SARAH'S PERFECT PIE DOUGH by Sarah Phillips © 2000 Sarah Phillips baking911.com
Makes 1 galette or 1, 9-inch round pie or tart
stock photo
This dough is as perfect as you can get for a pie dough - it browns beautifully, can be re-rolled without ruining its flavorful and slightly flaky texture, can be sweetened with sugar or not, and is easy to roll.
PASTRY HELP
Recipe used with the Fresh Peach Galette Tutorial 
Galette and photo by Kelly CA © Sarah Phillips baking911.com
DOUBLE CRUST
INGREDIENTS
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, chilled
2 cups unbleached flour (spoon into measuring cup and level to top)
1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 large egg yolks
1/4 cup ice water, plus more if needed
1/2 teaspoon lemon juice or cider vinegar
SINGLE CRUST
INGREDIENTS
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, chilled
1 cup unbleached flour (spoon into measuring cup and level to top)
3 tablespoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 large egg yolk
2 tablespoons ice water, plus more if needed
1/4 teaspoon lemon juice or cider vinegar
INSTRUCTIONS
1. Using the large holes of a box grater shred the chilled butter onto a plate. Freeze the butter for 10 minutes.
Pie dough and photo by Kelly CA © Sarah Phillips baking911.com
2. In a medium mixing bowl, whisk the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt to combine. 
Pie dough and photo by Kelly CA © Sarah Phillips baking911.com
Add the cold shredded butter. 
Pie dough and photo by Kelly CA © Sarah Phillips baking911.com
Using a pastry blender or two knives, cut in the butter until it resembles coarse cornmeal – no distinguishable pieces of butter should remain. (If you wish, use your fingertips to rub the butter into the flour mixture. Be sure to use only your fingertips and not your palms. The butter must stay cold and warm palms will melt it.)
Pie dough and photo by Kelly CA © Sarah Phillips baking911.com
3. In another mixing bowl, thoroughly mix the egg yolk, ice water and lemon juice. 
Pie dough and photo by Kelly CA © Sarah Phillips baking911.com
Tossing the flour with a fork, gradually stir in the liquid until the dough is thoroughly moistened but not wet, and clumps together. You may not need all of the liquid. 
Pie dough and photo by Kelly CA © Sarah Phillips baking911.com
Pie dough and photo by Kelly CA © Sarah Phillips baking911.com
To test the consistency of the dough, press the dough together between your thumb and forefinger – it should just stick together with small dry cracks. If it won’t, stir in additional ice water mixture, 1 teaspoon at a time. Gather the dough in the bowl to bring the clumps together. The dough should remain somewhat crumbly.
KELLY CA SAYS: When I gather my pastry crusts together, I like to dump it out on my countertop and do it there
Pie dough and photo by Kelly CA © Sarah Phillips baking911.com
Pie dough and photo by Kelly CA © Sarah Phillips baking911.com
4. Wrap the finished dough in wax paper or plastic wrap and refrigerate until chilled, at least 1 hour and up to 2 days, before rolling.
NOTE: If making a double crust pie, divide the dough in half and wrap each dough disk separately.
Pie dough and photo by Kelly CA © Sarah Phillips baking911.com
NOTES
Unbleached all-purpose flour, milled from wheat, provides both strength and structure to a recipe, but also binds and absorbs moisture, adds flavor and interest.
Wheat flour contains two very important gluten forming proteins, glutenin and gliadin that interact with each other when mixed with water or moisture to form the web-like structures of gluten. Wheat flour is the only flour that contains significant amounts of these gluten forming proteins and is the only type that can be effectively leavened. Gluten is elastic like a rubber band; this elasticity allows the dough to expand and trap the air bubbles expanded by the carbon dioxide produced by the leavening, which makes the dough rise and stretch. The gluten strands set into a structure. The amount and type of protein in flour varies by type and affects the final recipe.
