Cook's Illustrated's Foolproof Pie Dough

By susanwadle

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups (12 1/2 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon table salt
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/4-inch slices
• 1/2 cup cold vegetable shortening, cut into 4 pieces
• 1/4 cup cold vodka
• 1/4 cup cold water

Details

Servings 9
Adapted from seriouseats.com

Preparation

Step 1

Serious Heat

Process 1 1/2 cups flour, salt, and sugar in food processor until combined, about 2 one-second pulses. Add butter and shortening and process until homogeneous dough just starts to collect in uneven clumps, about 15 seconds (dough will resemble cottage cheese curds and there should be no uncoated flour). Scrape bowl with rubber spatula and redistribute dough evenly around processor blade. Add remaining cup flour and pulse until mixture is evenly distributed around bowl and mass of dough has been broken up, 4 to 6 quick pulses. Empty mixture into medium bowl.

Sprinkle vodka and water over mixture. With rubber spatula, use folding motion to mix, pressing down on dough until dough is slightly tacky and sticks together. Divide dough into two even balls and flatten each into 4-inch disk. Wrap each in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 45 minutes or up to 2 days.

I tried this recipe when the issue first came out, and I was stunned at how well it worked. It was certainly slightly disconcerting to process the fat so much, then add so much liquid into the other ingredients. My main pie crust recipe for ages was the previous one that CI had published (I finally figured out how to do pie crust from them).

I made this recipe at Thanksgiving. the dough was very moist and pretty hard to work with but I rolled it out between two sheets of waxed paper which worked pretty well. It was, by far, the flakiest pie crust I've ever made! I'm sure I'll make it again.

I tried this recently, and chickened out once I'd added 3/4 of the vodka/water. It turned out perfectly.

I refuse to use shortening so I make this with all butter and it comes out awesome. Like Zamboni, I chickened out the first time I made this and added only 2 tablespoons of the ice water because I was freaked out by how moist the dough was - the crust came out insanely flaky. The 2nd time I added 3 tablespoons to make the dough easier to work with and it was perfect. I've made it 4 times to date and I simply refuse to use the full 1/4 cup! I don't think you really need that last tablespoon; maybe it's the pie crust snob in me not wanting to work with a completely smooth dough.

I won't make this pie crust again. I followed the directions and used the exact ingredients including unsalted butter. When I at a piece of my pecan pie, the butter dominated the flavor of the pie and the pie crust. My purpose in making a pie is to have the filling be the primary taste, not the crust. The pecan filling leaked out the bottom causing the bottom crust to be doughy. I feel that I wasted 1 1/2 cups of butter and 2 cups of fresh pecans. I made another crust with just shortening using my old standby recipe. It rolled out beautifully and handled far better than the CI crust. This pie crust recipe just wasn't impressive to me. Using vodka is a gimmick, not a tried and true ingredient, as shown by the hundreds of pie crust recipes available that don't use vodka.

I love this recipe...i.e. how it rolls out, how it tastes, it is so flaky and easy to make. Definately go the route of using wax paper to roll out, I've been using that method for 25+ years and that really makes it stress free.

I finally make this crust. WOW! I've been making good pie crust for 45 years and was absolutely blown away by this one--as was my husband. It youwas beautiful to work with!!

I love this pie crust!!!!!!!!! I made some changes though... Since i'm not a big fan of shortening, i simply replaced the 1/2 cup shortening with 1/2 cup butter, used only 1/2 tsp salt and omitted the sugar. I think because of the extra water from the butter that replaces the shortening, I don't use the full amount of vodka/water mixture. Whatever vodka/water mixture i have left over, I simply store in the freezer. The sugar makes the crust brown too quickly and the full amount of salt made the crust way too salty for my taste. This dough is a joy to work with, almost like playdough. warning... the raw dough tastes awful. Thanks for this recipe with all my heart and soul!!!!!!!!!!!!!

dkim68: The July/August 2008 issue of CI is for blueberry pie and bakes it for the first 30 minutes at 400, then decreases the temp to 350 for the remaining 30-40 minutes. I made it last fall and the crust didn't get too dark. But usually I just make it to bake plain with sugar & cinamon, it's that fantastic!!!!!!

