uma306•1mo ago

My pastry crust was tough until I learned to handle butter less.

Light touch makes flaky layers, so I'm gentle now.

3 comments

3 Comments

Wait, you were handling the butter a lot before? Like actually kneading it into the flour? That's wild. I always thought the point was to barely mix it in so it stays in little cold bits. If you work it too much it just melts and makes the whole thing greasy, right? My first pie crust was like a hockey puck because I got nervous and overmixed everything.

jade321mo agoMost Upvoted

Remember my first time I squeezed all the butter into the flour like I was making bread dough. Tbh I thought smooth dough meant a good crust. Ngl it came out so tough you could’ve used it as a frisbee. Elliotl24 saying he pinches cold bits now makes total sense. I finally started grating frozen butter in and barely mixing, and my last crust actually had layers. Throwing the whole bowl in the freezer for a few minutes before adding water saved me too.

elliotl241mo ago

Did you always use the pea-sized butter method, or did you learn it later? I used to really knead that butter in thinking it needed to be fully combined, but @jordan_bell75, your hockey puck story made me realize that's exactly what I was doing wrong. Now I just pinch the cold bits in with my fingers until it looks like crumbs, and my crusts are finally flaky instead of tough.