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Was against chilled butter for pie crust until a baker friend proved me wrong
I used to think room temp butter was fine for pie crusts, kept getting dense results every time. My friend Sarah made me watch her process a lemon meringue pie with ice-cold butter cut into pea-sized bits, and the crust came out flaky and perfect. Have you ever really tested the difference with your own hands?
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betty_kelly925d agoMost Upvoted
Oh totally, I had the exact same wake-up call a few years back. @olivia_moore freezing the flour first is smart but honestly nothing beats actually feeling how cold the butter needs to be, like when you chop it up and it stays firm in the bowl. Once I switched to chilled butter my pie crusts actually held together with those flaky layers instead of turning into a dense mess.
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olivia_moore25d ago
Maybe it's just me but room temp butter works fine if you freeze the flour first.
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jessica13025d ago
Tried this myself a few months back when I was making a double crust apple pie. Used room temp butter on the first batch and ice cold on the second, kept everything else the same. The cold butter crust had those nice flaky layers you can actually see when you cut into it. The other one just kind of crumbled apart and felt a bit dense like a shortbread cookie instead of a pie crust.
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