pie crust 103: rolling and crimping
[Previous episodes: Pie Crust 101 & Pie Crust 102]
As you wish, my friends.
So, when we left off, you had all realized how much fun and easy it was to make pie dough at home, in no time flat while dirtying less than ten dishes. I suspect that each and every one of you ran to your fridge to pull out the ingredients and ten minutes later had your doughs neatly chilling back inside them. And now, all that it is left is getting those babies rolled out and filled with pumpkin or apple or cherries or lemon or … gah, I just hope you share with me.
There are only three things to remember when rolling out dough, and one you already know: cold. Work quickly so the dough stays cold (and also firm and easier to work with) and if it takes a few extra minutes and starts to soften, slide it onto the back of a tray and chill it in the freezer for two or three minutes. Second is flour; a whole lot of you said that your doughs stick to the counter and the rolling pin and your fingers and it’s really simple: be generous with flour. You can always brush extra off. It’s hard to add more to glued-on dough (but I’ll show you how to do that too). The third is to not freak out–even if it gets warm, even if it sticks, it’s gonna be a’ight. So here we go!
Start by getting your stuff out: You’ll want a small dish of flour (or a shaker, if you have one), a rolling pin, your pie dough that has been chilling for an hour or two, but preferably longer, your pie pan and some sort of bench scraper or knife.
Flour the heck out of your surface, unwrap the dough and put it in the middle and flour that too. Be generous, you’ll thank me later.
Get rolling: Start rolling your dough by pressing down lightly with the pin and moving it from the center out. You’re not going to get it all flat in one roll or even twenty; be patient and it will crack less. Roll it a few times in one direction, lift it up and rotate it a quarter-turn. And that’s what you’re going to continue to do, roll a couple times, lift the dough and rotate it. Re-flour the counter and the top of the dough as needed–don’t skimp! You should be leaving no bits of dough on the counter and none should be stuck to your pin.
Roll, lift, turn, repeat. Got it?
Whoops! But what is this? Despite your best efforts, you go to lift the dough and part of it doesn’t want to move. It happens to me all of the time. Use that bench scraper and run it tightly underneath the stuck part, peel it back, and flour the heck out of that area, before getting back to rolling, lifting and turning the dough. I told you it was going to be all right!
Trim the dough: For a standard-size pie tin — that’s what this pie dough is scaled to, after all — you’re looking for a 12-inch circle. You can either keep a ruler nearby, or if you’re me, know that a certain kitchen bowl has a 12-inch diameter rim and use that as your stencil. We’re really high tech here. (Also, you might consider not walking around the kitchen saying “Hm, what’s 12 inches in here?” aloud. Especially if you live with an Office fanatic.) Trim your pie dough into a 12-inch circle with the tip of a knife.
Transfer your crust: Because your pie dough has been kept cool and loose on the counter, transferring it to the tin should be no trouble at all. Some people suggest your roll it around the pin and unroll it in the pan, and hey, that works too. But I prefer to fold it very loosely into quarters and unfold it into the pie pan.
Fold the excess under: Press it gently into the pan, making sure it is centered. You should have half an inch overhang around the pan, and you’ll want to fold this overhang under so that the pie dough becomes the size of the pan.
If you’re making a double-crust pie, you’re going to want to wait to fold the excess under and crimp the edges until you have sealed the top and bottom lids together.
Crimp the edges decoratively: One you’ve got the excess folded under, you can make a traditional decorative crimp by forming a “V” with the tips of the thumb and index finger of one hand and pressing the dough into this “V” with the index finger of your other hand. Go around the rim until the whole thing is so cute, you can barely take it.
Get crafty with the scraps: If you’re me, the sight of the extra scraps of pie dough on the counter after you have trimmed your circle is just torture. I can never resist re-rolling mine, and using cookie cutters to make little leaves or hearts or apples and decorating the pie crust tops with them (use a little egg wash as glue). Alternately, you could skip the crimping part altogether and create a leaf wreath around the edges of your pie, but prepare to be teased, just a little, for getting so carried away, not that I’d know this from experience or anything. (Psst: I’ll still think you’re cool!)
You make is look so easy! Maybe a video attachment next time? Love your fancy scraps.
Ah, perfect timing. Thank you! I always am afraid of adding too much flour…never thought of just brushing it off!
