Chef Mik's Simple Pie Crust

Pies can trace their history back sum 10,000 years, referred to in earlier times as  galettes, one of the more appealing things about them was the fact they offered less stringent storage concerns then other prepared and/or raw foods, making them an attractive commodity in a world devoid of refrigeration

Pies have been served on or in some form of pastry dough or other baked bread long before the common pie dough we associate with savory or sweet pies of today the most early of these combinations consisted of assorted ground grains filled with honey,  one of the more well known pie dough’s we think of now is Pâte Brisée which is a short dough simply referring to the fact there are no leavening agents in it

We regularly use Pâte Brisée for many of our pies we bake for our catering, however for today I am using one I learned in school which has the addition of egg’s in it which help to make it a smoother dough and easier to handle, but there are still countless others that are just as good such as a whole grain crust or one that substitutes wheat with other grains, we often add potatoes to our crusts, along with almonds, hazelnuts, pine nuts and even fresh herbs, but regardless of the pie dough you prepare gram cracker, cookie, and a few others not with standing be sure to bake your dough off first before using it, you can do so by filling the center of the dough (covered with parchment paper) with dried beans and baking it for 10 – 15 minutes in a 175c preheated oven, if not using right away store in the refrigerator or freeze them

You can prepare this crust as I am here in a electric mixer, you can also use a food possessor or work the dough on a clean counter top, my advice is as always experiment and see what works best for you, be sure to bake the crust before using, if possible place some parchment paper down and fill with about 450g dry beans bake for about 10 to 15 minutes, alternatively store in the refrigerator or freeze the dough

Shopping List

Unbleached all purpose flour

Butter

Eggs

Salt

Bottles water, optional

My Mad Method

Sift together 750g flour and ½ tsp salt add to mixing bowl of upright mixer, add 250g butter divided

Add the 4 eggs and dl water

Quickly mix to form a clumpy dough

Transfer to a clean counter top and for a dough transfer to a bowl, cover and let rest refrigerated or simply in a cool place for one hour

Divide the dough; roll out a portion of it on a counter top dusted with flour about .5cm thick

Using a pie tin as a guide cut out a circle roughly 4 to 5cm larger in circumference then the pan itself

Roll the dough up using rolling pin transfer to pie tin; make sure the dough tucked in nice and snug