work and stress than making the dough by hand, and it turns out great every time.

By: Alex

Alex — Fri, 23 Feb 2007 01:53:13 +0000

Basic Pie Crust Dough – From the November 1993 issue of Bon Appetit (Which I totally need to xerox for you — parts of it are HILARIOUS)

MAKES ENOUGH FOR 2 CRUSTS
2 1/2 cups of all purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons sugar
1 1/4 teaspoon salt
5 tablesspoons chilled unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1/4 cup chilled solid vegetable shortening
9 tables (about) ice water

Sift first 2 ingredients into medium bowl. Add butter and shortening and rub with fingertips until mixture resembles coarse meal.

Stir in enough water by tablespoons until dough begins to come together. Gather dough into a ball; divide in half. Flatten each half into disk. Wrap in plastic and chill at least 30 minutes.

(Can be made 1 day ahead. Keep chilled)
—

And it’s funny that Jim mentioned you, “Use a glass bottle.” because that’s exactly what I used the first time I made the crust.

Let me know if you want the recipe of Classic Apple Pie that calls for this crust. It’s tasty and only uses 5 ingredients.

By: Kristen

Kristen — Thu, 22 Feb 2007 23:06:16 +0000

ms_bobo: Have you already tried this one? http://glutenfreegirl.blogspot.com/2006/11/who-needs-gluten-when-there-is-pumpkin.html

By: ms_bobo

ms_bobo — Thu, 22 Feb 2007 22:49:56 +0000

I can’t help with a recipe since I am still struggling to make a perfect crust myself since we had to go gluten free. I can say that if you don’t have a rolling pin, use an unopened and chilled bottle of wine to roll out your dough. Added bonus: once the pie is in the oven, you have a bottle of wine begging to be opened for those “is it too early to start drinking days.”

Good luck and happy baking!

By: Sarah

Sarah — Thu, 22 Feb 2007 20:49:17 +0000

I don’t like lard except in homemade tortillas. The key to really flaky, yummy pate brisee is to use ice cold water and work quickly.

Double pie crust:
2.5 c unbleached flour
1 cup (2 sticks) really cold unslated butter, cut into smallish chunks
1 teaspoon each sugar and salt
1/2 cup ice cold water

Whisk the dry ingredients together, add the butter, and quickly smoosh them together to form a dry mass of chunks. Add the water slowly and stir until it forms into a ballish-shape of dough. Divide it into two chunks, wrap them in plastic wrap, push it down to form flat disks, and freeze them for an half an hour to an hour. Let them thaw a bit and use a shit-load of flour when you’re rolling it out. Eyeballing the rolled-out dough to make sure it fits the pie dish becomes easier with practice (I’ve seen people use a measuring stick). Curiously, Ireally love making pie but I don’t like to eat it. Well, except for chicken pot pie. Oh, ans vanilla cream pie.

Good luck!

By: Kristen

Kristen — Thu, 22 Feb 2007 19:14:24 +0000

After looking it up, I think this is the recipe from Gourmet Magazine used in that Amateur Gourmet post.