Homemade Vegan Pie Crust Recipe | Aline Made (2024)

FAQs

What is the secret to making pie crust? ›

Use Very Cold Butter or Fat

Butter, shortening, lard, or suet—whatever fat the recipe calls for should be well-chilled and cut into small pieces to start with for the flakiest crust in the end. The fat in a pie crust must maintain some of its integrity in the dough to make the crust truly flaky.

Sugar: Not all pie crusts have sugar, but those that do will be more tender since sugar interferes with gluten development. In our experience, sugar can also make the pie dough so tender that it's hard to roll out and transfer to your pan without breaking. Egg: This makes the dough more pliable and easy to roll out.

Some bakers use milk or buttermilk in their pie crust. Thanks to their milk solids, both will help crust brown and add a bit of tenderness. But the classic liquid in pie crust is water — ice water, to be precise.

#1—Cut the fat into the flour

Over-mixing frequently leads to a tough product. Pie dough is no different—the less you handle it, the better the result. Recipes for pie dough use the “rubbing” mixing method to combine the fat into the dry ingredients.

The pros: Shortening has a higher melting point than lard or butter, so it's easy to incorporate into pie dough and roll out. It's also helpful when making any kind of decorative pie crust, because doughs made with shortening hold their shape the best during baking.

The acidic properties of vinegar inhibit gluten, some will say. This theory proposes that once the water and flour are combined, gluten starts forming, causing the dough to grow tough. Adding an acid, the theory goes, stops the gluten in its tracks and rescues the crust from toughness.

Butter. Butter gives baked goods the same golden, crispy finish as egg wash, with the added benefit of tasting like, well, butter. To proceed, first melt the butter over low heat—being careful not to brown it—and then use a pastry brush to sparingly apply an even layer to the soon-to-be-baked item.

According to Taste of Home, substituting whole eggs for egg whites does wonders in terms of texture. Egg whites not only bind the other ingredients together, they also add volume through their leavening properties.

Tip: Chilling hardens the fat in the dough, which will help the crust maintain its structure as it bakes. And the short rest before rolling relaxes the dough's gluten, helping prevent a tough crust.

What ruins a pie crust? ›

Overworking pie dough

You should always stick to kneading your pie dough just enough so that the flour and the butter are combined, but not so much so that your dough becomes elastic and hard to work. In hindsight, the easiest way to fix an overworked pie crust is to prevent overworking it in the first place.

Overworking the pie dough develops more gluten, which can make the baked crust tough and dense instead of light and flaky. This can also cause the crust to shrink while it's baking. Additionally, overworking the dough with your hands can start to melt the butter, preventing that flaky texture from forming.

As the fat is mixed with the flour, it is warmed slightly. Then, the water is poured in, and the ice-cold temperature of the water prevents the fat from warming any further, which could potentially melt it into the flour rather than retaining the small bits of fat.

Unbleached all-purpose flour is typically chosen for standard pie crusts. It must be handled appropriately to yield a crust that is both tender and flaky. Too much flour can create a tough or dry crust; not enough may flour may lead to a wet crust that shrinks upon baking.

“For a classic pie dough, nothing beats all-purpose flour,” Erin Jeanne McDowell wrote in “The Book on Pie.” Even so, it can be bleached or unbleached, and the protein content can vary among brands even within one category.

Chill in the fridge for 30 minutes, or up to overnight. Tip: Chilling hardens the fat in the dough, which will help the crust maintain its structure as it bakes. And the short rest before rolling relaxes the dough's gluten, helping prevent a tough crust.

After dough has rested, crimp the edges of the dough, and prick the bottom and the sides of your pie shell at least 15 times. Line a piece of aluminum foil around your crust and fill with pie weights. Place your pie crust on the pre-heated sheet pan and bake for 20 minutes.