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My grandma's pie crust advice finally clicked after 15 years of baking
Last weekend I visited my grandma in Phoenix. She watched me struggle with a dough for 20 minutes. Then she just said 'stop overworking it, the gluten is crying.' Hit me different because she never explained it that way before. I always used cold butter and ice water but still got tough crusts. Her trick? Mix the fat in until you see pea-sized chunks then stop. Tried it for a lemon meringue pie and it came out flaky for the first time ever. Anybody else have a family member who says something simple that finally makes sense years later?
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juliarodriguez15d ago
Tell @west.casey their butter chunks aren't the issue, it's the mixing after.
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blair_nguyen15d ago
The gluten is crying, I love that. Your grandma sounds like a legend. That pea-sized chunk thing is honestly the key to everything. I had the same problem for years where I'd mix until the butter was completely invisible and wonder why my crusts were tough as bricks. Once I started leaving those little butter lumps alone and just barely bringing the dough together, it was night and day. My grandma always told me to use a fork to check if the flour was coated but not smooth. She'd say "if it looks like ugly gravel, you're doing it right.
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west.casey15d ago
Those little butter lumps make the crust tough for me, I like them completely mixed in.
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