The Pie and Pastry Bible
Tags: pie butter Rose Levy Beranbaum pie crust cream cheese Wondra flaky zu Pi
Recipe Reviews
kateq from annapolis, md
The results are delicious but I find the instructions too fussy--I had fabulous results grating cold butter and cream cheese into the flour and mixing by hand. I added lemon juice instead of vinegar. I skipped the whole "kneading in a bag" deal and mixed the ice water by hand and spatula till it came together and then flattened it onto plastic wrap and chilled it. I found it very easy to roll out on cold, well floured marble. The dough held up beautifully during par baking and the crimping was easy and looked great at the finish. Similarly, the two-crust pie looked so pretty and tasted so good. I love this crust...
(edited 16th March 2013) (0) comment (0) useful
Excellent recipe. The flavor is good! However, I follow directions to a "t" and there must be something wrong with what I am doing, for after refrigerating the crust it is as hard as a rock; I let it soften the required time, still too hard, and the crust breaks up in chunks. Am I refrigerating too long, what texture should the dough be after refrigeration?
Getting rave reviews on the crust even so!
southerncooker from Boomer, NC
I made this crust for the apple pie on page 81. It is a pretty long procedure but the instructions are very helpful. I did make mine by the hand method since my large food processor died and my other one is to tiny to make a double crust in. I'm not the best pie crust maker (my daughter is better) but I found it easy to knead the crust in the gallon zip bag. My kitchen was very warm so rolling between two pieces of plastic wrap helped a bit with the sticking. Baking on the pizza stone worked well and I had a nicely browned flaky (although not the prettiest in the world) pie. My sister said it deserved a blue ribbon though. Love the use of cream cheese along with the butter.
this is my go to flaky pie crust recipe. it is very methodic and fairly easy to make. the recipe is well explained and you will obtain the same good results batch after batch. i love what each "unusual" ingredient does. using cream cheese as part of the butter to make it tastier! using cream instead of water to make things more tasty too. using a little baking powder to lift more flakiness. and of course, it is an all butter crust.
the dough freezes for a very long time. have some on hand for any pies or pastries. note that it doesn't contain sugar, so it is perfect for sweet or savory.
makes fantastic crust for pecan or pumpkin pie.
Peckish Sister from Central, FL
I made this for the apple galette. I wished I had read Andrew’s review first, the next time I will try mixing the dough in plastic wrap. But I did find I could shape and refrigerate the dough in the bag and that worked well. The dough seemed very soft, and I probably would have had better luck if I had a large enough work area, but my wooden cutting board was narrower than my finished product was supposed to be. The dough was coming along fine until the last bit of rolling when it tore simultaneously in 3 places. However I was able to patch it back together, but did not have the patience to try and cut out the circle, so I just used all the roughly circular dough. I am not sure if the cider vinegar was all mixed in as the dough had dark patches in it that were not attractive when the dough was raw, but I did not notice in the final product. The crust was flaky and delicious.
Queezle_Sister from Salt Lake City, UT
Pie crust intimidates me, but the steady guidance from Rose Beranbaum allowed me to prepare a beautiful crust. Preparation was a bit of a drawn out affair - with frozen butter and flour, etc. I used the food processor method, and the instructions were flawless. I use a plastic sheet to roll out my dough - it has circles printed on it for a size guide. The crust rolled out beautifully, and easily came free from the sheet - no tears (and no tears).
(edited 14th November 2011) (0) comment (2) useful
lovesgenoise from , MA
Just sublime. Best tasting pie crust I've ever had- leaps and bounds ahead of all-butter crusts. There's an updated version on the author's blog that uses heavy cream instead of water for added tenderness, which is great if you're using all-purpose flour instead of lower protein pastry flour.
(edited 30th October 2011) (0) comment (1) useful
andrew from Vancouver Island, BC
Very tasty indeed - the cream cheese adds a lovely flavour and texture. I do find this one a little more difficult to work with than her basic butter crust, however - unless you're in a cold kitchen you do get a bit more sticking when you roll out the pastry as the cream cheese softens while you work it. Though I'm a bit slow with a rolling pin, so that doesn't help...
Login or register to add your own review of this recipe.