80-Proof Pie Dough = Fool Proof Pie Dough

America is going to eat a lot of pie in the next week. In a survey conducted by Crisco, apple beat out pumpkin as the pie ingredient of choice. Many people choose to buy pre-made pie. In fact, the frozen and fresh pie sales totaled over $500 million in 2008. You can find these pie facts and more on this nifty pie statistics website!

In case you are planning on making a pie for Thanksgiving or if you are planning your contribution to a party celebrating National Pie Day on January 23, 2010, I wanted to post this recipe a little prematurely (sorry no pictures yet!) and help you make the flakiest, most tender, and easiest to roll pie dough your rolling pin has ever seen.

I first learned to make pies from my mom. The recipe went like this:

Mom's Pie Crust

For each crust:

1 cup flour

1/3 cup shortening

dash of salt

Mix with fork until fine. Add water until it feels right (about 2 tablespoons or so).

You will have to make a lot of pies to know what "feels right." I interviewed my mom about her PIExperience

Cassie: So, how many pies do you think you've made in your life time?
Mom: Oh, hundreds
Cassie: What's the most you've made at one time? You used to make them for the church pie sale at Thanksgiving, right?
Mom: The most I made for that was six.

It's likely you don't have enough time between now and Thanksgiving, or even National Pie Day to make the 300++ pies needed to figure out when the dough feels just right. Thus, I'd like to introduce the Fool Proof Pie Dough from Cook's Illustrated which uses vodka to help avoid a tough crust. Why vodka? Pie dough gets its structure from gluten. Gluten is long strains of protein that form when flour mixes with water. Too much gluten will make a tough pie dough. It's tough to find the right balance: too much water equals too much gluten and a tough crust; too little water makes the dough difficult to rollout. Vodka contains 60% water and 40% ethanol. Since gluten does not form in alcohol, using alcohol allows you to use more liquid without the risk of forming too much gluten. Vodka is colorless and tasteless, and the alcohol will vaporize in the oven. Adding vodka to your crust won't impact the taste of your crust (unless you use those flavored ones), just the texture.

My mom has worked with this recipe a few more times than I have and says this:

Cassie: How many pies have you made with this pie crust recipe?
Mom: Maybe a half dozen
Cassie: What's different about this pie crust? Aside from the vodka and added step of chilling the dough.
Mom: The dough is sticky so you need more flour when you are rolling out. I chill the vodka too, that seems to help. But, yes, this pie crust is much easier to roll out. It makes a real nice crust. I like it. But you know, I've seen this recipe a lot lately - people talking about good pie crusts. Cook's also did a review of store-bought pie crusts - they picked Pillsbury. I've used that several times when I don't have time and need to be quick - it's pretty good too, for store bought.

So there you go, if you don't have time to make a crust, but still want to bake your "own" pie, my mom, the pie expert, endorses the Pillsbury Refrigerated Pie Crust.

80-Proof Pie Dough
from Cook's Illustrated

Makes one 9-inch double-crust pie (that means a top and bottom for one pie, or two bottoms for two pies)

Ingredients
2 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon table salt
2 tablespoons sugar
12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) cold, unsalted butter, cut into 1/4-inch slices
1/2 cup cold vegetable shortening, cut into 4 pieces
1/4 cup cold vodka
1/4 cup cold water

Instructions
1. Process 1 1/2 cups flour, salt, and sugar in food processor until combined, about 2 one-second pulses. Add butter and shortening and process until homogeneous dough just starts to collect in uneven clumps, about 15 seconds (dough will resemble cottage cheese curds an there should be no uncoated flour). Scrape bowl with rubber spatula and redistribute dough evenly around processor blade. Add remaining cup flour and pulse until mixture is evenly distributed around bowl and mass of dough has been broken up, 4 to 6 quick pulses. Empty mixture into medium bowl. 
2. Sprinkle vodka and water over mixture. With rubber spatula, use folding motion to mix, pressing down on dough until dough is slightly tacky and sticks together. Divide dough into two even balls and flatten each into a 4-inch disk. Wrap each in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 45 minutes or up to 2 days.

I feel like I'm letting you down a little bit by not posting photos and a little more commentary with tips and tricks for making pie crusts. For now, I will direct you to Smitten Kitchen for more info about this pie crust. She also uses a pastry blender, which I prefer over the food processor. Why? Well, because I don't own a food processor and because you can over process the flour/butter. A flaky crust comes from the visible butter bits in the dough. In the oven, the butter bits will melt and create mini pockets in the surrounding flour. Steam escapes from the water in the butter and lifts these pockets to create the flakes of your flaky dough. Go science go!

I promise to update with photos and more comments after Turkey Day!