The Pie Crust Search

{Thank you for all of the well wishes about the job! I really hope it’s going to be a new start.}

The search for a butter pie crust to rival my grandmother’s trans fat filled shortening crust lives on. I’ve been trying to find the right one for awhile now. It’s number 9 on
the list. I’ve gotten so many suggestions, which I thank you for. And yet, whether it’s me, or the crust, it’s been a battle, one which I’ve not been winning.

Until now, perhaps. I made a pie right away after we went apple picking, and it was less than exciting (and also got melted butter all over my oven). We ate a couple of slices, a houseguest ate a few more at our arm twisting urging, and last night we threw away the last nubby, saggy slice because we just couldn’t bear to eat it. But after that, I got some more suggestions for crust, and thanks to Rhymes With Spoon I tried a recipe from America’s Test Kitchen (thanks Sara!). A recipe which includes vodka! I know. Seems weird. But it worked out way better than any of my previous attempts. The recipe mentioned that it would yield a fairly wet dough, and even though I measured and weighed my flour, I still initially had a pretty dry mixture. I was prepared for this, though, as every butter attempt in my past has been very dry, so I added about 1/6 cup more water just at the moment I realized that it was too dry, but before I’d worked it too much (like the time before). I also used spectrum organic shortening, which is trans fat free, for the shortening portion.

In the end, it still wasn’t quite as tender and flaky as my grandmother’s all shortening crust, but it was a much better crust than any of the all butter crusts that I’ve tried so far. Next time I’m going to include a step from Alton Brown, where the butter is added in two separate steps, and I’ll add that extra liquid right away since apparently my kitchen is extra dry. But I think I may be getting closer to a final recipe.

Vodka Pie Crust
(adapted from America’s Test Kitchen)

For one 9-inch Double-Crust Pie
2 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (12 1/2 ounces)
1 teaspoon table salt
2 tablespoons sugar
12 tablespoons cold unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks), cut into 1/4-inch slices
1/2 cup chilled solid vegetable shortening, cut into 4 pieces
1/4 cup vodka, cold
1/4 cup cold water (+ up to another 1/4 cup per the humidity of your kitchen and flour)
1. 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 homogenous dough just starts to collect in uneven clumps, about 15 seconds (dough is supposed to resemble cottage cheese curds and there should be no uncoated flour. This didn’t exactly happen for me, it was pretty dry at this point. I processed a little longer trying to get it to look like this, but next time, would stick to the 10-15 second rule). 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.
2. Sprinkle vodka and water over mixture (I combined them before adding to the flour mixture). With rubber spatula, use folding motion to mix, pressing down on dough until dough is slightly
tacky and sticks together. If dough still seems not sticky, add a few more sprinkles of cold water or vodka at this point, and fold a couple more times, being careful not to overwork. 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.