Start by taking a chef knife and dicing up your frozen butter into small its and pieces. This will make it easier to incorporate.
Mix flour and salt in a large bowl. If you have salted butter leave the salt out.
Toss the butter into the flour, you can use a pastry cutter. If you don’t have one cutting in with a knife are mashing with your fingers will do the trick. If the butter starts to get warm just toss the whole thing in the freezer for a few minutes.
Once your mixture is like play sand you are ready to add the water. Add ice-cold water 1 tablespoon at a time until you have a smooth dough you can roll out.
If your crust has gotten warm toss it in the refrigerator to chill for a hour or so before rolling out. The trick to a flaky crust is to keep it cold.
Roll out on a lightly floured surface with a large rolling pin until slightly larger than the size of your pie pan. About 12-13 inches around will do the trick. Place rolled crust into a 9-inch pie pan or 9 inch cast iron skillet.
Now I know not everyone has butter available in there freezer. Last week we had to go hunt store to store to find more butter with all of my baking. I love making cookies like these butter rum chocolate chip cookies. The good news is there are other ways to make a pie crust.
Place 1/2 cup shortening on a cookie sheet lined with wax paper or plastic wrap. A thin later will make it freeze better. One frozen remove and chop up before completing the same instructions as above for the butter pie crust.
Ghee or clarified butter is great for storing in your pantry for cooking should you run out of butter. Because it is shelf-stable it is far too soft for making a pie crust. The good news is that just like softened butter it will turn solid in the freezer.
Place 1/2 cup ghee in a shallow bowl lined with plastic wrap. Freeze until solid. Lift the wrap up out of the bowl. Chop the frozen ghee and repeat the same process as the butter pie crust above.
I like to stock Ghee when it goes on sale at my local Aldi. No one buys it so it is easy to find. Ghee is a great addition to a well-stocked pantry.
While bacon grease will change the flavor of your crust it will work for dishes like quashes where the savory smoky addition is welcome. The trick for using bacon grease is to put small bits of cooled grease onto a lined cookie sheet and freeze until solid. Then simply chop the frozen bacon grease and follow the same method as above for the butter pie crust.
To lessen the bacon flavor after you have a full jar of bacon grease melt the jar down allowing any bits of bacon to slowly drift to the bottom. Then remove the uncontaminated bacon grease and place in a fresh jar. The remaining bits of bacon make a great addition to your dog’s food bowl in moderation.
Bacon grease has many uses and is great for saving. We have been saving the bacon grease and using to care for our cast iron and cook with for years. It is one of our favorite frugal kitchen tricks that helps us get the most for our money.
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