Make a better pie
Try freezing the crust for 20 minutes before baking. This also helps the crimped crust hold its shape.
How do I use lard in my pie crust?
Lard makes a slightly flakier pie crust that’s a little easier to handle than an all-butter dough. You can substitute lard for other fats in your favorite pie crust recipe. Lard varies in flavor depending on how it’s rendered. Sometimes it’s flavorless, and sometimes it has a slight porky funk to it, which can be part of its appeal. Its mild savoriness goes well with pecan and pumpkin pies, and the gorgeous, airy texture makes apple pies seem lighter.
Make sure to seek out rendered “leaf” lard from a good butcher or specialty market, or try your farmers market. Avoid processed lard from the supermarket; it has been hydrogenated to increase shelf life and can have an off or mildly rancid flavor, not to mention the dangers of hydrogenated fat to your arterial health.
Best practices for flaky crusts Before You Start
You’ll need a 9-inch pie pan, a rolling pin and pie weights.
Your butter must be cold; even frozen butter works as long as it’s cut into cubes before freezing.
Factor in at least one hour to let the dough chill before rolling it out.
Rolling Out the Dough
Lightly dust flour onto a clean counter and onto a rolling pin. (Alternatively, you can roll out the dough between two sheets of parchment paper or plastic wrap; no flour required.)
Put the dough on the floured surface and, using the pin, roll away from you, applying pressure evenly.
Rotate the dough clockwise as you work so it’s uniformly thin and isn’t rolled irretrievably into the counter. Lightly dust the counter with flour as you work. But don’t overdo it. Too much flour all at once makes a tough crust.
Roll the dough in all directions until you have a 12-inch circle. (If your rolled dough doesn’t end up in a neat circle, you can trim it, and use the trimmings to patch up any rips, holes or bald spots.)
Transfer crust to a 9-inch pie pan by gently rolling it up onto the pin, then carefully unfurling it into the pan. Fold over any excess dough. If you’re not making a top crust, crimp the edges now.
Prick crust all over with a fork, then chill crust for 30 minutes. Your crust is now ready to fill or blind bake.
Blind Baking
Blind baking is partly baking a pie crust before adding the filling, which helps keep the crust crunchy. After filling it, you return the pie to the oven to finish baking. It’s a particularly good method for custard pies, like pumpkin and pecan, which are prone to sogginess.
Begin with the chilled, rolled-out dough in the pan. Line the dough with parchment paper or foil. Fill it with pie weights. Transfer to a 425-degree oven.
Bake the crust until it firms up, about 15 minutes. It will be very pale at this point. Remove the parchment or foil and weights, then return crust to the oven.
Bake the crust 5 to 7 minutes more, until pale golden brown. Let it cool on a rack before filling.
4 Tips for Baking Better Pies
When cutting the butter into the flour, look for lima-bean-size chunks, not pea-size ones. This ensures a flaky crust.
After crimping the pie crust, chill it for about 10 minutes before baking. This will help the crust retain a pretty edge.
If you don’t have pie weights for blind baking, line the raw crust with parchment or foil and fill it with dried beans or loose change.
Baking pies on rimmed baking sheets helps contain any overflow and makes removing the pie from the oven easier.
4 kinds of top crusts Lattice
To make a lattice top, you’ll need to double your pie dough if it’s not a recipe for a double crust. Roll out the chilled dough and cut it into 1-inch-thick strips.
Place half the strips parallel to one another across the top of the filled pie. (Reserve some of the longer strips for when you weave the lattice.) The longest strip should run along the pie’s center. (You can watch a video of the process at nytcooking.com.)
Flip up every other strip on the pie. Place another long strip perpendicular to the others across the center of the pie.
Flip those strips back down, then flip up the other strips. Weave in a second strip of dough. Repeat process on one side, then the other, until you have fully covered the pie with woven strips.
Gently press lattice strip edges into the bottom crust, then crimp the edges to seal the top and bottom crusts together. Or, if you’ve blind baked the bottom crust, simply tuck in the edges of the lattice so the strips don’t hang over the side of the pan. Brush lattice all over with milk, cream or an egg wash (a mix of egg and water or milk) to encourage browning. You can sprinkle the top with sugar or cinnamon sugar if you like.
As with the lattice top, a whole-top covering needs double the pie dough (unless your recipe already yields a double crust). Roll out the chilled dough, then lay it over the top of the filled pie.
Crimp the edges to seal the crusts together. If you’ve blind baked the bottom crust, simply
Whole top
tuck in the edges of the top crust so it doesn’t hang over the side of the pan.
Slash the top of the pie with a knife to allow steam to escape. Brush the top crust with milk, cream or an egg wash to encourage browning. You can sprinkle it with sugar or cinnamon sugar if you like.
Double your pie dough if it’s not already a recipe for a double crust. Roll out the chilled dough and use decorative cookie cutters to cut out shapes from the dough.
If you haven’t blind baked the crust, use a paring knife or scissors to trim any excess dough, so the dough is flush with the edge of the pan.
Arrange a ring of cutouts around the outer edge of the filled pie (the cutouts should be touching the crust, coming flush to the edge).
Continue adding cutouts to fully cover the top of the pie. You can overlap the cutouts (or not) as you see fit.
Brush cutouts with milk, cream or an egg wash to encourage browning. Sprinkle the cutouts with sugar or cinnamon sugar if you like.
To make a simple crumble for a standard 9-inch pie, combine 3/4 cup all-purpose flour, 1/2 cup dark brown sugar, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, a large pinch of salt and 5 tablespoons softened butter in a large bowl.
Use your hands to mix the ingredients together, pinching until large crumbs form. The crumbs should be a bit bigger than lima beans. Avoid small crumbs.
Scatter crumbs over the pie. It’s nice, but unnecessary, to mound more crumbs in the center and fade them out toward the edges so some filling can show.
Cutout top Crumb top All-butter pie crust Time: Yield:
By Melissa Clark
15 minutes, plus cooling one 9-inch single pie crust 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt 10 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold and cut into pieces
2 to 4 tablespoons ice water, as needed
In a food processor, pulse together the flour and salt. Add butter and pulse until the mixture forms lima-bean-size pieces. Slowly add ice water, 1 tablespoon at a time, and pulse until the dough just comes together. It should be moist, not wet.
Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and gather into a ball. Flatten into a disk with the heel of your hand. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour and up to 2 days.
For the best results, use a high-fat, European-style unsalted butter. You can experiment with textures and flavors by substituting 3 to 4 tablespoons shortening, lard, beef suet, duck fat or an unsweetened nut butter, such as hazelnut butter, almond butter or mixed nut butter, for 3 to 4 tablespoons regular butter. All should be well chilled before using.
1. 2. Note: