Flakey

[Pyewacket]

Making a good pie crust can be a real pain in the arse!. The problem is that in order to make the dough reasonably easy to work with...you have to add water. The more water you add, the more gluten (protein matrix) will form in the dough. This will leave your crust tough...sometimes rendering it inedible. Anyone that makes pie crust knows how frustrating this can be.

The solution is to add 95abv alcohol to replace part of the water that you would otherwise add. The alcohol does not result in gluten production and it evaporates completely. This is what works for me: Replace about 1/3 of the water with your neutral...I add a few more splashes as this makes the dough very easy to work with. I still try not to overwork it...and I follow all other aspects of the recipe. I am even able to roll the dough out thinner...which is nice for certain recipes.

Heck, I may be the only guy on this forum that makes pie crust. My wife burns water, so if I want pie...I have to make it myself. Let your wife know -- if she is the cook, heck she might be so thrilled that she will let you buy that length of 4inch copper you have been begging for. Even if you only get extra pie out of the deal, it would be worth it

If you don't make neutrals...a 40% would work...just adjust the recipe using even less water and more alcohol. Flavored alcohol shouldn't matter either.

[Vicknair57]

I make crusts all the time for pie and quiche, I will give this a try!