Eating My Pie Crust Words

In November of 2021 I wrote about Thankfulness and 12 Hard-earned Truths About Pie Crust. However, as Paul McCartney said, “But if this ever changin’ world in which we live in, makes you give in and cry, say live and let pie.”

OK, maybe it was live and let die, but my take is kinder and explains why I must eat my words when it comes to pie crust.

It’s because of my daughter. She loves following people who cook, except her own mother, and is always raving about GrossyPelosi, or Clair Saffitz of New York Times fame, whose pie crust recipe is in the King Arthur Flour blog.

Claire is very highly educated, studied in France, and knows her stuff, which would be intimidating if I was younger. But now that I’m older and have spent many years baking, I think it’s safe to say that I know some things. But I’m always willing to learn more.

Claire was smart to call her most recent pie crust technique her most successful to date, instead of claiming her technique is the best. She knows what all bakers know and that is techniques frequently change and there will always be someone out there who’ll discover something earth-shattering that sends everyone into raptures.

So, since my daughter and King Arthur Flour were in agreement that this pie crust was fabulous, I figured I’d see what Claire had to say. What I learned is that her technique gave my crust more layers, which is what I’ve been trying to do for years! So, Claire, you’ve earned my respect, even if I am jealous of my daughter’s devotion to you. The good news is Milena can always call me and ask me to give her a tip or two, and that’s where I gotcha!

I am backtracking on two things in my 2021 blog, Thankfulness and 12 Hard Learned Truths about Pie Crust. I said I always use half butter and half butter-flavored Crisco (because my mom always used Crisco). I am changing my tune and phasing out Crisco, and use of the word always.

For my last pie crust I used 3/4 cup of butter and 1/4 cup Butter Flavor Crisco. It turned out great. I am going for all butter next time.

Where Claire and I part ways is she likes to use a bench knife/pastry scraper for the whole thing and I just don’t want to spend that much time. Maybe it would make the crust flakier because you would end up with some larger pieces of butter mixed with smaller ones, but I’m OK with my food processor doing that work and giving me uniform smaller pieces. Someday when I have loads of extra time, I might try it, but not right now.

Once the dry and wet ingredients were mixed together in the food processor, I did take her advice and dump it on the counter and mush it all together. Then, like she said, I rolled it out in a rectangle, cut it in half, layered one piece on top of the other and repeated that process. And you know what? The crust was actually much easier to work with when I did that. So, not only was my crust flakier, but two of my preconceived notions were wrong. I thought the more you messed with dough, the worse it turned out. I also always thought butter was harder to work, but those were both wrong. I was brainwashed by my mom’s love affair with Crisco.

I looked up whether or not Crisco is good for you. It’s approved by the FDA, so it’s safe to consume, but certainly not on a daily basis. I won’t be using it in my pie crusts and never used it for anything else. Here’s a did you know about Crisco for you that I found on a blog by Meghan Telpner:

“Crisco, first used to make candles, was invented in pre-civil war days by candle maker William Proctor and soap maker James Gamble (get it — Proctor and Gamble?). The meat industry (bullies then as they are today) controlled the prices of lard and tallow which were necessary to make soap and candles.”

Those are her words, not mine, just FYI. So, I now feel that butter is better. But I still stand behind my my mom’s pie crust recipe. I’m simply using butter now instead of Crisco. (Sorry Ma! I can just hear her gasping.)

Here is my most successful pie crust recipe…to date! (Thanks Claire and King Arthur Flour for your tip.) If my daughter ever calls you, please don’t answer, you’ll phase me out completely!

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Fran’s Flakier Pie Crust