This is very cool. I think we have the same bench scraper — Bowery Kitchen Supply?? ‘Love that place! And I like your rolling pin, too…it’s not tapered like mine.
Very helpful tips on rolling out dough, much appreciated.
How do your crimped edges look so darn perfect?? I guess practice paves the way…
Hooray! You are a savior. I have been assigned to make pie this year for Thanksgiving and now I think I will be able to do you proud. Thanks for the excellent, inspiring work :)
My mom always taught me to use as little flour as possible, or else the crust would get tough.
Old wives’ tale?
On the topic of COLD, I tried something that worked great for me in the hot Southern California summers (no AC in our apartment and I love berry and summer fruit pies)… I have a marble rolling pin and I stuck that in the freezer for 30 mins before rolling the dough. It sweats a bit if it’s really warm in your kitchen but just keep that flour handy and keep going – it works like a dream :) I also use my large silpat mat for rolling dough since I don’t have a pastry board and hate cleaning flour off my counter.
Thank you for this! Tonight I made the dough from your pie crust 102 and it is in the fridge as I type. I will use these hints in the morning when I prepare to make the pies.
Thanks!!
I’ve always been so scared of pies… maybe I’ll give it a try!
I would definitely be getting all crafty with the scraps. Then if the crust tastes like hell, at least it’s pretty.
Thanks, a very helpful topic. I have a question though. Do you have to grease your pie pans? With shortening or butter? It looks like you don’t.
Thanks for the great tips! Pastry has always been a great fear for me, your photos are great and I will definitely be using your tips in my next attempt!
Cheers and Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family!
thanks deb!! you rock. have you ever rolled dough out between sheets of wax or parchment paper? is the flouring method better/easier?
Oooo I am so making pies for a long time after thanksgiving and christmas. If your making Pumpkin pie and you want to put little fancy cut out of pie dough on top of the filling, when should you place them on the pumpkin?????
Thanks so much for doing these tutorials! They’ve been a big help! It let me know that I was doing the right thing in 102-and this one will be super helpful tomorrow when I roll out my dough!
I’m sure homemade crusts are ten times tastier than store bought, but I just don’t think I can be bothered. I’ll leave that hard stuff to you. :)
Angie (from over at http://www.HalfAssedKitchen.com)
I was taught like #2 Slack and #5 Greenjello that too much flour makes the crust tough. And it does. Thats why I use a rolling canvas and pin cover, I don’t need to use as much. There is no perfect method, I guess. I’d would just like it round like yours in the picture, not looking like someone dropped a pan of wet dough from a 5th floor window to splat on the sidewalk below in a flat, uneven, sprawling blob! The only circle I could cut out of mine would be about 8 inchs in diameter! Errr..I hate pie dough. Hate it.
Thank you thank you thank you! Wish good luck making me a crack-free crust tomorrow!
I never make pie but this is making me think I should start – maybe I’ll make one for my family as a pre Christmas treat.
Fabulous description and instructions!
Deb, thank you so much for your very timely pie crust posts! Your clear and fun instrucions have improved my crust making by leaps an bounds!
Thanks! After reading this, I now think my problem was attempting to roll it completely flat too quickly. Your “You’re not going to get it all flat in one roll or even twenty,” hit home!
I, too, am (was) afriad of making pie. Now, I’mnot afraid to try it. I’m not going to be crazy and try one for Thanksgiving, but I will do one before Xmas! I bought myself a glass pie plate. Although, I don’t have a roller, yet…
I get to roll and crimp today! I hope mine turn our as well as yours.
You made me laugh! I love tutorials like these! Used to think I couldn’t roll out dough until I saw someone really (and I mean really!) flouring the bench… Eye-opener, up till then I had been too skimpy… since then I can roll too! Even got to advanced rolling class: raw almond paste into a disc, yay!
This is awesome – I was always wondering how to get that perfect 12 inch measurement… I laughed out loud looking at The Office clips — priceless.
Hii!! a pointless question.. who takes the pictures while your making magic happen?
Thank you!! I especially love your crimping technique; I’d never thought of that before.
Looks lovely.
If you’d like, I have a picture of my pie dough made in the food processor on my blog today. All the bits of butter make such a flaky crust.
One thing I do is stick the crust back in the fridge after it is already in the pan and crimped. That helps with shrinkage.
great tips – love the little leaves too. DId you just use cookie cutters?
