Tips for pie crusts?

I'm gearing up to start my pie-making marathon.   I do this for Thanksgiving and Christmas and that's it! 

Some of my pies look pretty; some just taste good!  I'm doing Apple with 2 crusts, Apple crumb and pumpkin.  I am cheating and using the pillsbury crust for the pumpkin pies (which I feel a bit guilty about).

Any tips for working with pie crust?  And for getting pretty edges?

When I was a kid I always helped my Gram make pies.  We moved during my teen years so I didn't have the same opportunity to work with her.  I feel like I lost the knack for making them look good. 

All I ever do is lift up the edge to make like a collar and then ruffle it by pushing it in opposite directions with my fingers.  I put a foil on the edges about half way through so it doesn't get really dark and dry. 

I know the Pillsbury crusts aren't as good as good homemade but I use them.  I am very hit or miss with pie crust.  I watched Alton Brown's show about pie crust over the weekend, the one with the explanation about why things should be done a certain way.  Everything he did made sense after he explained it but that's just too much I will continue with the Pillsbury ones.  My Grandmother's and Mother's crusts always turned out and they didn't go through all those steps, they just put it together.

Pillsbury. Hey if my MIL can do it, so can I!

All right, sorry. 

I prepare my crumbs the night before and throw them into a cold metal bowl in the fridge, covered tightly with plastic wrap. By crumbs, I mean the flour, shortening, salt, etc. Cut the shortening into the flour until it resembles small peas. Do not skimp on this step; the finer the crumbs, the flakier your crust. Those are your crumbs. Fridge overnight.

The next morning, add the liquid (ICED water, eggs, whatever) to your crumbs and combine. Depending on how many crusts I'm making (my MIl's recipe can make 5-7 crusts), I will divide the dough into, say, four disks. Chill for about an hour or so. Then get one disk out at a time and roll on a floured surface. And here it gets tricky and makes me all kinds of spastic. If it's too floury, your crust will be hard and dry. Not enough flour and it will stick. Like I said, frustrating. I have found that, with my granite countertop, I have a lot less trouble rolling out dough and can get away with a lot less flour.

I roll my dough large enough so that it hangs over a good inch or so from the pan. Don't stretch the dough into the pan. Let it gently hang, then pick it up and carefully ease the dough around the pan, using your fingers to get it down inside. Carefully. For a one-crust pie, I cut the edge down to about 1/2 inch or so, then fold that under around the edge of the pan. 

To flute, if you're right-handed, put your thumb and forefinger together on your right hand. Using the index finger of your left hand, on the inside of the edge and your pinched together thumb and index finger of your right hand on the outside of the edge, gently press the dough with your left finger into the crook of the thumb and finger of your right hand. Pinch the dough together, using your right hand, to make a bit of a "V" to the crust. Work your way around the pie pan that way. That should be all it takes. If you're doing this for a single-crust pie, say pumpkin, gently "hook" that V under the pie pan, just the tip. Why? So the crust doesn't shrink too badly when baking it.

When baking a pie crust without the filling, I always put foil into the crust, then fill the foil with dried beans. You can buy pie weights to do the same thing, but why? Beans work well and after they're done, cool them down, pour them into a container and keep them for the next time.

If it's a two-crust pie, do the pie crust the same way, but do NOT flute. Add your filling, place the top crust over the filling. Flip the edge of the top crust under the edge of the bottom crust and gently seal. Then go ahead and flute it.  I like to beat an egg yolk with one tablespoon of water and brush that all over the crust. Makes for a pretty golden crust. After brushing with the egg yolk wash, I also like to sprinkle sugar over the top before putting the pie into the oven. Cut two or three slits into the top crust. Place foil over the pie for about the first 20-30 minutes or so, then remove the foil for the remaining baking time. 

And that's more than you ever wanted to know about pie crust! (Sorry. I honestly cannot help myself.)

Alton Brown didn't do the overnight thing but after every step it went in the refrigerator for at least 20 min.  He used all butter most of it was used cold but a small part of it was room temp and that was mixed into the flour first.  He used a food processor and he said to use short pulses because the heat from the motor can mess with the crust.  He even put a cookie sheet in the freezer while the dough was resting in the refrigerator.  The cookie sheet was to use if the dough got too warm while it was being rolled out.  I think I now know why I like Pillsbury crusts.

I remember seeing the pie crust show. The way he did really was a pain, but it does make a good crust.

I did that one time....and that was enough. Then I went back to the way Rick's mom did hers. Now, for the most part, I have gone to Pillsbury. If it's a really special dinner, I'll take the time. Otherwise, phooey.

I remember when I made the sugar cookies (green palm trees and pink flamingos) for Rick's 60th birthday bash. I chilled the ingredients. After I made the dough, I chilled the dough. Rolled the cookies out on a cold cookie sheet. Put the cookies on another cookie sheet and chilled them for 20 minutes. Then I could finally bake the things. By that time, I was thinking, "Who cares?" I think it was a Martha Stewart recipe.

The big thing to remember is not to overwork the crust once it's all combined.... It's crust, not bread.

