This recipe comes to you directly from the Culinary Institute LeNotre, where I spent one semester briefly considering a career change. Though I ultimately decided not to pursue a life in restaurants, I did manage to pick up many skills, techniques, and tasty recipes, including this short dough that is perfect for your Thanksgiving pies. If you’re up for a little mess, your kids will have a blast mixing, kneading, and rolling out the dough. I’ve been doing it with my littles since my oldest was 2, and it never fails to be a fabulously fun time.
This recipe yields enough dough for two pie crusts, or a bottom shell and top.
Ingredients
- 250 g flour
- 125 g butter, cut into 1/2 inch cubes (NOTE 1)
- 1 egg yolk (NOTE 2)
- 50 g water
- 5 g salt
Instructions
- In a small bowl, combine the egg yolk, water, and salt. Set aside.
- Cut In the Butter: Dump the flour onto your counter into a mound and spread the butter cubes over the top. Using a pastry cutter or dough scraper (I prefer the dough scraper), cut the butter into the flour until the mixture becomes a fine crumble. What is cutting in? With the dough scraper held upright – chop, chop, chop the butter, changing hand position as you go to cover the whole mound and pausing periodically to scoop up any flour that escapes.
- Make the Dough: Form the flour mixture into a pile and make a hole on top (like a volcano). Pour the water/egg mixture into the hole. Watch out for some to run out of the sides. If that happens, pause the pouring and use the dough scraper to scoop it up and add it back to your pile.
- Using your hands, incorporate the liquid and then knead the dough lightly until fully mixed.
- Chill the Dough: Cut the dough in half. Form each section into a ball and flatten into a disk (~1 inch tall and 2.5 inches diameter). Wrap both disks tightly in plastic and chill in refrigerator for 30 or more minutes. NOTE 3.
- Roll it Out: When you’re ready to make your pie, take one of your dough disks from the fridge and unwrap it. Place onto a lightly floured surface, put more flour on top, and start rolling. This will get easier as the dough softens. Rotate the dough as you roll, ensuring that you get an even circle instead of one long rectangle. Your final crust should be ~1/8 inch thick.
- Transfer it to the Pie Pan: For easy transfer from your counter to the pan, I recommend folding the rolled-out dough into a triangle (2 folds). Pick up that triangle and place it in the pan, triangle tip in the middle, and unfold. Gently press the dough into the pan and cut off any excess around the edges.
NOTE 1: The butter must be cold, straight from the fridge, before you start cutting it into the flour.
NOTE 2: Save the egg whites for an egg wash to brush the top of your finished pies before they go into the oven.
NOTE 3: Dough can be made up to 4 days ahead of time.
