Pie Crusts

Hugh Yemen's Piecrusts
The Comments
             Astrid Bear
             Kat Sherman-Hoehn
The Recipes
             Lois
             Barney Simon
Cream Cheese Pie Crusts, One, Two, Three
             One
             Two
             Three
Gummy Piecrusts
             Edmund Burton Asks...
             John Marmet's Beans
             Astrid Bear Suggests...
             Sara Waterson on Blind-baking
Nero Wolfe's Tart Shells - Lois

Hugh Yemen's Piecrusts
After a few people on another list took me up on my offer of advice on making pie crust, I decided it was time to compile the knowledge I've gained over the years. Those of you who find pie crusts difficult or who just haven't gotten around to making them from scratch may find this useful. I'm sure many of you have far more experience in this realm than I, so I will welcome any constructive criticism.
Hugh and Grace's Guide to Pie Crust

The Comments
Astrid Bear
Your pie crust recipe looks very good, with excellent notes. I will just add something I learned only recently, which is: when rolling the crust out, roll from the center outwards in all directions, rather than from side to side. If you think of the crust as a clock-face, roll from where the hands attach in the middle to 12, then middle to 6, then middle to 9, etc. Not 12-6, 9-3, etc. This gives you a rounder crust, rather than a distressing oval.

Kat Sherman-Hoehn
Thanks, and excellent notes! I wouldn't have thought to chill the flour.... My grandmother taught me an additional trick: if you've worked the dough perhaps a tad more than you ought or it's a warm day and the fat in the dough is softening too much, let it set in the refrigerator or a cool place for 5-15 minutes before rolling it out, to rest and firm up. Keep close track of it to make sure it doesn't get too cold, though, or it will become brittle.

The Recipes
Lois
Pie Dough (Cooks Illustrated)
2-1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tsp. table salt
2 Tbsp. sugar
1-1/2 sticks cold, unsalted butter cut into 1/4" slices
1/2 cup cold vegetable shortening cut into 4 pieces (Crisco type)
1/4 cup cold vodka
1/4 cup cold water
Preheat baking sheet in a 425 oven.
Quickly combine 1-1/2 cups of flour, salt and sugar in a food processor - two one-second pulses should be enough.
Add butter and shortening and process for about 15 seconds until the dough begins to form into uneven clumps. (It will resemble cottage cheese curds and there should be no uncoated flour). Scrape bowl with a rubber spatula to redistribute dough evenly around the processor blade. Add the remaining cup of flour and pulse 4 - 6 times until the mixture is evenly distributed around the bowl and the mass of dough has been broken up.
Empty this mixture into a medium sized mixing bowl.
Sprinkle the water and vodka on top of the mixture and, using a rubber spatula, mix in the liquid. (Use a folding, pressing motion until the dough becomes slightly tacky and sticks together).
Divide the dough in half. Flatten into 4" disks. Wrap each in plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for at least 45 mins., or up to 2 days.
Roll out 1 disk of dough to fit the bottom of a pie dish. Add filling.
Roll out remaining dough for the top, using any leftover pastry for decorations.
Place pie on the preheated baking sheet and bake at 425 for 20-25 mins. until the crust is a light golden brown. Reduce the oven to 375. Rotate the baking sheet/pie and bake an additional 25-30 mins. or until crust is a deep golden brown.
Notes: I have made this pastry many times now and, despite my best efforts, have not had one failure - yet! (Which, if you knew me and my previous attempts at pastry making, is absolutely remarkable) I have even 'messed up' on the method by processing all of the flour right at the beginning, and on another occasion forgot to add the remaining cup of flour until I had a sloppy mess in the mixing bowl!
Just bear in mind that the dough is going to handle very differently because it is quite 'wet'. It will therefore need a fair amount of flour when rolling it out to prevent it sticking to your work surface/rolling pin (- but that said, it does roll out easily and beautifully). Prior to baking my last 'batch' of this pastry it looked pretty rough with lots of very small pieces of fat throughout: yet it was fantastic!
(Also, my oven can be a bit fierce so I watch the pie carefully throughout the entire baking process).

Barney Simon
2 c all-purpose flour
1/2 c Instant flour
touch of salt
1/2 pound butter
8 oz sour cream
Cut butter into 1/2 cubes, toss with flour and salt, put into freezer for 10 minutes.
Dump on surface and roll butter flat, scrape/fold into a pile and roll flat. (Do this twice.) Scrape/fold into a pile, place in bowl and freeze for 10 minutes.
Dump on surface and roll butter flat, scrape/fold into a pile and roll flat. (Do this three times.) Scrape/fold into a pile, place in bowl and freeze for 10 minutes.
Fold in sour cream, form ball and refrigerate 30 minute.
Makes two 11" rounds. Refrigerate each half while working with the other.
Made a wonderful crust for my lemon meringue pie... if I could just keep the meringue from sweating!

