Eyes on the Fries

• Mix the flour, sugar, and salt:
• Put flour, sugar, and salt into the bowl of a food processor and pulse a couple times to mix.
• Add the butter, half at a time, pulsing several times after each addition:
• Add about half of the butter to the food processor and pulse several times. Then add the rest of the butter and pulse 6 to 8 times until the largest pieces of butter are about the size of large peas.
• Slowly add the ice water:
• Sprinkle the mixture with 4 tablespoons of the ice water (make sure there are no ice cubes in the water!) and pulse again. Then add more ice water, a tablespoon at a time, pulsing once or twice after each addition until the dough just barely begins to hold together. You may not need all the water.
• The mixture is ready when a small handful of the crumbly dough holds together when you pinch it with your fingers.
• Make two dough discs:
• Carefully empty the crumbly dough mixture from the food processor on to a clean, dry, flat surface. Gather the mixture in a mound.
• Divide the dough mixture into two even-sized mounds. Use your hands and knead each mound just enough to form each one into a disc. Do not over-knead! Kneading develops gluten which will toughen the dough, not something you want in a pastry crust. You should just knead enough so that the dough holds together without cracks.
• If you started with cold butter you should be able to see small chunks of butter speckling the dough. This is a good thing. These small bits of butter will spread out into layers as the crust cooks so you have a flaky crust!
• Sprinkle each disc with a little flour, wrap each one in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for one hour or up to 2 days.
• Remove dough from refrigerator and let sit for a few minutes:
• Remove one crust disc from the refrigerator. Let sit at room temperature for 5-10 minutes in order to soften just enough to make rolling out a bit easier.
• Roll out dough, place in pie dish:
• Roll out with a rolling pin on a lightly floured surface to a 12-inch circle; about 1/8 of an inch thick. As you roll out the dough, check if the dough is sticking to the surface below. If necessary, add a few sprinkles of flour under the dough to keep the dough from sticking.
• Carefully place onto a 9-inch pie plate. Gently press the pie dough down so that it lines the bottom and sides of the pie plate.
• Use a pair of kitchen scissors to trim the dough to within 1/2 inch of the edge of the pie dish.

If your recipe calls for a pre-baked crust, as many custard pie recipes do, follow all the steps above for a single, bottom crust only, without filling.

• Freeze the crust it for at least a half hour: until chilled. This is an important step in pre-baking. Otherwise the crust will slip down the sides.
• Preheat your oven to 350°F.
• Line pie crust with aluminum foil.
• When the pie crust is sufficiently chilled, line the pie crust with aluminum foil. Let the foil extend over by a few inches on two sides to make it easier to lift to remove the pie weights when the baking is done.
• Fill the crust to the top with pie weights – dry beans, rice, or sugar. (Sugar works best.)
• Bake at 350°F for 45-50 minutes if making a crust for a pie that will require further cooking, for example a quiche. Bake for 60 to 75 minutes if making a crust for a pie that you don’t need to bake further.
• Cool completely before filling.
• You may need to tent the edges of the pie with aluminum foil when you bake your pie, to keep the edges from getting too dried out and burnt.