I never really went through any extra special steps, and I actually prefer the old double knife (or pastry cutter) method of combining the flour & butter.  Using the Cuisenart takes away an element of control that I like to have. 

I liked Smitten Kitchen's article and recipe for crust.

She also has an article with tips on rolling & crimping.

Furmonster Mom said:

 
The big thing to remember is not to overwork the crust once it's all combined.... It's crust, not bread.

I never really went through any extra special steps, and I actually prefer the old double knife (or pastry cutter) method of combining the flour & butter.  Using the Cuisenart takes away an element of control that I like to have. 

I liked Smitten Kitchen's article and recipe for crust.

She also has an article with tips on rolling & crimping.

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I have never tried the food processor method; my Gram alawys did them by hand and that's how she showed me.  It's funny that THAT part stuck.  I can see her crimping the edges in my mind; but not how she tucked and sealed things. 

Those blogs articles were really good!  Pictures help me get an idea of how things should look.  I have a silicone pastry mat that I've been using to roll things out to the right size; but it's still hard to make sure things don't stick.  Or maybe it's just me.   I may try one with butter at some point.  I know I bought "butter flavor" stick shortening before and used it for a pot pie crust.  

Winchester said:

 
 like to beat an egg yolk with one tablespoon of water and brush that all over the crust. Makes for a pretty golden crust. After brushing with the egg yolk wash, I also like to sprinkle sugar over the top before putting the pie into the oven. 

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Gram always did that too.  I forgot last year so I melted butter and basted the top with it and then sprinkled sugar.  No one complained!  I got some "ooooh"s out of people too. 

Winchester said:

I remember when I made the sugar cookies (green palm trees and pink flamingos) for Rick's 60th birthday bash. I chilled the ingredients. After I made the dough, I chilled the dough. Rolled the cookies out on a cold cookie sheet. Put the cookies on another cookie sheet and chilled them for 20 minutes. Then I could finally bake the things. By that time, I was thinking, "Who cares?" I think it was a Martha Stewart recipe.

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  I understand!  I don't have the patience for rolled out sugar cookies.  I wanted to make some to decorate with my kids last year.  I followed the instructions on the mix (cheating at that point) to a T and it stuck like paste.  I added flour and eventually we had a cookie we could work with.  They just tasted awful!  Then I nearly burnt a batch.    We never did decorate them either.

There is always the cookie or graham cracker crust option, so much easier.  Gingersnap crust is actually very good with pumpkin pie.

I use the dough hook on my stand mixer to mix my pie crust.  It works like a charm!  One thing my mom always did was use ice cold water.  It worked for her and her crusts were always perfect. 

Denice said:

 
There is always the cookie or graham cracker crust option, so much easier.  Gingersnap crust is actually very good with pumpkin pie.

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Gingersnap crust sounds amazing!!  Maybe I'll try something like that for Christmas! 

after trying different recipes, i finally found a pie crust recipe that makes pie crusts that taste good. the recipe i use is for a big batch, it makes 20 pie crusts -- i get a two crust pie from one (of the 20) pie crust discs. when i make a batch up, i freeze them so i have them handy to just thaw and use as needed. i use these pie crusts for dessert pies (apple, pumpkin, peanut, etc) and quiches, or any other thing i make that needs a crust.

this is the recipe i use -- http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Make-A...h&event10=1&e7=Home Page&soid=sr_results_p1i1

Denice said:

 
There is always the cookie or graham cracker crust option, so much easier.  Gingersnap crust is actually very good with pumpkin pie.

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You're right! I make a pumpkin chiffon pie (it's not a baked pie) in a baked gingersnap crust and, oh my goodness, is that thing ever good!

Thanks for the link, mickNSnicks2mom....I'm going to check that out. I do make pie crusts ahead of time and try to keep some in the freezer, usually for when I'm going to make crumb pies or just one-crust pies. I've never tried putting the dough itself in the freezer, though. 

you're welcome, @Winchester! bear in mind that i'm not an experienced pie crust maker. but that recipe does well for me, and makes it easy for me because the dough is already made, just needs thawing in the fridge overnight.

I very seldom make my own. I buy the frozen or the ones that are already make and in the dairy section.

The local radio has a food expert, Melinda Lee. She said that ceramic or glass was preferable for pie baking. Listed several reasons, the main one was that temperature evenness/consistency was better with ceramic or glass vs. metal. The glass had the added bonus of being able to see how your crust is doing in the oven.

Mooch, how were your pie crusts? Did they come out OK?

Not. Pretty. 

I breezed through my pumpkin pies and got my crust together and into the refigerator to chill.  By the time I got everyone into bed and got going; ugh.  it was downhill from there and i was up till 6 am!!  I had issues with the apple peeler (I think it is getting dull) and I had issues with cracking.  I finally figured out it was TOO cold.  I couldn't pick it up without the edges cracking so I was lifting my silicone mat to get it over the rolling pin and then it would crack in the middle!  They cracked there when I folded the crusts too.  I had to sit down and regroup at one point.  I felt like this:  .    

Once I got the last 2 crusts WARMER before rolling they went better but my transfer skills still need practice.  

In the end; they tasted good at least.