Fat such as stick butter and margarine, lard and shortening, all are referred to as shorteners. Fat, a key ingredient in a tart and pie crust recipe, is cut into the flour and other dry ingredients, if used. It acts as a spacer between the gluten strands in the flour. Fat also coats the flour's gluten proteins much like a raincoat and prevent them from mixing with an excess of water creating too much gluten for a more delicate texture and taste. I like to use plain, pure (unsalted) butter because I find it adds the best flavor, but every baker has their own preference. There’s no need to adjust the salt in the recipe if you use salted butter instead of unsalted; simply exchange one for the other.
SARAH SAYS: When making pie pastry, the solid fat, such as stick butter or shortening, also known as shorteners, is “cut into” the flour and dry ingredients. The fat works as a spacer in between the dough layers; when baked, the flour's starches set around the fat. The fat melts in the oven and is absorbed by the dough, leaving an empty space around it, later described as flakiness. Chilling the fat makes it longer to melt; allows more time for the flour's starches to set, leaving a more defined space where the butter once was -- hence, more flakiness. But, if the fat piece as too small, the crust will be less flaky because the air spaces are smaller.
Then the butter melts and it is reabsorbed into the flour. Where the butter once was is now is an air pocket that is inflated by the steam created when the liquid from the pie crust evaporates. If you use shortening, with a higher melting point than butter, it holds the space longer so the crust has more time to set around the fat particles, resulting in a flakier dough. If the fat is too warm before it goes into the oven, it melts too quickly before the crust has a chance to set and the air pockets collapse.
After the fat is worked in, cold water is added and the recipe is mixed just enough to blend the dry and moist ingredients until the pie crust dough holds together. The water and liquid ingredients must be cold because the temperature develops a minimum amount of protein strands called gluten, keeping the crust tender.
Eggs: Use only fresh, large eggs in baking recipes. The yolks emulsify the dough, and which all add fat, giving the crust a tenderness, richness and browning. Fat found in egg yolks also tenderizes by coating the flour proteins and then preventing them from becoming moistened when water is added, hence preventing long, interconnecting gluten strands from forming.
If the recipe is simply written with the word “eggs”, use large which have a volume of about ¼ cup each. Check the expiration date printed on the side of the carton and discard if the date has passed. Store eggs in the coolest part of the refrigerator which is the back of the middle shelf.
Sugar referred to as crystalline or table sugar, is one of the “big four” main ingredients in any cake recipe which includes flour, butter and eggs. It contributes to leavening, browning, flavor, tenderizes, keeps the cake moist and of course, sweetens. When a recipes calls for “sugar” it means white “table” sugar.
Liquids include buttermilk, milk, water, fruit juice, or coffee. Liquid is needed to combine and actuate all other ingredients. It controls the consistency of the finished cake batter. Milk also helps with browning.
Baking Powder is a chemical leavener. Double-acting baking powder begins to release gas initially during the mixing stage, but it is a gradual release. The main reaction occurs when the recipe is heated at temperatures above 140°F, that is, after the dough or batter is in the oven. Clabber Girl and Rumford brands will work in all recipes calling for baking powder.
SARAH SAYS: Make sure your leaveners are fresh, otherwise your recipe won’t rise.
Baking Powder Test: Once opened, baking powder begins to lose its strength after about only 6 months. Store in a cool, dry place and only use dry utensils when measuring from the can; once moistened, baking powder has been activated and is no longer good. To test whether your baking powder is still active, stir a teaspoonful into ½ cup of tepid (warm) water. It should “fizz”. If it doesn’t, discard.
Salt improves and enhances the flavor of all the foods; don’t leave it out.
Acidic ingredients: Cider Vinegar/Lemon Juice as well as buttermilk, sour cream or some other acidic ingredient can be found in pie crust recipes.
They tenderize the flour's gluten, formed in the dough when wheat flour is moistened and stirred, as well as when rolling and handling the dough. Gluten is a toughener and acidic ingredients weaken the gluten that forms, making the crust tender and less likely to shrink. (Keeping well chilled ingredients and dough also helps with preventing shrinkage).