A very nice walk-through! Thanks for this. The flour in the shaker is a fantastic idea. I just tried to make my first tart ever and it was a disaster. I think I just got too cocky. You can check it out over here.
Cheers and happy holidays!
Nick
I’ll be attempting my first homemade pie crust tomorrow morning… I’m scared to death! I bought some pre-made Pillsbury crust for backup :p
Help! I made the Joy of Cooking pie crusts…butter and a little bit of vegetable shortening. When I pre-bake the crusts, I fill them with foil and weights, but they shrink up miserably and when they’re done baking the crust only comes half way up the pan. I chill them before I bake them. I can’t figure out what I’m doing wrong. Please help if you can.
Actually, I did make your crust recipe last night and I plan on rolling it out tonight. *grin* I’ve made an all butter crust before and it came out decently, but the rolling was the hardest part for me. So, I’m definitely looking foward to studying up on this post before waving my rolling pin around.
Deb, you’ve been a life saver! My aunt is coming for Christmas this year for the first time in 20 years, and to honor the occasion I am making her favorite pie. However, it will also be my first pie and I have been a little anxious about the crust! Pecan filling I can handle, but the dough was worrying me. Thanks!
Man, now I wish I were in charge of pies this year… and I second Abeer’s question – I’ve been wondering if you use a tripod and take your own photos or if Alex takes some.
Thanks for posting this today, just in time. I made dough last night (for the first time!) and it’s chilling in the fridge until tonight, when I make my first attempt at rolling. I plan to fill it with the Silky Smooth Pumpkin Pie recipe you posted a few weeks ago. Your advice has been immensely helpful!
Lecia — Would you believe that Alex went out to buy a video camera yesterday? Sold out! Alas, perhaps by next Thanksgiving…
Jackie — Le Crueset outlet in Flemington, NJ like 5 years ago, actually. ;)
Green Jello — You want to use as little flour as possible in the dough–that will make it tough. But I don’t believe in skimping on the counter. You can’t roll out a crust that sticks without creating messes, tears and gray hairs. You’re simply using that extra “dust” to create a buffer.
Junebug — I don’t great my pie pan. But I do grease my tart pans. I suppose it is no harm if you do. I would always use butter.
Kim — I sometimes do for more crumbly tart doughs and I did when I made the stickier vodka pie dough. And, I have a friend who is a pastry chef and says she always rolls her doughs between two pieces of plastic. So either works. I just find the flour method a little easier to get just what I want from the dough.
Teen Chef — You can bake them on a parchment lined tray separately until they lightly brown and plop them on in maybe the last ten minutes of baking the pumpkin filling.
Mom24 — Most pie doughs do, because they have a lot of water in them and it’s hard to avoid. Your best bet is to prick the crust all over with a fork and fully freeze it (at least 30 minutes) before you tightly press buttered foil against it and add your pie weights.
One of my favorite pie crust tools ever is a huge silicone rolling mat from KingArthurFlour.com (kinda like the silpat mats, but larger). It even has measured circles in the center of it so you can easily roll out your dough to just the right size. Plus, rolling on the silicone requires less messing with flour. Doesn’t eliminate it, but it really helps. And when you go to the fold-over step the dough will peel right off, every time.
If you don’t have a Silpat just roll it out on floured saran wrap, even reuse the piece you had it wrapped up in last night. So easy and everyone already has it. Plus you can easily flip it over into the pie plate from the saran.
I always sprinkle my extras with a little cinnamon sugar and bake for a few cookies (that’s what my mom always did for us when we were kids).
I love that there are people out there handmaking pie crusts. I also make mine with all butter and then people say, “OH, how do you do it, your crusts are so good, what brand do you buy.” When when I say I make them (with my grandmother’s recipe) they give me a hard time about it (Oh, it’s so much easier to buy, making it is too hard, etc. etc).
Thank you very much for the instructions and tips! I just bought a silicone rolling mart and can’t wait to try pie crust today!
All that extra flour for rolling gets absorbed into the dough. Using waxed paper or parchment paper (or a silicone rolling mat) preserves the original ratios of flour/water/fat that you worked so hard to create in the first place.
Thanks for this. I am confused by one thing. What is the difference between a pie crust and a tart shell? I always thought it was the same thing, just cooked in different shaped pans. But it seems you are giving us separate recipes. Also, what do you do if your kitchen counter is always so dirty and cluttered that you can’t roll out dough on it? Well, maybe you can’t help with that.
