Hello friends. After being deeply displeased with the roasted strawberry pie I baked yesterday, I felt the need to redeem myself. Since I couldn’t be convinced to spend another $24 on fresh strawberries from the farmer’s market, I settled for a par-baked pie crust practice session.
Let’s cut to the chase – my pie crust was successful! What I mean by that is minimal butter leakage from the sides and in the middle. Below, I am going to share each little detail of what I did for everyone else who’s felt my same frustrations.
I’ll also add – it wasn’t simply making sure everything was cold. Everyone knows that!
The Secret to the Perfectly Par-Baked All Butter Pie Crust
The Set-Up
I used the All Buttah Pie Dough recipe from Erin Jeanne McDowell. Here are my ingredients and tools:
- 1 stick of Heinen’s (local grocery store brand) butter ~115 grams (cut into smaller pieces and then stored in fridge until use)
- 150 grams of Gold Metal AP Flour (chilled in freezer)
- 1/4 teaspoon of fine sea salt
- Ice water
- Chilled large bowl in freezer
- Large whisk chilled in refrigerator
This wasn’t especially flakey pie crust, as I definitely used butter pieces smaller than walnut haves – more like pea sized. However, I definitely could have made the chunks even smaller for an even mealier crust.
I think I did a good job properly hydrating my dough. I used Erin’s tactic of removing the portion that had come together and flicking drops of water on what remained in the bowl. Since the portion I removed fell apart into three pieces, I also flicked some more water on the portions that had come apart.
Following Erin’s advice, I gave the dough a couple kneads to bring it all together and get the hydration even more evening dispersed. Then I did the usual pressing into a flattened disk and I refrigerated the dough for four hours.
Lately, I’d only been doing two hours, but I was happy with my results from four this time. I’ll probably continue to aim for four going forward.
The Rolling
While chilling my dough, I also chilled my metal pie plate in the fridge so it would be nice and cool for the dough after it gets rolled out. I could tell this dough was properly hydrated as I rolled it because it stayed in an almost perfect circle and rolled so nicely without much sticking and practically no splitting. I’ve also learned that I can manhandle the dough a little as I roll it, gently pushing back in the edges of the dough as they try to split. Now for a key change:
I checked for exposed sections of butter as I rolled the dough and dusted flour over them.
Let’s repeat that: I made sure that my rolled out bottom crust had no exposed sections of butter. Whenever I could feel any chilled butter on the surface, I dusted some flour over it and rolled it in to incorporate it. I paid special attention to the edges, as this is often where I have a lot of leakage. I’ve noticed that while rolling, thin pieces of butter do like to migrate to the edge.
Once rolled to a size I liked, I folded the dough and moved it into the chilled pie plate. I then put the dough in the fridge for ten minutes and took it out for crimping. Afterwards, I put plastic wrap over the dough and refrigerated it for one hour in the metal pie dish.
The Baking
While my dough was chilling, I preheated a pizza stone on the lowest rack of my oven for one hour. Actually, I technically began pre-heating while rolling, which I think was way too early. Next time, I’ll wait until I put the rolled and crimped dough in the refrigerator to rest. One hour should be enough.
After the hour in the fridge, I took out my dough only to realize that I hadn’t docked it! I did this quickly (and thoroughly) with a fork and then lined it with parchment paper and filled it to the top with ceramic baking weights. Since I was now feeling paranoid about my crust warming, I popped it back into the fridge for 5 more minutes.
Then I finally set the metal pie plate on the pizza stone for the moment of truth and set my timer for 16 minutes. When the alarm went off, I was very pleased to see just a small amount of butter bubbling at the edges and the tiniest of puddles on the pizza stone. There was no smoking or burnt smell or anything like that.
Then I took my parchment paper and weights out of the pie crust. A wave of relief washed over me when I discovered that butter, for once, had not pooled at the bottom of my crust. There were very small amounts bubbling near the edges, but nothing that I would consider detrimental to the integrity of the crust. This I could work with.
I went to dock the crust again before putting it back in the oven, but found that the fork would not pierce the bottom. I think it’s because it had already started cooking and was no longer completely soft dough! Therefore, I left it alone and decided it was likely already set enough without further docking.
I put the crust back in the oven for three minutes to cook the bottom. It didn’t seem completely dried out after that, so I baked it for 5-ish more minutes. By the end, it was starting to brown a little, so in retrospect this may have been slightly too long.
Final Thoughts
I am thrilled with how this par-baked pie crust turned out and am satisfied with the very little butter leakage I did have. The bottom of the crust cooked nicely and had already started to turn brown. It might even be worthy of making another pie with it, since it seems a shame to waste such an awesome crust.
Now the true test: can I replicate this success?