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Forget cake. Once everyone tastes this crust, you will be responsible for making a pie for every party. Birthdays, graduations--are you ready?
Absolutely
perfect
pie crust
The secret to this winner? Your fridge.
"The cold is pastry's best friend,"
says Rose Levy Beranbaum, author
of The Baking Bible and the
genius who developed this recipe
we've adapted. It does mean that
you can't just bang out this dough.
Build in time to let it chill as
specified and we promise success.
Total time: 2 hours and 30 minutes
12 Tbsp unsalted butter, cubed
2 1/3 cups plus 1 Tbsp bleached
all-purpose flour, spooned
into cup and leveled off
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp aluminum-free baking
powder
1/2 cup cream cheese, cold
3 Tbsp heavy cream
1 Tbsp cider vinegar
THE STEPS
1. Cut butter into 1/2-inch cubes. Tightly
wrap in plastic and place in freezer until
frozen, at least 30 minutes. Place flour,
salt, and baking powder in a gallon-size zip-top
bag and freeze at least 30 minutes.
2. Add flour mixture and cream cheese to
a food processor. Pulse until it resembles
coarse meal, about 20 seconds. Add butter;
pulse until pea-size clumps form. Add heavy
cream and vinegar and continue pulsing until
smaller-size pieces form.
3. Spoon half of mixture into a plastic bag. While holding the
bag steady with one hand, alternate using the heel and
knuckles of your other hand to knead mixture until it just comes
together. Remove dough from bag and place on a large sheet
of plastic wrap. Knead until dough feels slightly stretchy when
pulled. Repeat with remaining mixture and a clean bag. Fold
plastic over each piece of dough and shape into a 1-inch-thick
disk. Chill until firm, at least 45 minutes or up to 2 days.
4. Set a disk of dough between 2 sheets of lightly floured
plastic wrap. With a flour-dusted rolling pin, work from
the center outward to roll dough into a 1/8-inch disk, about
12 inches in diameter. Lift dough from plastic from time to time
and add flour to rolling pin, surface, and dough as necessary
to prevent sticking.
5. Loosen dough from plastic wrap and carefully transfer to
a 9-inch pie plate. Gently ease dough into place; stretching
it will cause dough to shrink during baking. Trim edges with
kitchen scissors. Cover dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate
at least 30 minutes or up to 3 hours. Now, fill your pie-we
used a mixture of apples and cranberries (see below)-then roll
out dough for top crust as explained in step 4.
6 Lightly moisten the border of the bottom crust with water.
Place dough over top of pie and trim so there's half an inch
of overhang. Tuck the overhang under bottom crust and gently
press all around the edge of where filling meets dough to seal.
Crimp border using your forefinger and thumb or a fork. Using
a knife, make small slits into the top of the crust to let pie steam
while baking. Cover loosely with plastic; chill 1 hour before baking.
Apple-cranberry pie filling
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cooking time; 40 minutes
6 large apples (we used a mix of
Granny Smith and Gala), peeled,
cut into %-inch slices (about 3 lb)
8 oz fresh or frozen cranberries
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1 cup sugar
6 Tbsp all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 pie crusts, rolled out (per
instructions, above)
1. Heat oven to 425[degrees]F. In a large
bowl, toss together apples,
cranberries, lemon juice, sugar,
flour, and cinnamon; set aside.
2. Fit 1 pie crust into a 9-inch pie
plate, per instructions in step 5.
Add filling, then top with other pie
crust. Trim and crimp edges, cut
vents in top crust, and let pie chill, as
described in step 6.
3. Place on a rimmed baking sheet (to
catch drips) and bake 10 minutes,
then lower heat to 375[degrees]F and continue
to bake until crust is golden and filling
is bubbling, 30 to 35 minutes. Let cool
30 minutes before serving.
Enough filling for a 9-inch pie.