Single Pie Dough, Double Crust

By Chef Rob Valencia

Everyone loves a light, flaky pie crust, and there are several tips to ensure you make the perfect crust.

Tips for Making the Perfect Pie Crust

First, we use both pastry flour and all purpose flour. Pastry flour makes for a more delicate dough, while the all purpose makes the dough more workable and elastic. We find that using a 50/50 proportion makes a dough that’s easier to work with and that bakes up beautifully flaky.

Second, don’t over blend the butter into the dough — as the dough cooks, the water evaporates from the butter creating the flaky layers.

Third, using vodka or white vinegar in place of some of the water allows the other ingredients to bind together without contributing to the formation of gluten, which can make your dough tough. And finally, chilling and resting the dough allows the gluten to relax, gives the flour time to fully hydrate, and prevents the butter from melting into the dough, again, preserving flaky layers.

Ingredients:

• 10 oz flour, half pastry flour, half all purpose

• ½ tsp sugar

• ½ tsp salt

• 4 oz butter, diced and chilled

• 3 oz water, cold

• 1 ounce white vinegar or vodka

Procedure:

1. Combine the flours, sugar and salt.

2. Add the butter and rub into the flour with your fingers until the mixture begins to take on a yellow color. Leave small chunks of butter. Add the liquids in three parts, incorporating after each addition. Chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

3. Remove the chilled dough from the refrigerator and shape into a thick rectangle. Fold into thirds like an envelope. Flatten into a rectangle. Chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

4. Remove chilled rectangle of dough and divide into two 8-ounce portions. Shape each portion into a ball.

5. Roll each ball of dough into disk that’s 1/8 of an inch thick. Chill each disk after rolling.

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