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Changed my mind on chilling pie crust... and it ruined my Thanksgiving
I always thought chilling pie dough was just an extra step... not really needed. But my Thanksgiving pie crust came out tough and shrunk way too much. After that fail, I tried chilling it for an hour like the recipes say. Now my crusts are flaky and hold their shape... why did I ignore this for so long? It's annoying how one small change can make such a big difference.
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verafoster1mo ago
My mom's old Betty Crocker cookbook from the 70s actually says to chill for at least an hour. I used to skip it too until I had the same tough crust problem. @noranguyen is totally right about the butter, keeping it cold stops it from melting into the flour too early. That's what gives you those flaky layers. Your grandma probably had a super light touch and kept everything cold without even thinking about it, sam_wood54, but for most of us chilling is the easiest way to get there.
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sam_wood541mo ago
My grandma never chilled her dough and her crusts were perfect. I think some recipes just have too much water or overwork the gluten. The chilling step is fixing a different mistake you were making.
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