For the Best Pie, Resort to Violence
Crusty pie recipes that don’t list patience as an ingredient should be viewed as false advertising. Although I am a very impatient person, I insist on making my own pie crust because my love for pie seems to outweigh my hate for waiting. Over the years, I’ve figured out how to make puff pastry without waiting too long, and most importantly, knock out the chilled dough with a rolling pin.
I have always found it difficult to roll out a pie crust because cold dough cracks when you roll it out, but room temperature dough is very easy to over-tighten by accident. On the other hand, frozen hand-chilled dough malleable, easy to work with, but it is cold, until you roll it. This reduces the likelihood of sticking to the counter and increases the likelihood of getting crispy. Here’s how to do it.
Unwrap the chilled dough disc and place it on the counter. A few good strokes with a rolling pin on each side, rotating the dough as needed to smooth it out a little:
Move the dough aside and dust the counter, dough and rolling pin with flour. Starting at the edges and working inward, roll out the crust to the desired thickness. Place on a buttered pie plate, trim off the overhang and squeeze the edges. Boom. You just got a pie crust out of the fridge on your plate in five minutes. Who Said Violence Solves Nothing?