Forgive this long comment! I'm hoping it will be helpful. My daughter and I made three savory pies yesterday (we made beef pies, like a Cornish pasty--finely diced beef, grated potatoes and onions). Both my daughter and I make very good pie crusts--I have 50 years of experience--but we are often frustrated at the inconsistencies and the problem of just the right moisture to flour ratio to have dough that rolls out easily, is thick enough to work with and make nice fluted edges, and is both tender and flaky.

We followed this recipe and were thrilled with the results. Our "test kitchen" experiments in the process might be useful for responding to a couple of the comments here. 1.) Use very cold, unsalted butter as in the recipe. If you use salted butter for a pie crust, plus the recommended salt (or even reduced amounts or no salt) it will be too salty tasting for many people. 2.) We tried the full amount of sugar and also reducing the sugar. Even for a savory pie, we liked the full amount of sugar best. 3.) We used the full amount of water/vodka and also reduced amounts, to experiment. Yes, it looks sticky with the full amount, but remember that some of that moisture will go away in baking (that is the function of the alcohol.), so the extra is needed to have a moist,flaky crust, not a less moist, crumbling one. The extra moisture also allows for the use of extra flour in rolling, which is very handy. 4.) Chill this dough for several hours and work fast with it. The high fat content dough benefits from being very firm when you're starting to work. Otherwise you'll have a very soft dough that rolls out nicely but is difficult to pick up and place on the pie tin. (That is one advantage of a pastry cloth. You can pick the whole thing up and put it in the fridge for a moment to chill and firm, then go back to work on it.) This dough can be re-rolled easily without toughening, but still, work lightly. Use plenty of flour to keep it workable--we found it didn't dry the dough out or toughen it, as can happen with regular crusts. (The alcohol again) 5. This recipe gave us plenty of dough for easy rolling to the right size and with more than enough for a pretty fluted edge--no need for patching and no skimpy edges that need foil protection to keep them from browning too much. We chilled them about an hour before baking so the edges would keep their shape.

Taste test: All the pies were wonderful but the one made exactly according to the recipe--exactly--was voted the best by the taste-testers who didn't know how we had made them. Not much difference in any of them, but still, the exact recipe--full amount of liquid and sugar--was considered the most flaky, tender and flavorful. As a side note: Using a food processor made this very, very easy (We also followed the number of pulses as given in the recipe). But, it can be made without a processor if the same cutting and distributing motion is used to combine flour and fat. Baking at 325 degrees for about 1 1/2 hours cooked the meat and potato filling perfectly and produced a uniformly beautiful, golden brown and delicious tasting crust.

Try this recipe for your next pie and make it exactly according to the recipe, without fear. You can do it differently the next time if you want, but the first time, trust the recipe--developed by people with tremendous knowledge and skill and with a scientific not gimmicky reason for their suggestions--and I think you'll be very happy with the results.

Oh - I also wanted to add that I made my crusts completely by hand, with an old-school bladed pastry blender, and it still worked beautifully.

I used to always use the grocery store pie crusts because really, they aren't that bad, and they are consistent, and easy. I tried this recipe just for fun on an early thanksgiving pumpkin pie, and it was great! If anything, I'd probably make just a bit more crust than normal as I ran a little short, but I just used less filling (I use the big glass pie pans.)

