posted by bme 11-05-102 3:34 PM
Flaky Butter Pie Crust
Nick Malgieri's Perfect Pastry
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 tbsp. cake flour
1/4 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. baking powder
1 stick of cold butter, cut up into 8 pieces
3 tbsp. ice water (to 4 tbl)
Stir/pulse together dry ingredients. Pulse (food processor), paddle (mixer), or cut (by hand) in butter pieces until the mixture has a sandy appearance, but there are still small chunks of butter throughout. If you're mixing by hand, work fast, because the mixture needs to stay COLD--if the butter starts to melt, refrigerate it for a half an hour to re-chill butter.
Sprinkle 3 tbsp. ice water over dough and combine well with a fork. Dough is ready when it holds together when you squeeze it. If it crumbles, sprinkle in a bit more water until it holds.
If the dough's still cold, you can roll it right away. Otherwise, roll it into a ball and chill it for a few hours first.
To form crust, pat ball into a patty, then roll out on a clean, floured dishcloth. Sprinkle flour on the rolling pin and the dough if the pin sticks. Switch rolling directions to keep a uniform circle. Drape into pie dish and crimp edges. Fill and bake according to pie recipe.
To roll pastry, cookie dough etc, I use a long piece of wooden dowel. This is rolled between two strips of wooden molding - 1/2 in or 1/4in or 1/8in thick - to make a uniform pastry, cookie dough etc.