Pie Crust and Why You Should Make It!

First of all, you can do hard things and second, it’s not that hard! Both things can be true. When I talk to people about cooking and baking, the SKILL it takes to do something often gets confused with the TIME it takes to do something. Most things we need for holiday baking don’t take special skills; they just take some patience and setting aside the the time.

So let’s treat pie and pie crust like a yoga class, a walk in the woods, or a meditation session. Set aside the time, commit to it, and see what happens. Bringing a few humble ingredients together to create something that’s all yours, tasty, unique, and infused with your sense of self, sounds like the perfect self-care to me. Even better, it can be a self-care that is as selfless as it gets since it's shared around the table bringing people together. Plus the oohs and ahhs are fun too!

There is a lot of debate about pie crust, and some people get almost religious about

ratios and methods, but I will share what has worked for me both at my table and as a

food stylist. In other words what looks pretty, holds up, and once made my Uncle Nicky

say, “the world would be a better place if everyone could eat Laney’s pie crust” and he

was not a man for the fanciful compliments!

THE GREAT FAT DEBATE

Butter vs. shortening, all butter is, of course, delicious but it can be delicate and

unpredictable in holding its shape. Not a road I want to send you down if you are a

newcomer to the ways of the crust. All shortening… Well then, we might as well go back

to the freezer section! I did all butter at home for a long time because butter is my

favorite mistress and I could not deny her but because for work she could be finicky I

used shortening. At some point along the way, I played with how much shortening it would

take to get consistent results, no melting, shrinking, perfect flakiness and landed on a

compromise. Tastes like butter but doesn’t throw a tantrum, perfect!

THE SECRET TO FLAKY MAGIC

Next the method or rules if you will. Pie crust is all about tricking the fat to melt when and

how you want it to so that it creates the perfect flaky layers. The butter, ideally very cold

and solid, when it goes into the oven, melts as the dough is baking, releasing small

amounts of water and creating steam throughout the crust. This steam is what creates the

flaky layers. In order to accomplish this we keep our butter and shortening very cold,

use ice water, handle it with our hot little hands as little as possible, and let it rest in the

fridge once it’s shaped. This last step cannot be skipped or rushed and really

makes up for any sins of inexperience.

FUN WITH FINISHING TOUCHES

Once you make your dough and get some in a pan, the real fun can begin! Now you can

play with creating different edges, crimping with fingers or forks, making some rope or a

braid, and of course cookie cutters! All those cute decorations you see on top of pies are easy! Just cut out some shapes, sprinkling some cinnamon sugar (or other spices)

and baking them on a cookie sheet.

Click below for my Best Pie Crust and Pumpkin Pie Filling recipe, complete with an optional Deluxe Topping to celebrate the season!

RECIPES HERE!