My problem is that my dough always cracks when I try to roll it into a circle. So, the crack will start early on and when I’m done, I’ll have a break, like a triangle coming out. How do you fix that? Is it how I make my dough? Or am I pushing too hard when I roll? Thanks so much!
Another use for the extra dough is what my family calls pie crust kisses. Gather the scraps, form another ball and roll it back out, perferably in a rectangle. Then spread a thin layer of butter over the dough. Sprinkle brown sugar and cinnammon on top and then roll the dough up like cinnammon rolls. Slice the roll and place spirals on cookie sheet. Bake until golden.
I’m glad your posts are giving everyone the courage to make their own pie crusts. When I learned that people could actually BUY pie crusts I thought that was the strangest thing in the world. My mom has always made hers from scratch so I guess it never scared me!
I think my favorite part of this tutorial is not the clips from The Office (HILARIOUS), nor the extremely helpful tips, not the way Deb knows what questions will be asked and tries to anticipate problems, not even the way she’s meticulously organized her thoughts and put them out there after what I’m guessing are dozens of trials and experiments with pie-making. Nope. My favorite part is reading the people who insist not that there are other equally good ways to do roll out dough, but that Deb is actually fundamentally wrong in suggesting we flour things enough to make them not sticky. I think that’s about the funniest thing going on here.
Yes, it changes the ratio a tiny bit – but since this is Deb’s recipe and her suggesting you add flour, I would think that just maybe she’s worked out that recipe so it can take the flour and not be gross or tough or taste wrong or whatever the too much flour argument is.
Deb, thanks so much for this tutorial… I avoid pie crusts at all costs because of the rolling out. In fact, my grandmother’s apple pie recipe uses a great flaky, butter crust, but instead of rolling it out, you just press it into the bottom of the pie plate, leaving enough over th edge to crimp. The crust is always flaky and delicious without all of the hard work.
thanks for this, deb! I used my leftover dough scraps just last night to make a mini apple galette. turned out great!
When I roll, mine never look as nice as your picture. I always get big huge fissures. But I’ve learned not to panic. I just take a scrap from the edge and “glue” it into the tear with a little water, sprinkle with more flour and roll.
thank you so much for this tutorial. the way you crimp the edges makes so much sense. i might actually be able to do that. can’t wait to try it out on the piecrust i’ll make tonight. hopefully, it will impress my family.
For Alex: THAT’S WHAT SHE SAID.
My family always liberally sprinkled the extra crust scraps with cinnamon sugar and tossed them in the oven to brown up. Very tasty little snack while you’re waiting on the pie to come out! And thanks for the recipe!
Thanks so much!! Really helpful! :)
Smitten, I wanna be you when I grow up!
so helpful thanks!
my mother used to take the scraps re-roll them butter them generously, sprinkle on cinnamon and sugar, roll them up and cut them into bite size pieces and then bake for 8-10 min for crispy littel cinamon roll-ups. they’re SO good i sometimes buy pie dough just to make those.
My husband comes from generations of women defined solely by their pie making capabilities. Self esteem comes in a pie tin.
Not to rub it in anyones faces or anything…but everyone agreed my pie was the best.
Thanks so much for a great tutorial!
zesty
I agree with Keith. I prefer to roll pie dough between layers of plastic wrap, wax paper or mats so I don’t need to add a lot of flour. Mainly because mistakes made while rolling directly on a table/board can cause you to have to re-roll and overwork the dough. I learned this method from the Pie & Pastry Bible and have never gone back to rolling directly on a board. I just cut out the possibility by rolling between lightly floured layers of plastic wrap and I look forward to making pie crust now. Weird!
My mom always makes “crust cookies” with the excess – just rolls them into circles and sprinkles cinnamon and sugar on top!
I have fond my inspiration to make my own crust from you. My mocha pecan pie is in the oven now. The crust collapsed into my pie a little bit (SAD!) but I care more about taste than presentation anyways!
One time… I tried to make pie crust. An hour later I found myself at the store resorting to the Pillsbury roll out kind. Thanks for the lesson, I may actually attempt it again!
Blasphemy! Extra pie dough ALWAYS goes toward pie dough cookies! It wouldn’t be a pie making afternoon without some of those!
