This recipe is the tried and true flaky pie dough that I have taught at Pie Camps since 2008. It can be made either by hand or in a food processor and is generously sized for one 9-inch (23 cm) deep-dish double-crust pie. It uses a total of 1 cup (224 g) fat, the choices of which are: butter, which gives a crust flaky layers and wonderful flavor; leaf lard, which adds flake and crispness; and vegetable shortening, which makes a very tender crust with a greasy flavor and mouthfeel. My favorite dough uses a combination of half butter, half leaf lard. This combination gives both crisp, flaky layers, along with the flavor of butter. If making by hand, we will smoosh the fat into the flour with our fingers. In a food processor, we will combine the flour and fat using a metal blade and quick pulses. Choose the fat(s) and technique that you like, and then follow the directions below.
Kate McDermott's Master Recipe for Roll-Out Dough
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups (363 g) all-purpose flour, unbleached, plus more for rolling out dough
- 1 cup (224 g) chilled fat of your choice, cut into tablespoon-size pieces
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar (optional)
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup (120 ml) ice water plus 1 to 2 tablespoons (15 to 30 ml) more as needed
Instructions
To make the dough by hand
- Make sure all the ingredients are chilled.
- Put all the ingredients but the ice water in a large bowl.
- With clean hands, quickly smoosh the mixture together, or use a single blade mezzaluna or pastry blender with an up and down motion, until the ingredients look like cracker crumbs with lumps the size of peas and almonds. These lumps will make your crust flaky. Don’t coat all the flour with fat. You should still see some white floury places in the bowl when you are finished. Work quickly so that the dough still feels chilly when you are done.
- Sprinkle 5 to 6 tablespoons of the ice water over the mixture, fluffing and tossing lightly with a fork as you do.
- Sprinkle over more water as needed, a tablespoon at a time, and fluff with a fork after each addition until it holds together. When the dough looks shaggy in the bowl, you are getting close. Give some of your dough a firm handshake and see if it holds together. If it does, go on to Step 6. If it doesn’t, add a bit more water if needed for the dough to come together. The dough should feel moist without feeling tacky.
- Form and pat the dough into a big ball. If it feels a little dry on the outside, dip your fingers into some ice water and pat them on the outside of the dough in a few places. Don’t get it so wet that it is sticky. The dough should feel like cool clay and firm yet pliable as when patting a baby’s bottom.
- Divide the dough in half and make two chubby discs about 5 inches (12 cm) across.
- Wrap the discs separately in plastic wrap and chill for a minimum of 20 minutes and up to three days.
- Watch a video of Kate rolling out the dough.
To make the dough in a food processor
- Make sure all the ingredients are chilled.
- In the bowl of a food processor fit with the metal blade, add all the ingredients but the ice water.
- Pulse 15 times to combine. Use short pulses.
- Add 3 tablespoons of the water. Pulse 10 times.
- Add 3 more tablespoons of the water. Pulse five times.
- Turn the dough into a medium bowl, add the remaining water 1 tablespoon at a time, and finish by hand as in Steps 5 to 8 above.
Notes
Excerpted with permission from Pie Camp: The Skills You Need to Make Any Pie by Kate McDermott. Copyright 2020 by Kate McDemott. Published by The Countryman Press, a division of W.W. Norton. Photographs by Andrew Scrivani.