The Best Flaky Pie Crust Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What is the secret to making flaky crust? ›

Cold butter is the key to flaky crusts. Do not skip this step. You must put your butter in the freezer to get it nice and cold. Many people do not like working with frozen butter, but it makes all the difference in the world when you create your pie dough.

“My preferred fat for pie crusts will always be butter. To me, it is all about flavor, and no other fat gives flavor to a crust like butter does. Other fats, even though they have great pros, lack flavor,” De Sa Martins said. “The more flavorful the butter, the more flavor your pie crust will have,” Huntsberger added.

What kind of flour makes the best pie crust? Well, not high-protein bread flour! Use that for your chewy bagels. What you want for pie is flour that yields a tender, flaky crust, which means medium-protein all-purpose flour or low-protein pastry flour.

The flakiness of a crust is a result of both the fat that you use and how much you work the fat into the flour before adding the water. Because of their higher melting temperature and unique structure, lard and shortening do make very flaky crusts.

The acid in the apple cider vinegar tenderizes the dough by slowing the gluten production in the dough. This prevents it from getting tough and elastic like bread dough. Love me tender. If you've ever bitten into a slice of pie with a tough crust, you know the value in a tender, flaky pie crust.

The Pie Crust Takeaways

This time, though, there was one very clear victor. Butter made a tastier, flakier, sturdier crust by far. This isn't to say that shortening and lard aren't useful ingredients.

The additional moisture in butter contributes to tough pastry dough if overworked during mixing, and the low melting point of 94°F allows the fat to melt into the flour as it is worked, changing the texture of the finished crust.

In pie crust, you don't want gluten to form so you don't want to mix too much and overwork the dough. For a flaky crust, cut the butter so that chunks of butter about the size of walnut halves remain. The chunks of cold butter create the layers in the dough.

Unbleached all-purpose flour is typically chosen for standard pie crusts. It must be handled appropriately to yield a crust that is both tender and flaky. Too much flour can create a tough or dry crust; not enough may flour may lead to a wet crust that shrinks upon baking.

Coating the inside surface of the bottom crust will create a barrier to prevent sogginess. Adding a layer of corn syrup or a slightly beaten egg white before pouring in the filling will form a seal between the pie dough and the filling and will help make the crust crisp and flaky.

What happens if you use milk instead of water in pie crust? ›

Fat equals flavour, and also helps keep crust light and flaky. To up my fat content, I use cream (or whole fat milk) instead of water in my pie crust. Also, don't allow too much gluten to form. Gluten causes pie crusts to become tough and dense, and that is definitely the opposite of what we're going for here!

The more solid the butter remains before it's baked, the flakier your crust will be. Add some baking powder to the dough. The leavener helps lift and aerate the crust, allowing it to expand into the dish while it bakes.

Chill time

A step you should never miss is chilling the dough after you make it (regardless on whether it's elastic or not). It's also a good idea to do it before once you've assembled your pastry creation, before baking. This also sets the butter, and helps the pastry to keep its shape in the oven.

The dough, at its simplest, is a mixture of flour, water, salt and butter. Many recipes, mine included, also include a little lemon juice or vinegar and a touch of sugar. The acid helps to tenderise the dough and also helps make the dough a touch easier to roll out.

Do I need to blind bake pastry cases when cooking with wet fillings? As a general rule, you do need to blind bake when cooking a dish with wet fillings. For example, if you're making a quiche or frangipane, blind baking the crust first will help ensure the pastry case stays buttery and retains its crunch.

The pros: Lard produces an extremely crisp, flaky crust. It's also easy to work with, as its melting point is higher than butter, so it doesn't soften as quickly while you handle it, or threaten to dissolve into the flour as quickly as butter before baking.

You've added too much water to the flour but not enough fat. It is important to keep the pastry cool during rolling and the oven needs to be hot.

Once the dough is shaped and crimped, the last thing you want to do bake it right away. Chilling the shaped pie allows the aforementioned gluten to relax and the butter to get nice and cold again, both of which help your pie hold its shape better once it's in the oven.

Oils and fats are used in a baked product to reduce the development of gluten giving the foods a crumbly texture. The fats and oils break down the gluten into “shorter strands” hence the term shorteners. Coating the flour in fat prevents the flour from absorbing water hindering the formation of gluten.