Perfect Pie Crust

By Jill-4

For a perfect crust every time:
▪ Keep all ingredients cold
▪ Do not over process the dough
▪ Use ice-water
▪ Allow your finished dough to rest in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour
For my pie crust, I grind my own whole wheat grain using soft white wheat berries. This is what you would find at the store called Whole Wheat Pastry Flour. In my opinion, store bought whole wheat flour does not compare to milling your own grain at home. It’s much heavier and in my opinion, gritty. If you do not grind your own grain, I would suggest using an unbleached all purpose white flour.

Ingredients

• Ingredients for a two crust pie:
• ▪ 2 1/2 cups flour
• ▪ 1 tsp salt
• ▪ 1 tsp sugar
• ▪ 2 sticks unsalted butter
• 6-10 tablespoons cold water (This is quite a gap in measurements, however, since I use freshly milled grains, it’s much lighter and I only need around 6tbls of water. If you’re using store bought flour, you will most likely need anywhere from 8-10.

Preparation

Step 1

1. In a food processor combine the flour, salt and sugar. Blend to incorporate.
2. Cut the butter in small pieces, making sure to not handle it too much. Your hands will give off quite a bit of heat and it’s important to keep your butter as cold as possible.
3. Add the butter to the flour mixture and pulse 6-8 times or until the mixture resembles a coarse grain. Do not over process.
4. Add 1 tablespoon at a time of water and pulse. Continue to do this until the dough just begins to hold together without being wet or sticky. Again, do not over process.
5. The dough should not stick together in a ball-shaped form. It should just begin to hold. Once you’re at this stage, empty the dough “pieces” onto the counter and shape quickly into a rounded ball. Divide into two balls.
6. Quickly shape each piece into a disc and wrap in plastic. Do not overwork.
7. Place the dough in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour before using.
The dough will keep in the refrigerator for 2 weeks or frozen for up to a month.
Now that our pie crust has been made, putting together a filling for apple pie is a breeze. What’s great about this version is that it uses real maple syrup as the sweetener. Its sweet maple flavor lends itself beautifully to the apples and cinnamon; no one would ever guess that a granulated sugar wasn’t used.