February 4, 2009

Rolling Pie Crusts

So this may not be the most interesting 'recipe', but I feel like I made a breakthrough last night while rolling crusts for pasties.  Making crusts from scratch is challenging for most of us, and for me personally, the hardest part is rolling it out.  Luckily my new food processor makes the mixing of a crust fairly easy.

Here's my tip on rolling crusts:

Start with a clean surface, or not.  Lay down a sheet of parchment paper large enough to work on your dough.  Sprinkle the paper with a generous amount of flour.  Roll your dough in a ball and set it in the middle of the paper, then press down a bit to flatten.

Tear off another piece of parchment paper about the same size as the first, and sprinkle it with flour.  Lay the paper (flour side down) on top of the ball of dough.  You now have a parchment paper dough sandwich.  Find a rolling pin or round bottle (I used a wine bottle - a recommendation from Davey).  Roll out the dough with the pin/bottle on top of the paper.  It should be fairly quick getting it thin, even and round.  Once it is the proper size, pull up the parchment paper, and lift up the rolled out dough.  If it sticks anywhere, just use a spoon or spatula to edge it off. 

This technique eliminated my frustrations with trying to roll out dough and having it stick to everything.  It also was super easy to roll out a thin circle.  I just couldn't let those darn pie crusts get the best of me.  I used Betty Crocker's pie crust mix, I highly recommend it (just add water!).

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