Pie Dough Cookies:
Extra pie dough rolled out extra thin
cinnamon & sugar
Fork the pie dough and generously spread cinnamon & sugar mixture on top. Bake at 350 degrees until crispy and lightly browned.
Absolutely one of the best “leftovers” one can make!
The best trick I have learned so far is to roll our the dough between 2 pieces of parchment (still use some flour on both sides). Roll patiently, and lift the paper a few times to make sure it’s not sticking. It also makes for easy plate transfer and has put the kabosh on — most of — my pie crust fears.
@ Amberoni: Thank you. I was thinking the exact same thing when I read Keith’s comment. Other recipe’s I’ve seen call for 1/4-1/3 cup more flour then Deb’s recipe which leads me to think that her recipe is more apt to absorb flour without getting tough. If it’s working for her and the pie’s are delicious then why mess with success? The entire point of this pie crust 101-103 was to lessen the dishes we have to do to get a great pie. Adding a silpat mat just increases the dishes.
The only piece of equipment I would add to this preparation would be a pastry brush to get all the clinging flour off the crust once it’s rolled out. I find it gets more flour off then just my hand. Blowing the flour off makes me look like I just survived a dust storm.
I’ll second #37 on the silicone pie mat. For years I used a Tupperware plastic mat with circles marked on it that my mom got back in the 70’s or 80’s. It was good, but you had to weigh down the corners with tuna cans because it was rolled and didn’t lay flat. The silicone mats, though, are awesome! The dough doesn’t stick much and it makes cleanup a breeze. For me, cleanup is the worst part of baking :-) I roll my dough the same way you do. I use plenty of flour and have never had tough crusts. I agree that the best tip for rolling pie crust is patience. Take your time and don’t try to roll too fast and it will minimize any cracking or tearing. Oh, and my mom also make crust cookies. Moms are good about not letting anything go to waste.
My mom always used the excess crust to spread strawberry jam over it and bake it separately. Yum! Cinnamon and sugar sounds good also.
woo-hoo!! thank you. of course the crimping and all was so simple, but without someone to show me, it was awful hard to think of it myself. maybe i will make a pie for thanksgiving……………
Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!!! I just made the best pie crust of my life this morning, all thanks to YOU. Being generous with the flour, and light of touch with the rolling pin totally did the trick.
Happy Thanksgiving!
P.S. I just ate the scraps raw…pathetic, but delicious!
OK, I confess to lurking out here for over a year without saying a darn thing and taking advantage of your site probably at least once a week. But now after 25 years of half assed attempts I just made two perfect pie crusts and a top. Seriously, you’re awesome! Thank you!
Thank you so much for this one, I’m relatively new to baking so all hints and tips are extremely helpful for me:)
What do you do if your pie dough cracks horribly when you’re rolling it out? I used the vodka recipe in Pie Crust 101, followed all your tips for rolling out (which were great – no sticking!), but had a pretty crumbly crust with huge cracks. I had to do quite a bit of patching…is there a better way?
And here I thought the vodka pie dough was supposed to be sticky – hmph!
you have almost everything right…you’re supposed to sprinkle cinnamon & sugar on the extra dough scraps and bake them separately as a treat for being such a magnificent pie-baker!!
A couple of comments/questions:
1. I just baked the CI vodka pie crust but used 16 tablespoons of butter instead of 12 tablespoons of butter and 8 of shortening. It was lovely, but the first crust I made shrunk miserably and couldn’t hold much of the nutmeg-maple cream pie filling I made. For the second crust, I rolled it out, froze it, put it in the pie dish, crimped it, RE-froze it, froze my cooking weights, froze my tin foil…and….only a teensy bit of the crust pulled back. So…yay me!
2. I wasn’t sure where to post this question because it references the aforementioned nutmeg-maple cream pie: I made this last year with great success, but….I don’t know….maybe I’m being crazy but I’m terrified that it’s not cooked all the way through! How can I tell? Would it be blasphemy to put it back in the oven for 15 minutes or something (by the time anyone responds to this the pie will surely be cooled).
If you run into cracks and tears, patching is just fine. I do it too! Just not in this picture-perfect instance.
Hi Elizabeth — If the nutmeg-maple tart feels a bit firm and only jiggles a little when moved, it is done. Anything less, I don’t see any harm in re-baking it some more.
Pie crusts shrink terribly, unfortunately–it is because there is so much water in them. The foil/freezing method seems to help a lot, so go you!
