Many people often think that pie crust can be difficult to make. However, it is actually much simpler than they believe. You could cook a batch of dough in around 15 minutes with a few simple ingredients in the kitchen. Keep reading this guide to learn a step-by-step guide and some useful tips on how to make a baking powder pie crust.
What you’ll need
- Fork
- Pastry cutter
- Pastry board or waxed paper
- Rolling pin
- Small and large bowl
- Plate
- Pastry brush
- Sharp knife
Ingredients
- 2 cups of unbleached flour
- 0.5 teaspoon of iodized salt
- 7 tablespoons of ice-cold water
- 2 teaspoons of baking powder
- 1 cup of shortening or cold butter
- 1 tablespoon of lemon juice, vodka, sugar, or white vinegar
Step 1: Mix the dough
Add salt, baking powder, and flour into a large bowl, then stir the mixture thoroughly. Next, cut the shortening or butter into the flour with a food processor, a pastry cutter, a fork, or your fingers. Mix the solution until you see the uniform and small pea-sized chunks. Gently stir the flour with a wooden spoon when you are pouring a small amount of cold water to the bowl. It should come together and create a loose ball.
Step 2: Form dough ball
Make dough ball with your hands. Keep in mind to pull the mixture very gently and split the ball into 2 equal part, which will be used for the bottom and the top crust. You can cut the ball with a sharp kitchen knife.
Step 3: Prepare the surface
There are some ways of rolling out pie crust. Thus, you can experiment and choose the best one for you.
- Wax paper: Tape down a wax paper which is slightly bigger than the pie’s diameter. Consider combining with another wax paper sheet or pastry cloth for easy use and transport.
- A stone or wooden pastry board can be a good option if you want to make a lot of pie crusts.
- Gallon Ziplock bags are another option to choose from.
Step 4: Roll out the dough
Spread a small quantity of flour on the rolling pin to prevent the dough from sticking. Start rolling the pie dough from the center and rotate the pin evenly in various directions with even strokes. Flip over the dough over and do it again. It should not take more than five or ten passes to roll out the dough. Ideally, the pie crust should be even at around 0.3 centimeter thick.
Step 5: Put the dough into plate
Use the rolling pin or wax paper to put the crust into the pie plate. Be very careful because it is likely to tear the dough. Use the fingers to press the dough lightly into the bottom area of the plate, flat against the tin’s sides. Trim the crust’s edges with a sharp knife and patch any tears or rips with the excess dough. You don’t have to flour or grease the plate because it will release from the tin during the baking process.
Step 6: Fill with your desired filling
Depending on which type of pie you prefer, it is necessary to empty the pre-made filling or cook one. Here are a few common options:
- Blackberry and blueberry could be made from fresh fruit or canned pie filling.
- Stone-fruit filling such as peach or cherry could eliminate the pits with a pitting machine.
- Make sweet potato or pumpkin filling by blending these ingredients with clove, cinnamon, nutmeg, sweetened condensed milk, and other spices.
- For banana cream, lemon, coconut, or chocolate filling, you need to pre-bake your pie crust in advance.
Useful tips to create the best baking power pie crust
- Before baking, consider putting the pie crust in the refrigerator for 30 minutes
- Use butter flavored to create a little different flavor
- When cutting butter or shortening into flour, you should put the bowl into a bigger one filled with ice cubes and ice water. By doing this, you won’t have to keep chilling the dough in the refrigerator while working.
- When rolling the dough, it should be a little crumbly at the edge. Otherwise, you should add more flour.
- When baking, place the plate on a bigger pizza pan or cookie sheet to catch overflowing filling
