Flaky Butter Pumpkin Pie Crust
Ingredients for servings
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110 g flour
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1 tsp brown sugar see note
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4 g kosher salt
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110 g unsalted butter, cold see note
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1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
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55 ml cold tap or filtered water see note
Directions
Mix the flour, sugar and salt in a medium bowl for at least 3 minutes with a baloon whisk.
Cut butter into cubes no smaller than 1cm (about the size of your thumbnail) and toss with flour mixture to break open the pieces. Smash each of the cubes by hand, then coating them back with the flour. Before the next step, toss them around for a bit to get them completely coated in flour, while also checking for some missed cubes.
Stir in your cold water, then lightly knead the dough on the sides of the bowl until it comes together, if you’ve ever made pasta, you know what I mean. The dough shouldn’t be too wet at this point.
If your work surface and/or kitchen is very warm, the butter might have started to get really soft - I would suggest popping it in the freezer for 10-15 minutes to allow it to cool back down.
Get your dough out of the freezer if you put it in and flour your work surface generously.
Roll your dough into a rough rectangle to about the thickness of half your index finger nail pointing down. Speed is key here, you don’t want that butter to get soft on you. Brush off any excess flour before continuing.
Visually divide your rectangle in four and fold the two outer divisions inward, so that they meet in the middle. Once that’s done, close the dough like a book. Fold in half again, top to bottom - you know have a dough block.
Wrap in plastic wrap, and either let it rest for two hours or pop it in the fridge overnight.
Preheat your oven at 180°C.
Remove from your fridge and roll the dough to just a thickness under half the height of your index finger nail.
Put it in your pie dish, line the inside of the pie with aluminium foil and fill to the brim with sugar and push it to the corners with a tablespoon. Yes, that is a lot of sugar but it is worth it.
Bake until golden brown, between 60 or 75 minutes, depending on your oven.
Blind-Baking
Notes
Current ingredients are enough for single-crust (open) pie with a 35cm diameter, if you want to make a double-crusted pie just double the ingredients.
The sugar does not add much sweetness, it’s main role is to help with browning the crust to a nice golden-brown.
Go with European-style butter, which usually contains more butterfat for a more successful flaky crust.
Most recipes ask for ice water for pie crust but without us using a food processor means we’re “heating up” the butter-flour mixture much less.