QVC Double-Crust Pie (Made in a Food Processor)

By sugarbear

I'm happy to share this recipe for a double-crust pie! If you only need one, roll out both crusts and put one in freezer paper and double wrap in foil for later use. Please note that the butter isn't cut into too small of pieces. This is what makes the crust flake when it's rolled out. As the pie bakes, the flattened flour-coated butter nuggets melt and create steam, and the steam causes the flake. Also make sure everything's icy cold; I even freeze my flour!

Ingredients

• 2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2-lb (2 sticks) cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes (place in freezer for at least one hour)
• 1/3 About 1/3 cup ice-cold water
• 1 Tbsp white vinegar

Preparation

Step 1

Put the flour and salt in the bowl of a food processor and pulse to combine. Add the cold butter cubes and pulse a few times until the mixture starts to become mealy and forms plainly visible pea-sized nuggets.

Slowly add the wet ingredients. To ensure a tender crust, I first pulse in the white vinegar, adding a little every couple of pulses. Next, pulse in the ice water—a little water, 3-4 pulses, a little more water, 4-5 pulses. Try not to over-wet the dough! When I'm on QVC, I pulse until the dough just starts clumping together, then pull some out and squeeze test it to see if it's holding together. Be careful not to over-mix the dough. If it appears dry and isn't holding, add a few additional tablespoons of water.

Dump the dough out onto a floured surface and gather into two balls. Flatten each, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate until ready to use. Often you will find this ''rest'' period helps even out the moisture in a slightly dry dough.

One last hint: be sure to roll out the dough to at least 1 inch wider than your pie pan. Then you'll have plenty leftover to drape. But be very careful not to stretch the dough loosely into the pan. When I judge pie contests, it seems the biggest problem is the crust shrinks because the pie dough was stretched to just fit the pan. But if you follow my directions, you can have an award-winning pie crust of your very own!