I tried your recipe for pie crust without the sugar for a meat pie last night. It turned out great! I saw Ina Garten make pie crust for her Chicken Pot Pie and rolled it out like she did (which I now see is also your way of rolling). What really surprised me was how much EASIER it was to make your own pie crust than to roll out the pre-done pie crust from the freezer section at the grocery. Somehow the predone one thawed too much or not enough or something. It always stuck and broke up for me. I thought I was a total failure at pie crusts until now. Thank you so much for the instructions and encouragement. This opens a new chapter in cooking for me.
THANK YOU!!! this was so helpful, and i’ve just pulled a beautiful pie out of the oven, and the little leaves that i made out of the scraps, well, one just wasn’t quite right, so i was forced to eat it, and it was delicious! i always thought that i didn’t like pie crust, but i was wrong! i just don’t like bad pie crust, and this is wonderful! HAPPY THANKSGIVING, and many thanks to you, Deb.
Thank you Thank you for helping me feel okay about coming back to butter. I, too, was swayed by the experts and have been using shortening in my crusts lately. Blech. Plus, I noticed at least for me, the shortening crusts tended to get too dark. So burned, icky tasting crusts–what is the point? I ate a piece of pumpkin pie tonight with your butter crust recipe and it is so good. The crust is actually worth eating again! Thanks again!
Ok! I did it your way with my crusts today. SUCCESS! It worked like a charm and they didn’t turn out tough. Nothing stuck and my crust was round! I baked some scraps separately and they were flakey and tender. Thanks, Deb. Sorry I was such a doubting Thomas earlier! That’ll teach me not to be a big know-it-all.. maybe.;)
Thanks for the inspiration, those are gorgeous!
Constant reader of your blog, rarely comment, but today I could not resist
Thanks to you, I had my very first pie profanity-free! I had very little hope, because I’ve tried so many “fool=proof” recipes, methods, tips, advice…. nothing worked.
Finally today, I made a pie dough using ALL your advice – and it worked like a charm! I almost cried (literally) – it was too much emotion on a Thanksgiving morning… :-)
We will not cut the pie until after dinner, of course, but I KNOW it will be the best ever – you would be proud of your teaching skills if you could see how cute the crimped edges look – and I DID IT MYSELF!!!!!!
Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!
I made my pie crust yesterday and then rolled it out this morning– success! It wasn’t nearly as hard as I thought it would be, and I can’t wait to eat the pie!
Any good pie starts with a homemade crust, not worth eating the store bought ones. I made cranberry pie for Thanksgiving, a great way to convert people to being cranberry eaters!
I’ve always used Crisco- not opposed to butter, just never tried it. And I don’t know what I would do without my pastry cloth and rolling pin cover.
Okay so I made a pie crust today after many years of being conditioned into think that no one will notice if you use those ones that come rolled up in a refrigerated box. I followed your instructions to the letter and into my pie went Shaker (Meyer) Lemon pie filling that had macerated for the requisite number of hours. The filling was not a huge hit. I enjoyed it, but I think my family prefers the lemon pie sans the “grown up” lemon flavor. I was told, however, that the crust was “awesome.” And I couldn’t agree more. I swear to never again buy a store bought pie crust barring an extreme pie emergency situation. Thank you.
P.S. I thought you might also like to know that I decorated the top of my pie with these ridiculously labor intensive leaves that I made by hand after going into a desperate panic Thanksgiving morning over not having any tiny cookie cutters and sending the boy out to the Wal-Mart where there were also no tiny cookie cutters.
The little leaves in the pie dish are so cute! Also, I never really thought about having a shaker for your flour. Thanks for the idea.
I don’t know if anybody has said this yet (it’s a little tedious to go through 83 comments at 12:05 and I have 8am classes the next day), but am I the only one too weak to roll out dough that came straight from the fridge? I actually had to *let* mine warm up to at a little below room temp in order for me to roll it out without dying. No joke. I’d do it standing up so I can put the majority of my weight on it, and it just doesn’t work. :(
I never thought of the folding in quarters trick! I was taught to drape it over the rolling pin, as you mentioned. and that’s fine, but I love the idea of trimming it after the fold. Will definitely try that at Christmas. Thanks!
