Pie Crust That Never Fails

When baking, “failure is always an option” (Adam Savage – Mythbusters). I managed to fail a lot when making pie crusts. However, I have now mastered making pie crusts thanks to one of my favorite food bloggers, Completely Delicious. You can find her original recipe here. I didn’t deviate at all from her recipe, so you can refer to her recipe and mine to become master of the pie crusts too.

Here’s a couple of added tips:

When you first mix the butter with the flour, sugar, and salt, definitely roll out the butter. Do not try any of the other stupid methods: pastry cutter, squish between fingers, food mixer, etc. They’re all really bad ideas and will not make a flaky pie crust.

Second important lesson that I’ve learned: when your pie crust is ready to be rolled out, let it sit out on the countertop for at least 10 minutes. One of the main reasons that my pie crusts ended up as a heap in my trash can was because I was always trying to roll it out when the dough was still solid cold. If you roll out your crust and the edges are cracking, your dough is too cold!

Spend an afternoon making pie crusts. They freeze wonderfully. Anytime you want fresh pie, you have pie dough that’s all ready to go. Enjoy making pie crusts from scratch!

Pie Crust That Never Fails

Servings: double pie crust
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Ingredients

300 grams all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup unsalted butter, cold and cut up into cubes
1/2 cup buttermilk, cold
1 – 2 tablespoons vodka, cold

Directions

Weigh out your flour.
In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, and salt.
Add the cubed butter and toss to coat.
Dump the mixture out onto a clean surface and use a rolling pin to roll the butter into thin sheets.
Continue until all the butter has been flattened and the mixture is very flaky.
Return everything to the bowl and place in the freezer for 15 minutes.
Remove from freezer and add the buttermilk.
Use a spoon and then your hands to stir the mixture until it forms a ball.
If mixture is too dry, add 1-2 tablespoons of vodka.
Divide the dough in two and flatten into disks.
Wrap each disk in plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for at least 1 hour if using immediately. Otherwise, seal the dough in a plastic bag and place in the freezer.
When ready to roll out, let the dough rest at room temperature for 10 minutes.