If you’ve ever tried making pie crust by hand, you know it’s not the easiest thing to do. There’s a fair amount of labor involved, it can be annoying, and isn’t exactly forgiving.
Thankfully, using a food processor can make the job significantly easier. Specifically, it makes cutting in the butter near foolproof. While you still need to do some rolling, this method cuts out the most bothersome part of making pie crust.
If you’ve never made it before, I’ll also be sharing some do’s and dont’s of making pie crust. That way, you’ll be well on your way to making delicious pies whenever you want.
How Does a Food Processor Help With Pie Crust?
Using the blade of a food processor, you can easily cut butter into your dry ingredients. This is arguably the least enjoyable and most difficult step, so it’s a big help.
It also doubles as a mixing bowl, and you can mix all your ingredients right in the processor itself.
What Kind of Food Processor Do I Need?
You’ll want something that’s a decent size, has a blade attachment, as well as a feed tube. I believe the blade and feed tube are standard, so the only hurdle is getting one that’s large enough for the task.
My unit is decently large, and the finished crust fills most of the bowl.
Best Practices For Making Pie Crust
Making pie crust can be intimidating, but there are some things that can make it a much easier endeavor.
Keep everything cold. This means the crust itself, but also your cutting board, tools, and environment if you can manage it.
When rolling out the crust, turn/lift it frequently. This helps prevent it from sticking to your work surface, which can be problematic and annoying.
Lightly flour anything that touches the crust, including your hands and rolling pin.
If your crust is too cold/hard to roll out, just keep trying. It should quickly become pliable, and you don’t want to let it sit for too long.
If your crust tears or breaks, don’t panic – it’s easy to repair. Just take some excess crust and push it onto the damaged area. It should adhere easily, and it’ll be good as new.
What Tools Will I Need?
For this method, you’ll of course need a food processor. I would say a rolling pin or similar instrument is also mandatory.
While it’s optional, I highly recommend a bench scraper as well. It’s great for dividing the crust, as well as scraping up anything that sticks to your work surface. Since you’re probably making a pie, you’ll also need a pie pan.
You’ll also want some plastic wrap for wrapping and chilling the crust.
Conclusion and Recipe
Below I’ve listed the ingredients, ingredient amounts, and steps for making pie crust with a food processor. If you like this recipe, consider following me on WordPress or Pinterest.
If you’re wanting to get more out of your food processor, try using it to make peanut butter.
Ingredients
2 sticks unsalted butter, about 1 cup, 227 grams
3 cups all purpose flour, 360 grams
2 Tbsps sugar, 30 grams
1/2 tsp kosher salt, 3 grams
1/2 cup very cold water, 113 grams
Makes enough crust for one 9-inch pie, plus a bit more
Preparation
Cut your butter into chunks and place in the freezer for 10-15 minutes*.
Add your flour, salt and sugar to a food processor and pulse until combined.
Add the chilled butter and process until the mixture looks like coarse sand**.
Add the water to the feed tube*** with the processor running. Continue running until the mixture has come together.
Place the crust on a floured surface, shape into a disc, wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 10-20 minutes.
Unwrap, cut in half, then re-wrap half and put it back in the fridge. On a floured work surface, roll out the other half into a rough circle. Repeat with the second half.
To make a 9-inch pie, place half of the rolled-out crust in a greased pie pan. Add your choice of filling, then top with the second crust. Trim off excess crust, as necessary.
Press the two crusts together, then cut 4 holes in the top crust to let steam escape. Also brush the top with milk or an egg wash.
Bake at 375 f (190 c) for 40-50 minutes or until the top is browned and both crusts are cooked through.
Notes
* This helps the processor make cleaner cuts in the butter, rather than it becoming goopy from being too warm/soft.
** It should look like lots of small pieces of butter. As long as you don’t see any large pieces of butter, you should be fine.
*** Be sure you use the type that slows the flow of liquid. As in, don’t just dump it all in at once through the top.
My attachment has a few small holes which keep all the liquid from going through at once. In general, you want the liquid to be added slowly over time, rather than all at once.
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