Took me 3 years to figure out my pie crust was weeping from this one mistake

I kept getting soggy bottom pie crusts no matter what I did. Blind baking, preheating the stone, even trying different butter brands. Finally at a family dinner my aunt asked if I was resting my dough long enough in the fridge. Turns out I was only giving it 10 minutes when it needs at least 2 hours for the gluten to relax and the fat to firm up. Now my pies come out flaky and dry on the bottom every time. Anyone else have a baking problem that took way too many tries to solve?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_tessa15d ago

Three years. Man, that is a painful discovery. Two hours in the fridge minimum, yeah that's a real game changer. I have a follow up question though - did you notice if your butter was actually cold enough when you cut it in? Because I had a similar problem where I was letting my butter get to room temp before mixing it in and that alone was making my dough greasy before it even hit the fridge. Just wondering if that was part of the issue too.

grant72815d ago

Cold butter can be a pain to work with, but I learned the hard way that room temp butter in a pie dough just turns into a greasy mess no matter how long you chill it. I started keeping my butter in the freezer for about 15 minutes before cutting it in, and that fixed the whole problem. Once it's in the dough, I give it a solid two hour fridge rest before rolling.