Probably line the pan with the dough, brush it with a slightly beaten egg white and prick the bottom. Line with parchment or wax paper and fill with dry beans, pushing them up the sides. Bake in a 425° oven for 15-20 minutes, remove paper and beans, continue baking for 5-15 minutes more or until desired color is achieved.

stef717: In the original recipe that subscribers can download from the CI website, it gives 3 additional steps for the recipe beyond what is printed here, and they may help you in your pre-baking endeavor. I've copied and pasted them below for you:

3. Adjust oven rack to lowest position, place rimmed baking sheet on oven rack, and heat oven to 425 degrees. Remove dough from refrigerator and roll out on generously floured (up to ¼ cup) work surface to 12-inch circle about 1/8 inch thick. Roll dough loosely around rolling pin and unroll into pie plate, leaving at least 1-inch overhang on each side. Working around circumference, ease dough into plate by gently lifting edge of dough with one hand while pressing into plate bottom with other hand. Leave overhanging dough in place; refrigerate until dough is firm, about 30 minutes.

5. Remove pie pan from refrigerator, line crust with foil, and fill with pie weights or pennies. Bake for 15 minutes. Remove foil and weights, rotate plate, and bake for 5 to 10 minutes additional minutes until crust is golden brown and crisp.

I made this gluten free by using a classic gluten free mix (2c white rice flour, 2/3c potato starch, 1/3c tapioca starch), and 2.5Tsp of xanthum gum.

I just found the same recipe in the the book 'The Best of America's Test Kitchen 2010' and was wondering about the addition of vodka. Glad to have found the Cook's Illustrated site for user comments - it always helps to hear what others think of a recipe BEFORE I try it. I think I'll have to give this one a try out of curiosity and because of my quest for the perfect pie crust.

I followed the recipe also and found the dough to be very wet. But like any pie crust recipe you just add more flour if it is too moist. I also refrigerated for 45 min which was not long enough. I will try refrigerating overnight next time. Loved the taste and texture. Once I added more flour after taking out of the fridge it was easy to roll out and not so sticky. May not use all the liquid as noted by comment above. Will definitely use recipe again with the changes.

Excellent recipe - I'll add this to my list of ones I want to try.

i made my first ever pie today (strawberry-rhubarb) and used this crust, and i couldn't be more satisfied! and i even made some missteps, i.e. the shortening was room temp, and i added the salt before i snapped that i had salted butter. no matter! the dough (yes- use ALL the liquid!) was creamy and easy to work with, and the finished product flaky and tasty. i will no doubt try other crusts in my pie-making future, but this one is the absolut gold standard!! (pun intended)

Seriously? Cook's Illustrated is always trying to come up with giant discoveries. This recipe is silly. First of all, who still uses Crisco products? Fresh rendered lard, yes.Unsalted butter, yes. If Chris Kimball and his staff would learn how to cook properly they would not have to tray and re-invent the wheel. If you have a solid professional recipe and make it using proper technique you would not need to add vodka or vinegar. As well, there are different crust recipes for different purposes. Pate Brisee, a French crust is used commonly for tartes. Pies are American and the crust is different as pies need to stand up to heavy fillings. There are a lot of mistakes in their cook books as well.

Ok, I had the opposite result with this pie crust. I followed the directions (subbed lard for shortning) and used all the liquid and my crust was dry and very difficult to roll. It baked up OK but it wasn't pretty. I had to fix several cracks.

First off, subbing lard will make the crust harder to work with, since lard is more solid than shortening. That'll definitely make it harder to roll.

This pie dough really is foolproof, and delicious. I had never made a pie dough or even rolled out store bought dough before I tried this recipe. My crust came out tender and flaky the very first time!! I have made it 5 times since and it has come out great every time. The dough is so forgiving and easy to handle I think ANYONE could make an impressive crust their first time out.

You CAN use this in place of pate brisee. I even use it for baked "empanadas". If you WANT to take the time and effort to tackle a pate brisee, messy fraisage and all, then more power to ya!

I really like comments that say "I didn't follow the recipe exactly (i.e. did not use all liquid....) and I don't understand why it didn't work well." I have seen them CI guys make this on "America's Test Kitchen" and now know why the vodka. Most complaints when making pie crust is that it's too dry to work with and get a flaky crust. If it's moist enough to be easy to work with the crust is doughy. The vodka gives you the moisture to work with it but evaporates when baked so crust turns out light and flaky.

My problem.......Can I make it without a food processor?!?

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