If you don’t have pastry flour, to achieve the same tenderness in your pie crust use a blend of bleached all-purpose flour and cake flour. For every cup of pastry flour required, I use 2/3 cup all-purpose flour and 1/3 cup cake flour.–Rose Levy Beranbaum
Thank You Note
Know how when you’re sooo grateful to someone the words “thank you” just don’t seem to suffice? That’s how we feel toward Rose Levy Beranbaum for sharing this recipe. Still, for lack of better words, thank you, Rose.
Flaky & Tender Pie Crust Recipe
Hands-On Time: 15 minutes | Total Time: 1 hour | Makes enough for 1 pie
Ingredients
- 1 1/3 cups plus 4 teaspoons (6.5 ounces/184 grams) pastry flour (or substitute bleached all-purpose flour), plus more for the work surface
- 1/8 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1/8 teaspoon baking powder, preferably Rumford or another brand that doesn’t contain aluminum, which has a bitter taste
- 1 3-ounce package (85 grams) cream cheese, chilled and cut into 4 portions
- 8 tablespoons (4 ounces/113 grams) unsalted butter, frozen and cut into 1/2-inch dice
- 2 tablespoons heavy cream
- 2 teaspoons cider vinegar
Directions
- 1. In a food processor, combine the flour, salt, and baking powder and process until blended. Add the cream cheese and process until coarse pieces of dough form.
- 2. Add the butter and pulse just until the crumbs of dough are the size of peanuts.
- 3. Add the cream and vinegar and pulse until the chunks of butter are the size of peas.
- 4. Scrape the dough onto a lightly floured work surface. Place each hand in a latex glove or a large resealable plastic bag and press the dough until it holds together in a smooth, flat disk. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 45 minutes prior to rolling out according to your recipe.
Hungry for more? Chow down on these:
- Sugar Cookie Tart Crust from Baking Bites
- Graham Cracker Pie Crust from Mike's Table
- Sweet Peanut Butter Cookie Tart Crust from Leite's Culinaria
- Pate Brisee from Leite's Culinaria
Flaky & Tender Pie Crust Recipe © 2005 Rose Levy Beranbaum. Photo © 2005 CaptPiper. All rights reserved.
