Comments on: pie crust 102: all butter, really flaky pie dough

By: Adrienne Boswell

Adrienne Boswell — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 05:35:32 +0000

Thank you for a wonderful write up. I made a crust for a quiche from goose fat, using your basic directions, and it turned out perfect. It was so good and flaky, that it was even good all by itself. You know how there’s always a piece of crust that’s all by itself that usually doesn’t get eaten? Well, this did. I wrote up my recipe, and I included your wonderful methods in my article, with a link to this page. If you would like to see it, it’s at . Thanks again for posting this great resource. I’ll never go back to the food processor again!

By: Rena

Rena — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 17:41:24 +0000

Oh. My. God. I just made a pie crust. Well, a tart crust really, but with this recipe. Apple tart with fresh cranberry juice glaze. I even overcooked the bottom a little, and it’s still one of the most magical things that I’ve ever created. I’m freaking out! Thank you!!

By: Alan

Alan — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 00:38:15 +0000

Great big thank you: my wife and I are both lifetime members of WW, so you get some sense of the genius of this recipe that I bake a pie (but never more than once every 8 weeks) and we enjoy every single flaky morsel. Worth every point.
Gentle suggestion for bakers struggling with all butter: you have to baby the dough, making sure everything it is made from and everything it touches is always cold. Butter is not forgiving and will emulsify, changing the dough’s consistency, if it even thinks about getting warm. If you can see visible blobs of butter in the crust when you first close the oven door and peer inside, then you will have babied the dough to the last moment. Repeat, but not too often. Tastes even better that way.

By: Beatriz

Beatriz — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 00:38:26 +0000

Why can’t ever get the bottom crust of pie done?
It always appears be white and mushy.
Should I bake the crust before or I have to put the filling and bake together?

By: Jess

Jess — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 01:38:11 +0000

The pics were so inspiring that I just HAD to try this recipe. I’m not sure what happened…possibly baked too long…but although very tasty & buttery (someone likened it to a croissant) it was terribly, terribly chewy. That was the first day. Second day? Not a dang thing wrong with it! Really delish!

By: Dawn

Dawn — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 19:53:02 +0000

I love this recipe! It makes really awesome pie crust.

I have found a workaround that means you can use the food processor *and* have really awesome texture- use the grater attachment to grate frozen butter, and then mix the grated butter into the flour.

The best way to go about doing that is to freeze the grater attachment, freeze the butter, put the flour into a metal bowl and freeze that too. That way everything will stay super cold while you’re mixing the dry ingredients together- and then after that, freeze everything some more!

By: deb

deb — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 01:02:14 +0000

Nena — Salt control. Various brands of sticks of butter have different amounts of salt in them. Only with unsalted can bakers control how much salt goes into their baked goods. That said, if you want to wing it with whatever salted butter you have on hand, just skip the salt addition.

By: Nena

Nena — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 10:45:16 +0000

I meant to say in Post 423, is there a reason to use UNSALTED butter. Taste? Texture?

By: Tilly

Tilly — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 09:38:01 +0000

I wanted to mak strawberry pie for my father-in-law’s B-Day. (I live in Israel and we get the best strawberries this time of year). Even without the pastry blender – yes, I used a fork and feel like I have immensly improved my upper body strength now – and it looks beutifull. Thank you so much for a great tutorial!

By: Nena

Nena — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 03:31:54 +0000

Is it is okay to use salted butter instead of unsalted? Is there a reaon to used unsalted?