Hi Kim, it sounds like perhaps your butter wasn't incorporated well enough into the flour. You can use a stand mixer to mix an all-butter crust, which might give you better incorporation of the butter. For the part in this blog post that calls for adding the shortening to the bowl first, until it coats the flour, substitute 6 tablespoons of your cold butter (cubed). Allow this to blend, as directed, until the butter evenly coats the flour, causing it to begin to look a little like cornmeal. The next step calls for adding the remaining 10 tablespoons of butter (which is the same as the all-butter crust recipe, since you've already incorporated 6 tablespoons of the butter). After this you can basically proceed with the blog post instructions, although keep to the water content recommendations from the all-butter crust recipe: (1/4 to 1/2 cup or 57g to 113g) ice water, drizzling in and checking the dough as recommended in the blog.
As far as your oven goes, it may be helpful to purchase an inexpensive oven thermometer and preheat the oven for a full 30 minutes. Check the temperature on the thermometer, and if your oven seems to be running hot or cold, adjust the dial until the thermometer is reading the correct baking temperature before placing your pie in the oven.
December 1, 2024 at 10:52am
In reply to How do I stop my pie crust… by Kim (not verified)
Hi Kim, it sounds like perhaps your butter wasn't incorporated well enough into the flour. You can use a stand mixer to mix an all-butter crust, which might give you better incorporation of the butter. For the part in this blog post that calls for adding the shortening to the bowl first, until it coats the flour, substitute 6 tablespoons of your cold butter (cubed). Allow this to blend, as directed, until the butter evenly coats the flour, causing it to begin to look a little like cornmeal. The next step calls for adding the remaining 10 tablespoons of butter (which is the same as the all-butter crust recipe, since you've already incorporated 6 tablespoons of the butter). After this you can basically proceed with the blog post instructions, although keep to the water content recommendations from the all-butter crust recipe: (1/4 to 1/2 cup or 57g to 113g) ice water, drizzling in and checking the dough as recommended in the blog.
As far as your oven goes, it may be helpful to purchase an inexpensive oven thermometer and preheat the oven for a full 30 minutes. Check the temperature on the thermometer, and if your oven seems to be running hot or cold, adjust the dial until the thermometer is reading the correct baking temperature before placing your pie in the oven.