Back in 2014, I became a pie person and dove headfirst into learning about Southern pie, doggedly devoting myself to making pie dough from scratch and crimping pie shells until my hands cramped and my cuticles were perma-crusted with dough bits. The baking bug struck with such force, I spent the next eleven years chasing the pie dragon, first at small DIY pop-ups, then with a bonafide micro-bakery, Milk Glass Pie, which operated off the farm where I live in Western North Carolina.
Every year I challenged myself to reach greater heights of pie production. As the years passed, my sleep debt climbed and the intense labor of love that goes into a small, from-scratch enterprise that honors the seasons began to wear on my physical body. I needed a change.
I joined the team at East Fork this past July as their newly minted Brand Storyteller, a wholly new role for them, and a brand new chapter for me. It felt like kismet that East Fork would launch bakeware in my early months with the company. I’ve been able to lend my baking expertise to catalog shoots and baking content. I’ve baked pies and cakes, shared recipes, and tested the new forms. It feels good to share those skills in this new environment. I’m getting better sleep, too.
Perhaps the biggest change will come in November when, for the first time in over a decade, I will forgo the pie baking marathon that is the Thanksgiving holiday. Bakers everywhere build their menus months in advance and begin prepping hundreds of pie shells weeks ahead. It is an incredible feat, a logistical jigsaw, and something I will always respect and support in my “civilian” life.
That said, I am relieved and excited to bake JUST ONE PIE (or maybe five, max) this season. I’m definitely using the East Fork Pie Plate, a deep 10-inch pie plate that makes a right honker of a pie. It’s a little larger than the average pie plate, but the recipe below makes enough dough to comfortably fill the plate without skimping. Happy Baking, friends!
Classic All-Butter Pie Dough
By Keia Mastrianni
Makes (1) double-crust pie, or (2) single pie crusts in the Pie Plate
If you’ve not made tons of pie dough, the process can feel daunting at first. My first double-crust pie felt like an all-day project. Learning something new takes time and practice. Take advantage of the many points where you can slow down and allow the dough to chill and relax. There is no need to power through the process. Take your time. Attention is care. Practice makes pie.
You’ll find versions of this pie dough across East Fork’s holiday catalog and on the care cards delivered when you order a pie plate on your own. The recipe below, specifically the instructions, offers much more guidance. I hope it instills confidence and inspires you to practice your skills ahead of the big baking season. Remember, too, that the East Fork Pie Plate asks for more oven time. Let those fruit pies bake until golden brown, about 90-120 minutes.
Ingredients
- 4¼ cups (510g) All-Purpose flour
- 2 Tbsp (30g) Sugar
- 1½ tsp Kosher salt
- 3 sticks (340.5g) Cold, unsalted butter
- 2 Tbsp (26g) Apple cider vinegar
- Scant ¾ cup (184g) Ice water
- 1 Tbsp cream + 1 yolk Egg wash
- Demerara sugar, for sprinkling
Make the dough:
- Whisk together the flour, sugar, and salt.
- Add the cold butter to the flour mixture, making sure to coat the butter completely in the flour. Cut the butter into the flour. The butter should be cut in varying sizes, like rubble. Once the rubble stage is reached, flatten the largest pieces of butter into flakes by smooshing the pieces of butter between the thumb and forefingers. Think of it as a snapping motion. Continue coating the butter in the flour. If the butter feels too warm, pop the whole bowl in the fridge for a few minutes and let it cool back down.
- Mix the apple cider vinegar and ice water together.
- Make a well in the center of the flour/butter mixture and add half of the liquid. Spread your fingers wide (like salad tongs!) and toss the flour with the liquid, incorporating it thoroughly and evenly. Add the remaining water and toss again. Work quickly.
- The dough will appear shaggy at this stage. Grab a handful of the mixture and squeeze it together to see if it holds. Once it holds, dump the mixture onto a work surface, and bring the contents together in a single mass. Shape the dough into a rough rectangle, pressing it together with intention and authority. Gentle, but firm. Think of hydrating the pie dough like dispersing water into a sponge. At this point, flip the dough mass over and check for any dry bits, pressing the dough together again. If, at any point, the dough is too warm or the butter melts, place the dough into a bowl and chill it back down.
- Examine your pie dough. Take note of changes in color (dry flour versus flour with liquid incorporated into it) and use your hands to press the dough together and disperse as much liquid as possible throughout the dough mass.
- The final flourish is one more simple lamination, something I refer to as the “stack and smoosh”. Cut the rectangle into four quadrants. Take each quadrant and stack one on top of the other, and then smoosh it all down. Bring it back together into a rough rectangle.
- Cut the dough mass in half and shape into two equal discs. Wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour, or overnight. After the dough has rested, roll it out and proceed with your favorite pie recipe.
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