Home Cooking Chronicles: Pie of the tiger
Crafting a pie crust
BY BRIAN MEDFORD
Summer is pie season. When there’s a
bounty of fruit and berries, the only thing
to do is toss some into a pie crust and bake
it. And there’s the problem. The crust. It’s
like booking a tropical vacation and then
remembering you’re allergic to sand.
I teach pie making. Most students only
have a mild interest in pie fi lling, though.
Pie fi lling is like a crouton. You don’t really
want it, but you eat it because it’s in the
salad. Students come to pie class for pie
crust. They divulge pie crust stories ranging
from triumphant grandmothers that made
perfect pie crusts to throwing things and
crying in need of a mental health profes-
sional in their own kitchen. I’ve been there.
Pie crust can be frustrating and fussy.
And it’s never the same two times in a row.
So why do we do it? Some say to drive our-
selves crazy. I say to practice the craft of
baking and to connect us with earlier gener-
ations of bakers.
Store bought crust can go wrong, too.
Making the perfect pie crust requires practice.
My friend, Tamra, bought ready-made pie
crust in an aluminum tin. During baking,
she sent a photo so I could diagnose the
problem. The photo was alarming. I saw
melted crust cascading down between the
tines of the oven rack. It was like a Salva-
dor Dali painting. Apparently, she took the
instructions “put the crust directly on the
oven rack” literally. We’re fi nally laughing
about it after six years.
Skip the ready-made crust and get your
hands in some butter and fl our. My most
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important pie crust lessons are: be gentle
with the crust and with yourself, keep your
ingredients cold, make sure your oven is
at the right temperature and practice. Just
like I can’t sit at a piano and play “Moon-
light Sonata” perfectly the fi rst time (apol-
ogies to my childhood piano teacher, Mrs.
Barnett), you can’t create a perfect pie crust
without practice.
A fi nished pie is the gold medal of home
baking. And if it isn’t perfect, who cares?
Nobody else made a pie, so what can they
say to you? Every family needs a pie baker:
let it be you. Listening to Survivor’s “Eye
of Tiger” can help immensely.
Flaky Pie Pastry
Yields one single crust pie
Ingredients
• 12 ½ ounces all-purpose fl our
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 2 teaspoons granulated sugar
• 8 ounces unsalted butter, cold
• 4 ounces of cold water
Preparation
In a large bowl, combine the fl our, salt
and sugar and mix until evenly distributed.
Set aside.
Cut the butter into 1/2 inch cubes.
Using a pastry cutter, or your hands, cut
the butter into the fl our mixture. Continue
until the butter resembles pea-size pieces.
Drizzle 1/2 of the water over the fl our
mixture and mix (using a tossing motion)
with a fork or a pastry cutter. Add the sec-
ond half of the water and mix until the
dough just comes together.
Wrap the dough in plastic wrap, shaping
it into a 1 inch thick disk. Refrigerate for at
least two hours for up to two days.
Unwrap the fl aky pastry and place on a
well-fl oured surface. Flour the top of the
disk. Using a rolling pin, roll the dough
starting from the middle of the disk out to
the edges. Turn the pastry 45 degrees after
each roll to form a circle large enough for
your pie pan.
Remove excess fl our with a pastry
brush. Gently fold the pie crust in quarters
and transfer a pie pan. Unfold and gently fi t
the pastry into the pie plate. Crimp and con-
tinue with your favorite pie fi lling recipe.
Brian Medford is the owner of Idlewild
Biscuits and Bakes in Astoria. He teaches
cooking classes at The Pantry in Seattle.
Contact him at blmedford@gmail.com.
1203 Commercial Street
Astoria, Oregon
503.325.5922