My First Attempt at Pie Crust

For many years I have made pies with premade, refrigerated pie dough. All I had to do was unroll the crust into a pie dish. Boom it was done!

While the premade dough did its job, (and causesd me very little pain while doing so) I have never quite been completely please with the flavor. It was fine, but no better than average.

Last week I decided it was time for me to begin the adventure of perfecting my pie crust making skills.

For my first attempt I used King Arthur Flour’s Traditional American Pie Crust recipe. Before we continue on with the account of my adventure let me say that the crust tasted good. Anything that went wrong was completely me, not the recipe. I will definitely be attempting it again.

And so my crust making adventure began…

I mixed the dry ingredients together. I worked the shortening in with my fingers, to create a nice crumbly mixture. At this point I’m thinking pie crusts can’t be that difficult. I don’t know what all the fuss is about!

Then came the adding of the ice water. I read the instructions. They said to add ice water one tablespoon at a time until the dough sticks together when pressed, but isn’t sticky. I added one…two tablespoons of water and my dough was already to this point. That is half of the lowest recommended amount in the recipe.

So, I was confused, but decided to stop there as I did not want to deal with a messy, sticky dough.

I proceeded to divide the dough in half and roll it out as instructed. This went well until I needed to lift it from the counter… It stuck. I had forgotten to continue sprinkling flour under the dough while rolling it out.

Scrap the first half and start over with the second (good thing I was only making a one crust pie). Rolling the second piece out went a little better. I managed to us a spatula and a lot of patience to peal the raw crust off of the counter with only a couple of tears.

Deep breath… Time to transfer to the pie plate. I folded the dough in half,gingerly. Then, proceeded to gently pick it up and place it in the pie plate. Once in the pie plate, I unfolded it and began to work it into place. It soon became apparent that even though I had rolled it to the correct thickness the diameter was not large enough. Sigh.

Instead of starting the entire process again or overworking the dough, I decided to continue on with the pie making, accepting my losses.

I then proceeded to prepare and bake The Pioneer Woman’s Pecan Pie. It turned out delicious albeit not very pretty! The filling was extremely rich and had a nice pecan crust on top (just as a pecan pie should). Although the crust was skimpy, it had a nice texture and flavor.

Here’s to delicious, ugly pies. Let me know of any tricks or tips you might have for making pie crust. I need all the help I can get!