Zen’s Pie Crust Mix by zen

[BakerAunt]

Pie Crust Mix
Submitted by KitchenBarbaria... on March 18, 2011 at 12:39 am

Perfect Pie Pastry Premix - a make-ahead mix for pie crust that you can store in the refrigerator
Yield: 8 cups
Source: http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/477353

6 cups (27.6 oz., 782.5g) all purpose flour
1 T salt
2 and 1/3 cups (16 oz., 453g) shortening (reduced .3 oz., 10 g)
OR (18.7 oz., 529g) butter or lard

NOTE: Use shortening, butter, butter-flavored Crisco, lard, or half and half of any of these, too taste. I've typically made it with all shortening.

Whisk the flour and salt together in a large mixing bowl.

Cut in half of the shortening with a pastry blender. Aim for large, course chunks at this point - if you end up with evenly pea-sized chunks you overdid it.

Cut in the remaining shortening. Crumb size will be uneven, which is fine, that's what we want. Place in airtight container and store in the refrigerator until ready to use. Some people even store it in the freezer. You will get enough crust mixture for several pies.

IF YOU CHOOSE TO USE A MIX OF BUTTER AND SHORTENING - make sure you cut the butter in FIRST, as it is much MUCH harder than the shortening and will be harder to cut in. If you do the shortening first, it will be smeared out of existence by the time you get the butter cut in.

I have successfully stored this for several months in the refrigerator in a gallon size FREEZER ZipLoc bag.

TO USE: 2T of ice cold water to 1 c (143g, 5 oz.) of the mix. Add water a little at a time - it may take a bit more, it may take a bit less.

Stir gently and quickly. Dough should be soft and not dry. Add a little more flour if too wet, or a little more water if dry.

Form the dough into a flattened disc (or 2 discs if doing a double crust) and put in the refrigerator to chill while you prepare the filling and preheat the oven. I used to say "ball" here because it's a habit of thinking of it that way after 45 years of always doing it that way because the first cookbook I ever read said that. However, think about it - you're going to roll it out into a round disc - it makes FAR better sense to start from a disc shape!

The original directions suggested using 1.25 c for a single 9" pie crust, 2 c for a double 9" pie crust, and 4 c for a double 10" deep dish pie.

However, in my experience, a minimum of 1.5c is needed for a single 9" crust, and this gave me a thin crust without enough body to be able to do any sort of decorative edge whatsoever. 2c of the mix was not enough for a properly done lattice top, either.

My current recommendation is 2c (286g, 10 oz.) for a single 9" pie crust, 3 c (429g, 15 oz.) for a lattice crust, and 3.5c (500g, 20 oz.) for a double crust (9"). I'll update this as I actually make the pies using these amounts.

comments

Submitted by zeebaneighba on Wed, 2011-05-11 13:38.
Thank you for posting this recipe/link from Chowhound plus your suggestions! I'm really pie-crust challenged; I have good results with the KAF recipes, but their drawback is that it is time-consuming to chill the crusts, etc. I love how they taste, but I've been looking for a recipe that would still taste good yet help in terms of time.
I made this mix about three weeks ago and so far, I've used it for a double-crust 9" fruit pie and a blind-baked 9" crust for a lemon meringue pie. The corrected measurements you posted have worked well for me. I used butter-flavored Crisco; I know that sounds vile, but I do like the taste and the color it gave the crusts. Regular Crisco certainly would be good, too.
As noted, this crust does have a nice flavor and because everything is already chilled including the ice water, it truly does stay flaky and tender. Also, it's easy to roll out and handle (my biggest trouble when using other recipes!) In particular, I love the fact that I don't have to worry about how the crust will turn out! I can decide to make a pie practically on the spur of the moment, focus upon the filling, and know that the crust will indeed be flaky, brown well, and compliment the filling.
Thank you again!

Submitted by pjh on Wed, 2011-06-15 08:59.
I've never done a ready-mix and stored in the fridge or freezer - duh, why not?! I'm definitely trying this - should be perfect for summer fruit pies, and around Thanksgiving... Thanks!

Submitted by zeebaneighba on Fri, 2011-06-17 15:21.
PJ, so glad you commented here! I definitely recommend this recipe. I just made another batch and have it in the fridge for a quick and easy peach cobbler tomorrow. As noted, I really do love the KAF pie crust recipes for excellent taste and handling. You can't beat the butter/shortening combo. However, this recipe is a perfectly good one and it's great to be able to do a pie or cobbler on the spur of the moment. The taste reminds me of my grandmother's pie crusts; really brings back good memories.
And also as noted, absolutely use ZenSojourner's recommendations for the measurements. Experienced pie crust bakers could probably get by with the lesser amounts, but I need the extra measures to do a decent fluting around the edge.
(Yeah, I'm still using the butter-flavored Crisco...! At least it's supposed to be low/practically free of trans fats.)

