Perfect Pie Crust

The start of August is a changeover time at the daycare. Several of the older toddlers have graduated up to the three-year-old room and new little ones have come in. This always takes adjustment. The new kids cry more. The routines are different to them. I have learned in a year and a half of this work that the first two weeks with a new child are about one thing: showing them over and over that you will be there when they need you, that this place is safe, that the adults here do not disappear or hurt them.

There is a new boy named Elijah who is two and a half and has not said a single word to any adult yet. He plays alone and watches everything. I know that look. I have had that look. I stay close without crowding, I narrate what I am doing so he can hear my voice and learn its patterns, and I do not demand anything from him yet. He will open when he is ready. He is making calculations right now. Reasonable calculations for someone in his situation.

On Sunday I made sweet potato pie for the first time. Her recipe, which calls for roasted sweet potatoes rather than boiled, because roasting concentrates the flavor, and a pinch of cardamom in addition to the cinnamon and nutmeg. The crust was store-bought because I am not confident yet with pie crust, but the filling was mine. It set properly and the spices were right and the top had that slight crack down the center that means it baked evenly.

Gloria tasted it and said you put cardamom in there. I said yes. She said your grandmother used cardamom. I did not know that. I do not know who my grandmother was. But maybe I found something of her in a spice drawer somewhere.

I used store-bought crust this time, because I said I wasn’t confident yet — and that was true. But the pie came out right, the filling was mine, and I found something in that cardamom I didn’t expect to find. That feels like enough to keep going. So here is the crust recipe I am learning next: a simple, all-butter dough that asks only for cold hands, cold butter, and a little patience — things I am, slowly, getting better at giving.

Prep Time: 15 min | Chill Time: 1 hr | Total Time: 1 hr 15 min | Servings: 1 single crust (8 slices)

Ingredients

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
1/2 teaspoon fine salt
1 teaspoon granulated sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
3 to 5 tablespoons ice water

Instructions

Combine dry ingredients. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, and sugar until evenly mixed.
Cut in the butter. Add the cold butter cubes to the flour mixture. Using a pastry cutter or your fingertips, work the butter into the flour until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs with some pea-sized pieces of butter still visible. Do not overwork — those butter pockets are what make the crust flaky.
Add ice water. Drizzle in 3 tablespoons of ice water and stir with a fork. Add more water one tablespoon at a time, mixing just until the dough begins to hold together when you press a small amount between your fingers. It should not be sticky or wet.
Form and chill. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and gently press it into a flat disk. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour, or up to 2 days.
Roll out. Remove the dough from the refrigerator and let it sit for 5 minutes. On a lightly floured surface, roll from the center outward into a 12-inch circle, rotating the dough a quarter turn after each roll to keep it even.
Transfer to pie dish. Gently fold the dough in half, then in half again. Lift it into a 9-inch pie dish and unfold. Press it lightly into the bottom and sides without stretching. Trim any overhang to about 1 inch, fold the edge under itself, and crimp as desired.
Use as directed. Fill and bake according to your pie recipe. For a pre-baked (blind-baked) crust, line with parchment, fill with pie weights or dried beans, and bake at 375°F for 20 minutes. Remove weights and bake an additional 10 to 15 minutes until golden.

Nutrition (per serving)

Perfect Pie Crust — Next Time, It Will Be Mine