Description
Southern comfort emerges in Paula Deen’s legendary pie crust, blending rich butter and delicate flour for a melt-in-mouth pastry. Bakers can craft this classic recipe with simple ingredients and precision technique, ensuring delightful homemade desserts.
Ingredients
Scale
- 2 ½ cups (300 g) all-purpose flour
- 12 tbsps (170 g) cold and cubed butter
- ¼ cup (57 g) cold vegetable shortening
- 3 tbsps (38 g) granulated white sugar
- ¼ tsp fine salt
- ¼ to ½ cup (60–120 mL) ice water
Instructions
- Dry Ingredient Preparation: Sift flour, salt, and sugar into a large mixing bowl, ensuring a uniform distribution of dry components for a consistent pastry base.
- Fat Integration: Incorporate cold vegetable shortening using fingertips or a pastry cutter, breaking it down until the mixture resembles rough breadcrumbs. Add cold butter cubes, continuing to work quickly and lightly to maintain delicate fat pockets that will create flaky layers.
- Dough Formation: Gradually introduce ice-cold water, gently folding and pressing the mixture until it cohesively binds without becoming soggy. Avoid overworking the dough to preserve its tender texture.
- Chilling and Resting: Divide the dough into two equal disks, wrap individually in plastic, and refrigerate for 30 minutes to relax gluten and solidify fat, enhancing the crust’s overall structure.
- Rolling and Shaping: On a lightly floured surface, roll each chilled disk into a circular shape approximately 25-28 centimeters in diameter, maintaining consistent thickness for even baking.
- Pie Dish Transfer: Carefully transfer the rolled dough to the pie dish, gently pressing it against the sides and trimming excess edges. Create a decorative crimp around the perimeter for a professional finish.
- Preparation for Baking: For blind baking, prick the base with a fork, line with parchment paper, and fill with ceramic pie weights to prevent rising and ensure a crisp, well-structured crust.
Notes
- Chill Ingredients: Keep shortening, butter, and water extremely cold to guarantee a supremely flaky, tender pie crust texture that melts in your mouth.
- Handle with Care: Minimize dough manipulation to prevent developing tough gluten, which can make the crust dense and chewy instead of delicate and light.
- Resting is Crucial: Refrigerate dough for at least 30 minutes to allow flour to hydrate and fats to solidify, ensuring maximum flakiness and easier rolling.
- Blind Baking Tips: Use ceramic weights or dried beans to prevent crust from puffing up, creating a crisp, even base for both sweet and savory pie fillings.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 0 minutes
- Category: Desserts, Snacks
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 8
- Calories: 370
- Sugar: 5 g
- Sodium: 50 mg
- Fat: 26 g
- Saturated Fat: 16 g
- Unsaturated Fat: 10 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 35 g
- Fiber: 1 g
- Protein: 4 g
- Cholesterol: 45 mg