Cream Cheese Pie Crusts, One, Two, Three
One
Ingredients
1/2 cup cream cheese
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup butter
Directions
1. Soften cream cheese and butter and mix together incorporating flour a little at a time.
2. Roll out with a rolling pin between 2 wax papers. Transfer to a 9-inch pie plate and prick with fork before half-baking to prevent shrinkage. Bake for about 10 minutes at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

Two
This recipe tends to be a bit lighter and flakier than the traditional pie crusts. They key to this crust, like most pastries, is keeping everything very cold. If you are doing the crust by hand, place all of your tools and even your rolling surface in the freezer or refrigerator. If you are using a food processor, try to refrigerate any of the parts that you safely can. The butter and cream cheese should come directly out of the refrigerator. I also keep the flour in the freezer for an hour or so before I begin to get the best results. This pie crust does take a long time to make, just because of how often you have to cool the ingredients.
12 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
1 2/3 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
4.5 ounces cream cheese
2 tablespoons ice water
Divide the butter in half and cut into small cubes. Wrap each half separately in plastic wrap and chill for 30 minutes. Process the flour and salt in a food processor for a few seconds to combine. Add half of the butter cubes and the cream cheese and process until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add the rest of the butter and process for a few seconds until the mixture resembles small peas. Be careful not to overprocess. Add the ice water and pulse twice. The dough will look dry but should hold together when pressed. Pour the crumbs into a plastic bag and gently knead the dough together until it holds together and can form a ball. Do not over knead. Remove the dough from the bag and divide it in half. Wrap each half in plastic wrap and flatten it into a disc. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours. Roll crust on a cold surface with a cold rolling pin. Bake crust alone, or with favorite filling. This crust also freezes extremely well and fruit pies made with this crust and frozen raw come out better than pies baked fresh. To make the crust by hand, separate the butter, cube and refrigerate as above. Place the flour and salt in a medium bowl and whisk to combine. Use a pastry cutter or two knives to cut half of the butter and cream cheese into the flour mixture until it resembles coarse crumbs. Cut in the rest of the butter until it resembles small peas. Sprinkle the ice water onto the dough and gently mix. Gather the dough together and lightly knead until it forms a smooth ball. Divide the ball and form into two discs. Refrigerate for 2 hours and follow the directions above.

Three
Ingredients:
1 cup flour
1/8 tsp. salt
3 ounces cream cheese
1 stick (4 ounces) cold unsalted butter cut into small cubes
Preparation:
In a food processor, combine the flour, salt, and cream cheese and process until the mixture resembles coarse meal, about 8 seconds. Add the cold butter and process in short bursts until the mixture resembles small peas, about 3 seconds. Turn the dough out onto a work surface and knead lightly, just until the dough holds together.
Between 2 sheets of lightly floured wax paper, roll out the dough into a large round, 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick. Press into a 9 inch pie pan and trim any excess. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour. Bake as directed in recipes.
To bake unfilled crust, prick bottom of crust with fork tines and bake 15 to 20 minutes at 425 F.

Gummy Piecrusts
Edmund Burton Asks...
I have been making cushaw pie, which is similar to pumpkin pie but of a more delicate and refined flavor. The filling part is coming out pretty good, but the bottom pie crust is gummy.
Does anyone know how to prevent gummy pie crust?

John Marmet's Beans
Prebake with beans to hold it down. Remove the beans then fill and bake again.

Astrid Bear Suggests...
First place tinfoil over the unbaked crust, then add the beans. They are hard to pick out otherwise. You can also bake the empty crust for a few minutes before adding the tinfoil and beans (or fancy pie weights).

Sara Waterson on Blind-baking
John Marmet forgot to mention you need a piece of greaseproof paper cut to size to stop the beans sinking into the pastry! The idea is to 'part bake' the pastry - starting in a pretty hot oven - so it hardens a bit, then let it cool THEN put in the filling. It helps to make a lot of little knife holes in the paper through to the pastry base before you blind bake it to let steam escape.
You need to blind-bake for any filled tart or quiche - N.B. a 'pie' is properly something with a pastry lid, though it may well have a pastry bottom too... You can't pre-bake a pie really, you just have to put it together and hope for the best! Some people do pre-bake pie crusts though, then add them for the last 10 minutes, to stop them getting soggy from 'steaming' - they especially do this for steak and kidney pie which needs such long cooking.
If you put the pie crust on, then bake the dish all together, you need a 'pie funnel' to let the steam out. You place the pastry crust over the filling, then make a cross shape with a knife over the top of the pie funnel. An inverted egg cup might work if you don't have a pie funnel - use one which is 'dishwasher proof'.

Nero Wolfe's Tart Shells - Lois
Thought I might be able to join two threads and find a cookie recipe in Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe Cook Book, but no, he does not do cookies.
He does, however, present "Tart Shells", which you can fill with fruit or pudding (or even make cookies):
1 Cup all-purpose flour
1 Tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup cold sweet butter
2 Tablespoons cold water (or more)
Preheat oven to 425. Sift the flour, sugar, and salt together. Cut the butter into the flour, using a pastry knife, until the mixture resembles corn meal. Sprinkle the water sparingly over the mixture and stir with a fork to moisten until the dough will hold a ball shape. Divide the dough into 6 equal parts and roll each section out on a lightly floured board. Fit each round into a tart pan; press the dough down, crimp the edges, and prick the bottom of each with a fork. Fill each tart with uncooked rice and bake for 12 to 15 minutes. Remove from the oven, discard the rice, and fill with.....fillings. (His choices are Cherry from Fer-de-Lance; Fig and Cherry from The Golden Spiders; and Rhubarb from The Final Deduction.)