Welcome to my little corner of culinary delights.  This one is as easy as making pie; or is it?

My wife used to make pie dough rather successfully but complained of late that she has lost her touch.  I will give you a formula and the methodology that should give success every time.

The objective is to make a flaky pie crust that can hold together when transferred from the mat to the pie pan.  Second objective is preventing a wet bottom during baking.  The ingredients must be exacting.  With too much flour or too little, it will not hold together well.  Temperature is very important.  Everything needs to be refrigerated and this includes your mixing bowl, liquid measuring cup, and the ingredients.  Getting the flour cold would not make much difference, but I do it anyway.  Always be sure to wash your hands and sanitize your prep surfaces, equipment, etc.  Culinary is serious business.

In this particular case, I will provide my own recipe.  I want to be sure you have the correct ratios.  For making 6 pounds and 6 ounces of pie dough, you need 3 pounds of all-purpose flour, 2 pounds of butter, lard or shortening, 6 fluid ounces of ice water and an ounce of salt.  You may wish to reduce those amounts to fit your needs or think about freezing the extra.

Rather than using a mixer, I find doing it by hand with a pastry blender provides greater control.  Thoroughly mix your salt in with the flour.  I opt for regular unsalted butter rather than lard.  Cut your butter into chunks and add to the flour cutting it in with a hand pastry blender until you obtain pea-size nuggets.  Gradually sprinkle in the ice water, thoroughly incorporating as you go.  Work fast.

After successfully mixing, turn the dough out onto a lightly floured mat or bread board.  Kneading pie dough is frowned upon since we do not what to develop the gluten.  However, I like to knead the dough enough to assure it is smooth, uniform and moist enough.  Kneading would defeat the flaky texture desired.

At this point you can scale your dough so it can be more easily handled when the dough is needed for use.  The 6 plus pounds should be enough for 8 pie crusts or discs.  I would therefore divide it up into four portions to satisfy a two crust pie from each portion.  Wrap in plastic film.  Always refrigerate the dough at least one hour before using.  Freeze any dough you will not be using any time soon.

There should be no need for me to detail how to roll out the dough other than to remind you to work from the center out, keep turning and flipping it, keep the surface floured and work fast.  Once it is to the size you want, it should be strong enough to merely pick it up to put into a shiny pie pan.

Until next time, peace to all.