Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Flaky Pie Dough

315 grams all purpose flour
15 grams sugar
5 grams table salt
225 grams unsalted butter, very cold
Ice cold water

To Make in a Food Processor:

• In the bowl of a food processor, combine flour, sugar, and salt; pulse to combine. Add butter, and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs, with some larger pieces remaining, about 10 seconds.
• With the machine running, quickly add some of the water through the feed tube in a slow, steady stream; stop when the dough holds together without turning wet or sticky. Do not process more than 30 seconds. Test by squeezing a small amount of dough together; if it is still too crumbly, add a bit more water, 1 tablespoon at a time (preferably mixing by hand so as not to destroy the lumps of butter).
• Divide the dough ball into two, and flatten each half into a rough disk. Wrap each disk in plastic wrap, and chill for at minimum 1 hour (this time increment allows for the water to fully hydrate the dough, making for a more cohesive product that's easier to roll out).

Makes 2 pie dough rounds, or enough for one double-crust pie or two single-crust pies.

- You can make this dough either by hand using a pastry cutter, or in a food processor, but it's harder to overwork the pie dough when using a pastry cutter.
- It's very important to keep all of the ingredients cold throughout the assembly process. If the butter starts to soften, stick it in the freezer for 10 minutes to allow it to firm up.
- If not using the dough within 2-3 days, wrap the plastic-wrapped discs in tinfoil, or place in a heavy-duty resealable bag and freeze until needed. Thaw in the fridge overnight before use.

Adapted from here:
http://smittenkitchen.com/blog/2008/11/pie-crust-102-all-butter-really-flaky-pie-dough/