Submitted by KitchenBarbaria... on Fri, 2011-06-17 23:23.
There's no reason why this technique couldn't be applied to any of your favorite pie crust recipes - it's the technique that makes a difference, not so much the recipe. You would just add up the total amount of dry ingredients and fat and use that amount of dry mix mixed with the recommended amount of water when you're ready to use it later. So for example, this one:

http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/our-favorite-pie-crust-recipe-recipe

I would quadruple the recipe (multiply all ingredients by four) and mix together all the dry ingredients, then cut in the fat. DO NOT ADD ANY LIQUID AT THIS TIME. Then put it away in the heavy Ziploc or other airtight container until you want it. (Freezer ziploc's only because the lighter bags will allow the flour to pick up flavors from the fridge).

Then when you're ready to make the crust, add up all the dry ingredients in the single recipe and measure that out (you can ignore the little T and tsp of extra dry ingredients like baking powder and the like), then mix the cider vinegar with the lower amount of recommended water, then add water as necessary to get the right consistency - just like if you'd stood there and just now cut the fats into the flour.

That recipe uses about 2 c of fat/flour mix to 1 tsp of vinegar and 3 to 5 T of ice water for a single crust pie. (Just put the vinegar in the lowest suggested amount of water and mix up, then bring the dough up to the right consistency with plain water)

So I'd start off measuring out that much of the mix for a single crust, double that amount for a double crust, and 1.5 times that amount for a lattice crust. Adjust according to your own ways of making pie crust, as you would if you were making one recipe up at a time.

There's nothing sacred about the particular recipe above - it's the way it's made in advance that's the key. Just make up your dry ingredients and fats in advance and keep out all liquids until you're ready to actually make the crust.

Submitted by rockyroadfarms on Sat, 2011-07-09 08:18.
Thank you for posting this! I'm pie crust challenged and the explanation is a huge help. I definitely over work the fat business.

And there ain't anything wrong with butter flavored Crisco! It's the secret ingredient in some of my most requested cookies. If they only knew. Hehe!
MaryAnn

Submitted by aaronatthedoublef on Wed, 2011-10-12 09:27.
This is excellent and PERFECT timing. I just came on to post a question asking if anyone does this.
Thank you so much.

Submitted by KitchenBarbaria... on Wed, 2011-10-12 13:54.
Well I do it all the time, but then it's my recipe, LOL!
Probably it would be better to ask that question on the forums.

Submitted by Weezer on Wed, 2011-12-14 23:24.
I am going to try my hand at making the KAF piecrust. I have a 10" ceramic pie plate, so how large should I roll the crust to fit the pan? I noticed in one of these posts, she freezes the crust for one hr. before baking, wouldn't doing that with my ceramic pan cause it to crack when I put it in the hot oven??? Don't want to cause my pan to crack up, I've had it a very long time.

Submitted by KitchenBarbaria... on Thu, 2011-12-15 23:38.
I go for about 3" bigger than the target pan, so I'd roll that bottom crust out about 13" (roughly). Top crust, about 1" bigger than the diameter at the top of the plate. That's for a normal 1.5" to 2" deep pie plate - if it's a deep-dish plate, adjust accordingly.

I've seen that sort of suggestion re refrigerating the pie dough in the pie plate but I don't think this is either necessary nor desirable. Like you, I'm pretty sure thermal shock would be an issue. I leave the dough wrapped well in the fridge until the filling is ready to go in, only then do I take it out and roll it out, then immediately fill it, top it, bake it. Unless its 100F in your kitchen it shouldn't have time to warm up any appreciable amount. The whole reason for chilling the dough is to keep the fat solidified WHILE YOU ARE HANDLING IT so the crust will be flaky. Once you've rolled it out and put it in the pan, there is no further benefit to be had from chilling (as long as it's going directly into the oven).

Just make sure your filling is no more than room temp so it doesn't melt the shortening (or butter or lard, whatever you are using), have everything laid out and ready to go, and you should be good. I bake in Pyrex plates exclusively and have never had an incident of thermal shock, but I don't chill the plate itself. I let the pie bake about 10 or 15 minutes in the oven and move it down onto my baking stone after that to help the bottom crust brown up faster (and avoid thermal shock). Since I started using the chilled crust mix all my pie crusts are extremely flaky and tender. I don't see how there could be any possible advantage to chilling the dough in the pan, all things considered, and this works very well for me.

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