My aunt swore her 'never fail' pie crust recipe would work for me... it didn't

She told me to use ice cold butter and handle it as little as possible. I followed that to the letter, even chilled my bowl in the freezer for 20 minutes first. The crust came out so tough and dry I could have used it as a floor tile. I spent 2 hours rolling and rerolling trying to get it to cooperate. Has anyone else had a family recipe that just bombs for you but works for them?

2 comments

2 Comments

noah91428d ago

Blame the flour. Most family recipes were figured out with whatever cheap all-purpose flour was around 50 years ago, which had way less protein than modern flour. The higher protein gives you more gluten, and more gluten makes tough crusts. Try swapping in a pastry flour or cutting your regular flour with some cake flour to lower the protein content. That and actually measuring the water by weight instead of guessing will get you closer to what your aunt is doing without thinking about it.

derek9928d ago

My grandma used to just throw flour at the counter and it worked every time.