Page 22 - United States of Pie

Flour and fat, a bit of salt, a sprinkling of sugar … sounds easy
enough. It’s how you handle these simple ingredients that makes all
the difference. Here are some helpful hints that I have learned

throughout my baking escapades. Read through them, roll up your
sleeves, tie your apron strings, and get to making dough!

DRY INGREDIENTS

The dry ingredients—meaning flour, salt, and sugar—lay the
foundation for a good dough. You can play with your dry ingredients
as much as you like. In fact, I give you permission to do just that.
Some cooks sift this mixture, others stir a whisk through the dry
ingredients, and some simply twirl a spoon around in the bowl. I
recommend sifting or whisking in order to aerate the dry mixture. You
want the crust to bake up light and flaky. The easiest way to ensure

this is to separate the particles.

FATS

Long ago, when women began baking pies, there was one and one
thing only that they used to make divine dough, and that was lard.
But as our society became increasingly non-agrarian, vegetable
shortening, a commercial ingredient, became favored for baking.
Today there are many bakers who would never use something as
pedestrian as shortening, and they favor butter instead. For

beginning bakers, a combination of butter and vegetable shortening
produces the best results. Here is why: butter equals flavor and
shortening equals flakiness. Also, dough that has a bit of shortening
in it will be more malleable and easier to roll out.