My grandma taught me one trick with pie crust and I still use it 10 years later

So my grandma was visiting last summer and I was making my usual apple pie for a family thing. She watched me roll out the dough and just shook her head. She said you gotta chill the butter pieces in the freezer for 15 minutes before cutting them into the flour, not just use cold butter from the fridge. I tried it that day and the crust came out flakier than anything I'd ever made before. Now I keep a stick of butter in the freezer at all times just for pies. Has anyone else had an older relative drop a simple tip that totally changed your baking game?

3 comments

3 Comments

taylor.reese17d ago

Man that's a solid tip right there. My aunt taught me to freeze the butter and then grate it into the flour with a box grater and it changed my pie game forever.

the_alice17d ago

Huh, so @taylor.reese mentioned grating frozen butter into flour and that's actually something I've been meaning to try. Her way sounds way more hands off than what I do. I still cut my butter into cubes and then use a pastry cutter on them because I like having some bigger chunks left in the dough. But does grating it give you an even flakier result or does it make the dough more delicate since the butter is in such tiny pieces? I'm always worried about overworking the dough and ending up with a tough crust, so I'm curious if grating helps avoid that or if it's basically the same method just faster.

kelly38515d ago

Gotta stop you there real quick, the frozen butter tip is solid but you don't want the pieces too tiny if you're grating it. Grated frozen butter can melt way too fast once your hands touch it and you'll end up with a tough crust anyway. I tried both ways and honestly I still prefer cutting it into pea sized chunks with a pastry cutter, leaves those little pockets of fat that actually make the flaky layers. So yeah freeze the butter but keep the chunks visible, not grated into dust.