It can be difficult to make perfect pie dough by hand. One tablespoon too much water, or a little too much kneading, and the dough is ruined. For flaky pie crust that comes out perfect every time, use a food processor. The food processor takes all of the guesswork out of making pie dough. It also takes less time. With just a few simple ingredients, a food processor can make excellent pie dough.
Instructions
1. Place the flour and salt in the food processor and combine them. This is to get the salt evenly distributed throughout the flour.
2. Cut the butter into the flour, using the "Pulse" function. Pulse the ingredients until they look like oatmeal. The flour will coat the pieces of butter so that when the crust bakes, the butter is trapped and creates tiny pockets in the crust as it melts. This makes the pie dough flaky.
3. Add 1 tbsp.ice water at a time. Through the spout of the food processor, add only 1 tbsp. water at a time. Watch the pie dough closely and as soon as it comes together, stop the machine. If the dough is overworked, it will become tough. The pie dough doesn't have to form a ball; it just has to hold together when squeezed.
4. Remove the dough from the food processor and place it on a piece of plastic wrap. The pie dough will still be crumbly at this point. Mound the pie dough onto the plastic wrap, being careful not to handle it too much or the butter will begin to melt.
5. Flatten the dough onto plastic wrap and chill it before rolling it out. Fold the plastic wrap around the pie dough and flatten the dough into a disk. The pie dough should be refrigerated for at least an hour before attempting to roll it out. This will ensure that the pie dough rolls out easily.
Tags: food processor, plastic wrap, dough onto, dough onto plastic, onto plastic
