Create Pie Crust

Misc/Pie Crust

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+Tools:
+
+1 medium bowl
+1 large bowl
+1 stirring implement (whisk is ideal, fork/spatula/spoon will be fine)
+1 pastry cutter (can use fork, strongly recommend pastry cutter though - like this: https://www.target.com/p/kitchenaid-pastry-blender-black/-/A-76341870)
+Rolling pin
+
+Ingredients:
+
+1.25 Cups all-purpose flour
+1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt or 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
+1/2 tablespoon (1.5 teaspoon) sugar (listed as optional)
+1/2 cup (1 stick) very cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
+2 to 4 tablespoons ice water
+
+Directions:
+
+1.  Add 0.75 cups flour, the salt, and the sugar to medium bowl, stir briefly to combine.
+2.  Scatter butter cubes over flour mixture and briefly mix with fork or spatula to coat the butter with flour
+3.  Cut the butter into the flour mixture with a pastry blender, working the mixture until it has a coarse, mealy texture similar to fresh bread crumbs.  Listed as 1-2 minutes, might be longer.
+4.  Add remaining 0.5 cups flour, work butter and flour with the pastry blender until flour is evenly distributed.  Dough should look crumbly with pea-sized pieces.
+5.  Sprinkle ice water over the mixture, starting with 2 tablespoons and adding from there as necessary.  Press the dough into itself.  Recipe says that this should be done with a rubber spatula but I've found it's so big you just gotta do it by hand.  Dough is ready when you pinch some of it together and it stays together.  If it falls apart add a bit more water until you get the right consistency and stickiness.  If it gets a little bit more sticky than necessary that's okay, the error condition here is just a slightly more dense pie crust that is still delicious and bakes beautifully.
+6.  Work the dough into a ball, then flatten it into a disc by hand.  Wrap in plastic wrap and refridgerate for at least one hour before.  You can leave it in the fridge for up to 2 days, I usually do overnight, and you can freeze it for up to 3 months.
+
+Rolling out the dough:
+
+1.  Remove a disc from the refridgerator and let it sit at room temperature for at least 5 minutes to soften up.
+2.  Lightly flour your work surface, top of dough, and rolling pin.  Use rolling pin to roll dough out to a 12-inch circle about 1/8 inch thick.
+3.  For a double-crusted pie, wait until the second crust is on top to crimp the edges.
+
+Ted's Pie Rolling Tips
+
+*As it gets to target thickness (think less than 3/8 inch thick) you should be putting almost no pressure on the rolling pin, letting the weight of the tool do its own work.  This will help prevent fissures in the edge.  If and when you do get fissures, roll gently towards the fissure from the sides rather than from the center of the dough to push material towards it to fill it, and as it closes you can roll from the center gently once it's nearly closed up.
+*If the dough is still too hard to easily roll (likely if you refridgerated overnight) you can work it by hand to warm it up and soften it.
+*You can check if the dough is rolled out sufficiently by placing your pie plate face-down over it and ensuring that you have plenty of room at the edges.
+*To easily transfer your dough to the pie plate, just start the rolling pin on the counter and roll over the dough's edge towards it (again, with zero extra pressure).  This should pick up the edge and wrap it around the rolling pin.  Take care to ensure that when the dough wraps over itself it doesn't press into itself and stick (extra flour helps here) and then simply unwrap it on top of your empty pie plate for a bottom crust, or on top of your filled pie for a top crust.
+*Lattice pie tops are easy to make!  Simply cut the rolled pie crust into even strips all about 1-inch wide, place every other pie strip on top of the pie with about 1 inch of space between them, then take the remaining ones one at a time and place them perpendicular to those already placed, alternating going over and under the pre-placed strips.  To go under, just pull up the strip from the end, they'll easily have sufficient cohesion to be pulled up like that.  Continue until all strips are placed, then pinch around the edge as needed.
+
+HOW TO PRE-BAKE A CRUST FOR A SINGLE-CRUST PIE (QUICHES, CUSTARD, AND CREAM PIES)
+
+1.  Heat the oven to 425 degrees F. Place a baking sheet on a middle oven rack.
+2.  Roll out enough dough to make one 9-inch crust (1 dough disk). Place into a pie plate and then pierce the bottom of the crust with a fork (this prevent air pockets or bubbles from forming while baking). Line the crust with two sheets of aluminum foil or parchment paper. (Be sure to push foil against the edges of the crust). Then, fill foil with dried rice, dried beans or pie weights. Refrigerate 30 minutes or freeze for 10 minutes, or until firm to the touch.
+3.  Place pie crust onto preheated baking sheet and reduce oven temperature to 400 degrees F. Bake 20 to 30 minutes or until the crust is golden.
+4.  Make an egg wash by whisking one egg yolk and 1 tablespoon of cream in a small bowl. Then, remove rice, beans or pie weights and foil from pie crust. Brush the bottom and sides of the crust with egg wash. Bake until egg wash is dry and shiny, 3 to 5 minutes. Cool crust completely before filling.