You said to share with you, so here are pumpkin chiffon, pecan, and mud from my house:
sorry — no html! Here’s the link: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3284/3065398453_5cc0ccc3dc_m.jpg
oh heck! Now I’m a blog-stalker! I meant to ask — don’t you make a sugar pie with your scraps? (I mean after the fun designs, of course) We always make a sugar pie or baby cinnamon rolls at our house with the extras. Part of the fun of having extra crust!
Thank you. Thank you.
This has been printed, laminated, hole punched and placed in my everyday cooking/recipe notebook…. along with pie crust 101 and 102 :)
I made two pies using this and they were great. The crust was reminiscent of puff pastry. I have long used the roll-between-waxed-paper method but wanted to find a way to avoid the paper because one piece of waxed paper is never as long as the crust needs to be wide, and it just turns into a PITA. The trick is indeed plenty of flour and turn, turn, turn.
Thank you for posting a pie crust w/just butter! Shortening grosses me out! I made this recipe for my pumpkin pies on Thanksgiving. I followed the instructions from Cooks Illustrated to prebake the crust (baked @ 400 for 15 min w/weights, remove weights & foil, bake for 8-10 more min), but the end product was too crunchy for my preference. Do you have any tips on how to prebake this crust? Thanks!
I made the 2008 Cook’s Illustrated pumpkin pie with their vodka crust after reading your reviews (now I see that you back to an all-butter crust, but the vodka tasted pretty good to me). I did, however, have my crust shrink WAY down when I pre-baked the shell. What am I doing wrong? I also used your no-shrink tart crust and that one came out perfectly but I ended up having to buy a second store-bought pie crust for my pumpkin because I had tons of filling and an itty bitty crust. Please share your secrets!
I generally do not prebake my pie crusts. The purpose of this is to keep them crisp once baked with a wet filling, like pumpkin or apple or whatnot. (A little softness never bothers me in double-crust pies.) Of course, I’m not in the kitchen with you so I cannot say what is going “wrong”–most likely, nothing at all–but I would definitely skip the prebaking if you’re finding the end result too crispy/crunchy. It is probably just not to your liking.
I’ve been baking pies for years and I learned something from your post. I incorporated a few tips (like using a tart pan bottom to judge the size of the rolled out crust and flouring liberally before rolling out) and found them to take my crusts to the next level. Thanks, as usual, for your delightful combo of information, beautiful photos and great writing.
I just wanted to thank you for inspiring me not to food-process my dough ingredients. For my first-ever Thanksgiving pie (blueberry), I whipped out that pastry cutter and was rewarded with a perfectly elastic dough that baked into a gorgeously flaky crust. My tough-to-please in-laws descended on that pie like the proverbial locusts.
I made this dough about 5 days ago for Thanksgiving, but I was foiled by my brother bringing TWO pies to the table (apple AND pecan!)…so I kept the dough for something else. Well, I couldn’t imagine making a whole pie so I combined the idea of your Bourbon peach hand pies with my own filling (fig jam and walnuts). I wasn’t sure if it was going to work…but it did!! The pie dough is AMAZING and it worked quite well as a hand pie. So, thanks for a fabulous recipe and method. It was my first time making pie crust too!
My favorite part of the whole tutorial is your direction to “Go around the rim until the whole thing is so cute, you can barely take it.” I was raised believing the shortening myth and I’m excited to try the all butter crust next time! Shortening is totally creepy, it just makes sense.
Thank you for demystifying how to create the ideal pie dough!
Pie-related question: If pie isn’t going to be eaten immediately — e.g., I’m baking two lattice-work pies tonight (cherry and apple) to be consumed tomorrow morning and afternoon, respectively — once they’re done baking, should I refrigerate the pies once they cool completely? Or should I just leave them out on a table and cover them with wax paper?
Fruit pies don’t usually need refrigeration, so keeping them at room temperature should be fine for a day or even more. I actually leave mine uncovered or just topped with a cake dome; I like to keep them as crisp as possible and that can be hard when they’re wrapped, trapping in moisture.
I rolled my dough out with a pastry cloth and rolling pin cover. It worked perfectly! Shrunk a bit when prebaked, but I know what I did wrong. Thanks for organizing your site so well. It’s my favorite!
I made my first rhubarb pie with this recipe. Turned out great! (I think the dough ended up a little more chewy than I would’ve liked, but I may have added too much flour or overmixed…..i’m going to try the recipe again soon.) Your blog is absolutely wonderful. It’s the first blog I check when looking for recipes. Keep up the good work!
