Pie crust (shortcrust pastry)
- Preparation 10 min
- Refrigeration 1 h
- Servings 2
- Freezing Absolutely
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🥧 My go-to pie crust
This pie crust, my shortcrust pastry, is very easy to do and impossible to screw up! Perfect for a tarte tatin like the one in my cookbook!
It’s the one I pull out whenever a recipe calls for a crust. Store-bought? Not when I have time to make my own. This one tastes like butter, and you can tell.
🧈 Food processor, very cold butter
The food processor does all the work. You take care of the butter: small cubes, ultra cold, never lukewarm. It decides whether your crust ends up tender or sticky. You mix until it turns grainy, add the ice-cold water and shape a ball.
A rest in the fridge, and you’re done.
🎄 The one for pies and tourtières
In December, the tourtière, the sugar pie, the apple pies and the pecan pies all start from the same base, and this is it. It gives you enough to cover one pie, or to fill two.
Want to get ahead before the holidays? It freezes. Absolutely.
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🧈 Ultra-cold butter is everything
Keep it in the fridge until the last minute and dice it right before you use it. Those little pieces of butter, still cold, are what make the crust tender when it bakes.
If your butter softens while you work, stop and put the bowl back in the fridge for a while. A lukewarm pie crust turns tough and shrinks. I’d rather wait than start over.
🌀 Stop the food processor sooner than you think
At low speed, stop when the mixture is grainy. Not smooth, grainy. The less you work the dough, the more tender it stays. Drop a few ice cubes in the water before you measure it and take them out before pouring: it has to be ice-cold.
📦 Floured, wrapped, one hour in the fridge
Lightly flour the ball and wrap it well in plastic so it doesn’t dry out. The rest relaxes the dough, so it shrinks less in the pie plate. Wrapped, it keeps in the fridge for 3 to 5 days.
❄️ In the freezer? Absolutely
Wrap it the same way as for the fridge. Thaw it in the fridge, then let it sit for a few minutes before rolling it out, or it will crack.
🥧 Rolling it out without sticking
Split the dough in half, then roll out each half on a lightly floured counter, or between two sheets of parchment paper if it sticks. If it gets too soft, back in the fridge before you keep going.
Some very runny fillings call for blind baking the crust first. Follow your pie recipe, not me.
✅ What to use my pie crust for
It goes into my traditional tourtière, my honey and pecan pie, my maple syrup pie and my apple and maple bacon pie. Same base, four completely different results.
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Ingredients
- 1 3/4 cups (430 ml) all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon (2.5 ml) salt
- 2/3 cup (160 ml) ultra-cold salted butter, diced
- 1/4 cup (60 ml) ultra-cold water
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Preparation
- In a food processor at low speed, add the flour and salt then combine. Add the butter and mix for 1 minute to obtain a grainy texture.
- Add the ice-cold water and keep on mixing for another minute. Form a ball using your hands then lightly flour. Wrap in plastic then place in the fridge for 1 hour. Split in half then roll out any way you like!
In a food processor at low speed, combine the flour and salt. Add the butter and mix for 1 minute to get a grainy texture. Add the ice-cold water and mix for another minute. Form a ball with your hands, lightly flour it, wrap it in plastic and refrigerate for 1 hour. Split in half, then roll it out.
Because little pieces of still-cold butter are what make the crust tender when it bakes. Butter that softens while you work gives you a tough crust that shrinks. Keep it in the fridge until the last minute.
1 hour, wrapped in plastic. Then you split it in half and roll it out. Wrapped, it keeps in the fridge for 3 to 5 days.
Yes, absolutely. Wrap it well, then thaw it in the fridge and let it sit for a few minutes before rolling it out.
It makes 2 crusts: enough to cover one pie, or to fill two. After the rest in the fridge, you split the dough in half.
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