After many pies, I have found a great crust recipe from Jamie Oliver that I love and rely on for all fruit pies. Here is your step-by-step for a successful crust.
Start by sifting 3 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour and 1 cup of powdered sugar onto a clean surface. Cut 10 tablespoons of cold butter into small cubes and add it to the flour mixture.
Using your fingers, slowly rub the butter into the flour/sugar mixture until you end up with a crumbly mixture.
Once you have all of the butter rubbed into the flour it is time to give your crust some flavor. Jamie Oliver's recipe uses Lemon Zest, however you could any flavor that would fit with your pie. For some good ideas check out this article. Add the flavoring and mix it in with your hands.
Form the flour mixture into a "birds nest" so that there is an area to hold two eggs and a splash of milk. Slowly mix the eggs and milk into the flour mixture until you have a ball of dough.
Flour the dough lightly and push it down into a disc shape. Wrap it in plastic wrap or place it in a ziploc bag and put it in the fridge while you prepare the filling.
When you are ready to put your crust into your pie plate, take it out of the fridge and split it into 2 sections. I place one section back in the fridge while I roll our the other, I find the cold dough is easier to roll out. Place the section of dough between slices of wax paper and use a rolling pin to roll it into a circle. The wax paper will prevent the dough from sticking to the rolling pin or counter surface and it also helps when it is time to transfer the dough to the pie plate.
From here, the pie is up to you. Will it be apple, peach, pear or berry?? I think that this crust works best for sweeter pies because the powdered sugar makes the crust one of the sweeter ones you will make. But I think that a pecan pie would also taste delicious in this crust. My pie this weekend was an apple blackberry and the final product was mighty tasty and looked close to perfect.
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