Don't fear the crust

Since writing about pie, I've heard that many people are intimidated by pie crust. There have been quite a few people that point out that you can buy pie crust in the freezer section now. And it's not bad. In a pinch, it would probably do just fine. But really, are you ever "in a pinch" when it comes to pie crust? It's not like it goes out of season.

I like a crisp, flaky crust. I've found that I generally like to blind bake my crust in advance. Blind baking is baking the crust prior to putting in the filling. It's not always possible, such as with double crust pies. But when it's possible, I think it makes a better crust.

One common problem with blind baking is the pie crust sliding down the side of the pan. This is especially true of crusts that have a high butter content, as the fat melts prior to the structure of the crust setting. One solution, my favorite solution, is to bake the crust upside down. You read that correctly.

This is a great crust to put something sweet and soft in, like maybe chocolate pudding, or chocolate mousse. Yum.

Here are ten steps to making a fine (and not difficult) crust. And you get to bake it upside down.

1 C. flour

¼ C. Wondra

½ tsp. salt 

6 Tbsp. butter, cut into 1/2 tablespoon sections, kept cold

½ C. sour cream

You will also need two identical pie pans (like the cheap metal ones,) and parchment paper.

#10 Get fresh ingredients. If you can't remember when you bought that butter sitting in your fridge, it's most likely not fresh. Unless you're like me, and you go through so much butter in your life that buying it is nearly a weekly activity.


#9 Flour keeps for a longer time. Just use what you've got in your cupboard.

#8 Touch the butter with your hands as little as possible. Not for cleanliness reasons (though that matters, too! Go wash your hands; who knows where they've been!) but because your hands are warm. Keep in mind that butter is hard at 68° and a runny mess at 82°. Once the butter gets warm and incorporates with the flour, you'll never get a crisp crust.

#7 Mix the flours and the salt together with a whisk or in a food processor. You should probably mix it longer than you think necessary.

#6 Put the flour in a bowl, toss it with the pieces of butter to coat each piece.

#5 Put the butter/flour mixture in the freezer for 10 minutes. Clean up the kitchen.

#4 Remove butter/flour mixture from the freezer and dump on a clean counter. Roll your rolling pin over the mixture, firmly enough to flatten the butter. Scrap it back together (I actually use a dough scraper for this, one of the rare times it gets used for what it was designed for.) Roll it out again, then scrape it, then roll it. It should look roughly liked old fashioned oatmeal. Scrape it back in the bowl and put it back into the freezer.

#3 Pre-heat your oven to 400°. Remove the butter/flour from the freezer, mix in the sour cream. This is one time when it's fine to use your hands. I can never get it incorporated enough with a spatula. But remember, your hands are warm and you don't want the butter to warm up too much. Mix it as much as you can with a spatula and then finish it off with your hands.

#2 Put the dough on a piece of parchment paper. Roll it out until it is large enough to fit in the pan. Fit the dough into the pan. Remove the parchment paper and crumple it up. Dock the pie crust (poke a bunch of holes in it,) with a fork. Smooth the parchment back out, place it on top of the dough, then put the other pie pan inside of it.   

#1 Place the crust, upside down, on a baking sheet in the oven. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove the top pan. Bake for 5 minutes. Replace the top pan, then flip right side up, remove the other pan and the parchment. Bake for 10-15 more minutes, watching to avoid over-browning.

You could fill it with a pastry cream and top that with jellied cranberries left over from the holidays. You could add butterscotch or caramel pudding and sprinkle a little sea salt on it. You could cook up strawberries with some sugar and cornstarch to make a strawberry pie, if strawberries are in season where you are.

Or, you could fill it with a chocolate pastry cream and let your kids convince you to put a whipped cream smiley face on it. Kind of creepy, isn't it?

  In the future, I'll pipe the border and then make the smiley face.