20
My whole baking game changed after that disaster at the county fair
I entered a pie contest at the county fair in Phoenix last August and totally bombed. Everyone raves about using cold butter for pie crusts but I swear that's what ruined mine. The judges said my crust was tough and overworked even though I barely touched it. I watched a guy win with a crust made with melted butter and realized the cold rule isn't always right. Now I use half melted butter and my pies come out flaky every time. Has anyone else ditched the cold butter rule and had better luck?
3 comments
Log in to join the discussion
Log In3 Comments
elliot_gibson2710d ago
Used to think @the_mary was right about cold butter, but after wrecking three crusts I tried the melted method and haven't looked back. Your aunt's cornmeal trick sounds like exactly what I needed to hear, robins83.
4
robins8311d ago
Last summer I tried the cold butter trick for a peach pie and ended up with chunks of butter melting weirdly in the oven, leaving these big holes in my crust. My aunt who won 3 years running at our county fair uses half melted butter like you and she told me to try melting it, cooling it just a bit, then mixing it with the flour by hand until it looks like cornmeal. I did that for a Fourth of July pie and it came out SO flaky, no tough spots at all. The trick for me was to NOT overmix once the water goes in, just a few stirs til it barely holds together. Cold butter is a LIE for home ovens, I swear.
1