Page 24 - United States of Pie

Now is the time to roll up your sleeves. As you drizzle in the ice
water, knead the dough firmly and quickly. Don’t worry about being
delicate; dough is strong and resilient. This is where you have to

take a deep breath, trust yourself, and rely on your senses.

Sight: You need to see the dough transform from a shaggy
mess into a more cohesive mass.

Touch: Is your dough smooth but not sticky? If so, you are on
the right track. When you first add water, the dough will
become stickier, clinging to both your hands and the sides of
the bowl. As you add more water, the mass will look more
like dough and the sides of the bowl will become clean.

Sound: This is perhaps the most difficult hint to describe but
the most valuable to use. As you are adding water, spoonful

by spoonful, you should hear a squish. This soft squeak as
you knead the water into the flour signals completion. It tells
you that enough water has been added to just bring the
dough together, and you should stop. Almost immediately.

At this point, you are just about finished. Place the dough on a
sheet of plastic wrap. (Your bowl should be almost completely clean.)

Wrap the dough in the plastic wrap, press it firmly into a disk shape,
and place it in the fridge. Dough needs to rest so the gluten can
relax, which makes rolling it out easier. The dough should remain in
the refrigerator for a minimum of 1 hour before being rolled out. A
batch of dough will last about 2 days in the refrigerator. It also
freezes beautifully for up to 1 month, though you’ll have to defrost it
in the fridge before you can work with it.

ROLLING OUT THE DOUGH

If there is one thing that I want you to walk away with after reading
this section, it is that flour is your friend. Use it—on your board, on

your rolling pin, on your dough. If your dough is very sticky, throw a
bit more flour around; it will never hurt.