I was always too aggressive when rolling which generated heat. So now I relax and take it easy, along with generous bench flour and requisite turning. I have done much better with my crusts with practice. I’ve kept at it throughout the summer, and Sweet Potato Pie is on deck for the upcoming week.
I came to print your chocolate pudding pie and looked for an apple. Last night the snoring man in my bed asked me to make an apple pie this coming weekend without knowing I have chocolate planned. Read through your pie tutorials…really good advice. Funny people in the comments. It takes practice to keep the pie crust skills in good shape so mine are really rusty. I cleaned out my Mom’s kitchen cabinets and pulled out the shoe boxes of recipes last Saturday. A lot of pies in there….the Dear Abby pecan was in there twice as a lot of others, state fair recipes and the phone call written on note paper usually with the phone number on the sheet too so instead of Aunt Irene it was her phone number. What was funny was the two competing cafeteria’s cracker pies…one used saltine crackers and one used graham but everything else the same. So pie is in my future. You can add me to the crazy commentors ;)
thanks for the tutorials! I have a question concerning the crimping: I crimp the shell and even let it rest in the fridge a bit, but it still loses its shape. does that means I overworked it or that I let it warm up too much?
YOU are a God-send. Thank you for all your great advice and step-by-step instructions. Maybe someday I will make a great pie, maybe even today!
You. Are. Mynewfavoriteperson.
Seriously. This is an awesome tutorial.
Christina, I have had the same problem for 40 years. The crimping fades away. I always hope it will stand up straight. Some pies have been worse than others. But, I did not let that discourage me and my pies are very tasty. Anyone have an idea how to prevent the crimping from disappearing?
Yesterday evening I brought two balls of pre-made Cheddar Crust (from Martha: http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/cheddar-crust) to a friend’s apartment to make her Apple Pie with Cheddar Crust (highly recommend) for dessert. My friend didn’t have flour or a rolling pin, so we improvised by putting out large sheets of plastic wrap on the counter and on top of the dough and rolling it out with a wine bottle. I found this incredibly easy and neat (no extra flour) and there was the extra benefit of simply being able to lift the saran wrap, place it on the pie pan and peel it off (no sticking to the counter, etc). just a tip – i might use it at home and skip the flour from now on!
Hi Deb! :)
I love your website and I am proud to say that I made my first pie crust dough using your tutorial :) but I’m very nervous to roll it out tomorrow! eeek
Do you roll the dough out in its frozen state? or after it’s been frozen after making then refrigerated for a while?
Thank you for the amazing tips, photos, stories, and recipes! :)
You’ll probably find a frozen pie crust impossible to roll. You can roll it out after it has been defrosted (but is still firm from the fridge) — about a day in the fridge should do the trick.
Hey Deb…
You and your baby son are adorable.
As a new gramma (2 beautiful babies born to my daughter in the same year) I can almost smell him…your photos are that good.
2 of my fav things in life are good food & people with sharing spirits who lace their recipes & stories with humor.
Experience in the kitchen makes you good….until then, your only as good as your tools.
Get a silicone mat…from pie dough to pizza dough or pasta, the mat makes everything easy, especially for beginners.
Edie
thanks for this tutorial – My mother always bought her pie crust because she simply could not roll it out – I always craved the delicious kind of crusts my aunties made – this is my second time using this tutorial (102 and 103) my pie crust has been absolutely perfect both times -THANK YOU! p.s. I believe in butter too :)
My pie scraps always result in “sugar daddies”. I roll them out, spread with butter and sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar. Then roll it up and slice into little wheels. They were the best part of pie making when I was little! :)
Wow, pure genius. I have been making pies for at least 10 years. I am all about butter only. I had less than flaky results previously. But this worked out marvelously! Thanks so much. I have conquered the long feared pie crust! :)
Help ,,I love making my own pie shells , my problem is they want to tear apart when I’m rolling them out so i end up trying to reshape & roll again and even putting them in fridg although recipe doesn’t call for it ,,,most of the time I chunk them & start all over I have done this 3 times in one day ,,,just did not want to give up,until one came out rite !
Has anyone had this problem or kno what causes this ?
I put Pinto Beans over Alum Foil & I have never had a problem w/shrinkage
HAPPY HOLIDAYS !