makes two single pie crusts or one free form tart
Marina doesn’t own a food processor, and uses her immersion blender to cut in the butter. I’ve also tried this using a manual pastry blender, and even rubbing the mixture together between my fingers. All methods produced an excellent crust. The real key is to make sure your water is ice cold, as Marina also stressed to me. I add an ice cube to a small bowl of water and measure it out from there. Next up for this pie crust is a test drive with Deb’s recipe for zucchini & ricotta galette over at Smitten Kitchen.
8 ounces flour
1 teaspoon (5 grams) kosher salt
1 teaspoon (2 grams) baking powder
4 ounces cold butter
4 to 6 tablespoon ice cold water
Add the flour, salt and baking powder to the bowl of a food processor. Pulse to combine. Add the butter and pulse until it forms a sandy crumb. Starting with 4 tablespoons, sprinkle the water over the flour-butter mixture and pulse until it forms a ball, about 45 seconds to 1 minute. Add another tablespoon or two of water if necessary. Dump onto an unfloured counter and form into a flat disc. Wrap in plastic or waxed paper and let chill until firm, but still pliable, about 1 hour (you can also quick chill it in the freezer for 20 minutes while you prep your filling ingredients).
Roll out on a lightly floured surface into preferred size and shape according to whatever recipe instructions you are following.
The dough can be stored, tightly wrapped, in the fridge for up to 3 days. I’ve yet to have one in the freezer, but imagine it’ll store, well wrapped, for a month or two—just thaw it out in the fridge overnight before using.