# Buttery EASY Pie Crust



## noboundaries (Nov 21, 2022)

I'm baking 2 or 3 sweet potato pies on Tuesday. I usually buy ready made pie crusts, but my wife insisted I make a homemade one instead. She HATES ready made.

Thing is I've NEVER made a pie crust. And don't tell her, but the ones she makes have never seemed much different than the store-bought.

I just whipped together three crusts using the crust in the YouTube video above. I prepped everything first for all three. I used a handheld rotary grater for the frozen butter (WAAAY easier than a box grater).

A single pie crust can be prepped, made, and ready to store in 10 minutes.

Below is the recipe I put in my phone.

*Flaky Buttery Pie Crust*
This is an America's Test Kitchen crust.
Makes 1 crust.
Note: a handheld rotary grater works way better than a box grater. Put the grater in the freezer for 20-30 minutes before use. If making more than one crust, put it back in the freezer between uses.

1st Ingredients
¾ cup AP flour (90g KA AP flour)
1 Tbs granulated sugar
8 Tbs cold salted butter, ½" cubed

2nd Ingredients
½ cup AP flour (60g KA AP flour)
2 Tbs grated frozen butter
Ice water (4 Tbs)

Directions
Grate 2 Tbs butter and stick in freezer.

Cube 8 Tbs cold butter into ½" chunks.

Place 90g flour and the granulated sugar in a food processor. Pulse twice to mix.

Add the cubed butter. Run for 30 seconds to form a solid ball. Then break into pieces back into the processor.

Add the 60g of flour and pulse 4 to 5 times to incorporate the flour. Should look like crumbles.

Empty into a bowl. Add the frozen shredded butter. Incorporate with hands.

Add 2 Tbs ice water. Stir in with spatula.

Add 2 more Tbs ice water. Press with spatula to form a nice dough. Add another Tbs ice water if needed.

Place a large piece of cling wrap on the working surface. Add the dough. Use the wrap with your knuckles to shape the dough, eliminate cracks, and form into a round, turning near the end to shape. Then wrap tightly and refrigerate for 2 hours to 2 days.

When ready to roll flat, set on counter for 10 minutes. Liberally flour working surface. Turn and roll to make a 12-inch round. Then roll on pin and place in pie pan.

Press firmly into corners without breaking the crust. Tuck the edges under and crimp with thumb and two fingers. Chill for 30 minutes before blind baking or filling.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Blind baking: line with aluminum foil or parchment paper. Fill with pie weights, or beans, or rice. Bake for 15-20 minutes, remove pie weights, and bake for another 15-20 minutes. Cool completely before filling.


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## smokeymose (Nov 21, 2022)

Very interesting, but it seems a little complicated. Just me.
The Mrs. wants me to make a couple of Pumpkin pies this year instead of the regular store bought because I can make them lower sodium.
I was planning to use the recipe from my old beat up Fannie Farmer book (First printing 1896). 
	

		
			
		

		
	











I'm planning to give it a shot tomorrow, but if I crash and burn I'll try yours.
Thanks for the link!


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## noboundaries (Nov 21, 2022)

Yeah, it reads more complicated than it is. After the first one, the second two became automatic without any reference to the recipe.

Something I've never seen my wife do is blind bake her pumpkin pie crusts. I did some research and blind baking the crust about halfway at 350°F eliminates a soggy bottom. Sweet potato pie is kinda the same thing, so I will be doing the blind bake with my crusts.

Oh, and I learned to cook more than 40 years ago with a Fannie Farmer Cookbook that still graces my bookshelf.


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## noboundaries (Nov 22, 2022)

BTW, three sweet potato pies are in the oven. This pie crust better knock my socks off.

Lessons learned:
Putting it together in the food processor, wrapping, and chilling was a piece of ca...pie.

Rolling the dough, one of my LEAST favorite things to do (right up there with kneading bread) was also VERY easy, surprisingly so.

Blind baking just replaced rolling dough on my LEAST favorite things to do list. I was trying to do too much at one time while monitoring the blind bake (prepping, mixing, and blendering the filling while washing big bowls and watching the bake. I'm retired! I left all that multitasking behind).

So, pics to follow. We'll see.


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## Brokenhandle (Nov 22, 2022)

Waiting for the finale!

Ryan


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## noboundaries (Nov 22, 2022)

Here are the final pics. 

Mixed dough ready to chill then roll. 






Flash forward to finished pies. The one GREAT thing about this dough compared to store-bought is the exposed crust did not burn. The butter bubbled around the edges while cooking. I've never seen that with store-bought. 







The first time is always the hardest. I guess I'll use this crust recipe and process again. 

Thanks for looking!

Ray


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## smokeymose (Nov 22, 2022)

noboundaries said:


> I've never seen that with store-bought.


Because store bought doesn't have all that butter! From the video the dough looked like croissant dough. I'm betting they're nice and flaky...


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## noboundaries (Nov 22, 2022)

I've made my sweet potato pies for years. A family friend and chef who once owned a high-end restaurant took one bite, then removed one of the two pies from the food table I brought to the TG potluck. I saw him do it and asked what was wrong. He said, "Nothing! I'm the host and I'm keeping that pie for me. That's the best sweet potato pie I've ever tasted!"

I told my wife the third pie was for him. She said, "Nope. We're keeping it."

It's so hard to please everybody.


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## noboundaries (Nov 22, 2022)

O...M...G! The jury's in. The bottom of the pie crust was so tender it literally melted in my mouth. The sides were flaky, tender, and buttery.

I have been in a crappy mood today and my wife got tired of hearing me beeach about the effort it took to make the crust. She took one bite, listened to me rave about the pie, and with her most sarcastic voice asked, "So, was this crust with the effort?"

Yes it was.


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