How I Roll Out Perfect Pie Dough Every Time
Every time I feel a new season approaching, I think, “It’s pie season!” Summer? Yes. Winter? Yes. Spring? Let’s have some pie! Now that summer is in full swing, we’ll see an abundance of strawberries, blueberries, apricots, and cherries on the shelves of our grocery stores and farmers markets. All of these delicious treats would benefit from a flaky, buttery crust—often the only thing stopping us from achieving our goals.
You may already have a favorite pie dough recipe in mind, but rolling out the dough is where we run into a whole host of problems: it springs back, it tears, the middle sticks to the table completely, it’s paper-thin on one side—all of which is enough to bunch it all up and roll it out again (an infamous feat in the pie dough world). But if you employ a few of these tricks, you’ll be able to roll out the dough successfully.
Let it rest, but not too long.
Many crust recipes instruct you to wrap your freshly made pie dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate it for 45 minutes to an hour. This is a great idea if you’re making your pie dough ahead of time and need to store it for a few days, but if you’re making your pie the same day, skip the refrigeration for long periods of time. The temperature of the refrigerator solidifies the fat and makes the crust mixture more likely to crack and break if it gets too cold. This can be important for weak doughs in the summer or if you have a hot kitchen, but 20 to 30 minutes is probably more than enough time for the dough to firm up. Keep in mind that the other big takeaway from all this hype about resting in the refrigerator is that it’s not the refrigerator part, it’s the resting time.
Your goal is to take that 2-by-4-inch disc of butter and flour and convince the gluten to voluntarily stretch to three times its original area. Gluten needs a rest. Without it, it becomes capricious and will continue to stretch, despite your best efforts. Once the dough is kneaded, wrap it up and leave it on the counter or in the refrigerator for 20 to 30 minutes. Then roll it out. The dough will be less likely to crack and crumble, and the gluten will be sufficiently softened.
Flour the dough, countertop and pin.
And your hands. Guess what? Repeat this again for good luck. Enough flour under the dough will make each subsequent step easier. Of course, it’s better to over-flour than under-flour. Many of us have had the experience of rolling out the perfect circle of dough, lifting the edge, and finding that the entire center of the dough has merged with the surface of the table. Generously sprinkling flour under the dough will ensure that it doesn’t stick.
Same goes for the top: Sprinkle flour over the surface of the dough and the rolling pin to create a barrier as you roll. With each turn of the rolling pin, the outside is pushed out, exposing a little more of the oily inside. These parts will either meet new flour or find a surface to stick to. You’ll likely need to flour the top and bottom of the dough two or three times before you achieve the desired diameter and thickness. Don’t be shy: It’s almost impossible to over-flour. Just keep a pastry brush handy to brush off any excess before transferring the dough to the baking sheet.
Roll out from thick parts
If you’re first faced with a mound of pie dough, your natural reaction will be to start rolling the edges. After all, they’re the most pliable and exposed. Resist the temptation! Rolling from the thinnest parts (the edges) will almost certainly result in ultra-thin spots or sticky edges of melted butter. Instead, roll from the thickest parts outward. This will always be the center at first. Think of it as a delicious reservoir of pie dough to scoop out of. As you roll from the center, try not to roll the dough off the edge. Stop just short of the end and return to the center to roll in the other direction. If you fold the edges, you’ll notice that your dough becomes very thin in those areas and starts to stick.
When the dough is rolled out about 90% of the way and the middle is no longer the thickest point, you can inspect it for thick areas and roll it out carefully to even everything out.
Turn the dough
Sometimes you don’t realize you’re doing extra work until someone asks you why you’re doing it. I’ll be it. Why are you spinning around rolling pie dough instead of just twisting it? My theory is that until we gain confidence in making pie dough, we’re all a little afraid of dough — afraid of tearing it, of creasing it, of ruining it. Rather than handle the dough with confidence and risk breaking it, we just take shortcuts. The hard truth is, the less you manipulate the dough, the more likely you are to tear it. So let’s gain confidence in making pie dough.
Roll out the dough by placing the rolling pin in the center and pushing it forward, away from you. Lower the rolling pin, hold the disk of dough in both hands, and give it a quarter turn. The thick part is now in front of you, and you’ve smoothly spread some flour around the bottom. Take the rolling pin, roll outward from the center, and give the dough another quarter turn. Repeat, adjusting the turns to accommodate the thicker sections of dough. In addition to making the rolling easier on your spine, lifting and turning the dough allows you to check regularly for sticky areas, gives you a chance to add more flour underneath, and allows you to feel the dough for uneven thickness.
Next time you visit the produce section of your grocery store, allow yourself to be inspired by the juicy berries and fruits that lie there – don’t hesitate to buy a few pints and show off your pie energy.