Page 21 - United States of Pie

HOW TO MAKE THE PERFECT DOUGH

With few exceptions, I do not believe that machines should be used
to make pie dough. Although they are handheld, I don’t even
subscribe to the dueling knives method, or to using a pastry cutter,

for incorporating fats into flour. Cool hands are what do it for me. Call
me a sideshow charlatan claiming the power of laying on of hands,
but I believe in the power of touch. Making dough is a sensory
experience. It is also imperfect. By touching the flour and manually
working in the fats, you ensure that the result is an irregular, nubby
mass. Irregularity is what you want! Pockets of fat melt when baked,

and this uneven texture in the dough leads to a light, flaky finished
crust.
Putting together a pie’s filling is usually pretty elementary—we all
can toss fruit and spices together, or mix ingredients to make
custard. It’s making the crust that seems to intimidate people and
prevent them from baking pies from scratch. I understand. The only
thing that I can say is that it takes practice—but not an inordinate

amount of practice. You may have to make a few pies before you
really get the rhythm of it. You may have to make one pie on a cold
day and another one on a humid day before you figure out how
much water you need to add to the dough so that it’s workable yet
not so moist that it will stick to the counter when you roll it out. But

the thing is, pies are a lot like French fries: even a bad one is still
pretty darn good. Each pie you bake will offer both a lesson and a
delicious reward.
We all know what we want in a piecrust: a flaky and tender crumb
that is also crisp, meltingly so. A golden-brown hue that announces
that this pie has just seen the inside of an oven. A pleasingly bland
flavor that’s never in competition with the filling and a saltiness that
balances the sweetness of the filling.