Sunday, August 21, 2011

Pie Crust from "Rustic Fruit Desserts"

Makes four 9" pie shells:

- 5 cups all purpose flour
- 3 T granulated sugar
- 1 and a half tsp. fine sea salt
- 2 cups (1 lb.) cold butter
- 1 cup ice water, more as needed
-2 T freshly squeezed lemon juice

Put the flour, sugar and salt in a bowl and stir to combine, then put the bowl in the freezer for 10 minutes.

Cut the butter into 1 inch cubes, then add it to the flour mixture and toss to evenly coat. Cut the butter into the flour mixture using a pastry blender, food processor, electric mixer, or your hands; just until the mix becomes coarse and crumbly and the butter is the size of peas.

Stir the water and lemon juice together, then drizzle over the dry ingredients, 1/3 cup at a time, toss with a fork to distribute the liquid. The pastry will be shaggy but should hold together when squeezed in the palm of your hand; if not, add an additional teaspoon or two of ice water.

Dump pastry onto a lightly floured work surface and press down on the dough, folding it over itself a few times. Don't handle too much. Divide pastry into 4 equal parts, and shape each into a disk 1" thick. Wrap each and chill for an hour.

Roll out the dough using the smallest amount of flour possible; begin in center of disk and roll outward, turning every few strokes to shape a circle and prevent dough from sticking. Flip it over and roll from the other side too. Roll dough out a little larger than the pan, then trim off any excess. Once dough is in the pan, chill to let it rest for 30-60 minutes.