Pie Crust

Makes one 9" pie crust or two smaller 5-6" ones.
(This is mostly Bittman's recipe from HTCEV; it's a pretty standard all-butter crust)
1 c. + 2 tbl flour
1/2 c. butter (1 stick)
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. sugar (omit for a savory pie crust)
5-6 tbl. ice water

Directions after the jump:


1) Cut butter into small-ish pieces and place in freezer for about 30 min.
2) Add flour and salt to food processor and pulse a couple times.
3) Add cold butter and process until there are no large chunks of butter (nothing bigger than about pea-sized)--sift through with a fork to check--about 10 seconds. Don't overprocess--you should still be able to see pieces of butter when you roll the crust out--that's what makes it flaky.
4) Dump mixture into a large bowl (I use a metal one that's been left in the fridge to chill).
5) Add ice water a few tbl at a time and knead the flour/butter/water mixture together with your hand until it comes together into a shaggy ball of dough. Don't play with it too much or it'll become warm. The less touching the better.
6) Press ball flat (just a press or two), wrap in saran wrap and leave in fridge overnight to rest.

7) The next day, roll out your dough on a lightly floured surface into a circle about 2" larger than your pie pan (separate dough ball in half and roll out two rounds if you're using a small 5-6" pie pan).
8) Lay dough over pan and refrigerate for about an hour to let the dough relax.

9) Press dough into pan and trim edges to about 1/2" overhang.

10) Prick bottom and sides of crust with a fork and either par-bake (for pies that don't cook for very long in the oven) or fill directly.
11) Place second pie crust over filling. Trim overhang and press edges together to seal. Crimp edges and make 3-4 steam vents in top crust with a sharp knife. Make sure the vents aren't too narrow or they'll fuse back together in the oven.

12) Put back in fridge to rest for another 10 min.
13) Brush with egg wash (egg yolk mixed with a little water--about a tsp.) before baking (optional).

The keys to good (and pretty) pie crusts are cold ingredients (some people even chill the flour, but I find that a chilled bowl, cold butter, and ice water are enough) and lots of rest time to relax the gluten. Cold butter is not as readily absorbed into the flour, thus creating the flaky layers when it bakes and melts. Overworked dough that's not allowed to rest remains too elastic and will shrink in the oven, which is a very sad state of affairs indeed.