I used to be terrified of making my own pie crust. I’m not sure where the fear came from. Maybe I watched one too many Food Network shows where I was sternly lectured about the importance of using the exact right temperature of butter that was made from milk from a dairy cow raised only on sunshine and unicorn blood, but for some reason, I thought making pie crust was pretty much the hardest thing ever.
Newsflash: it isn’t. It’s not even close to hard. It’s actually pretty freaking easy. And it is definitely one of those things that is worth the extra time to make from scratch. Store-bought crusts do the trick, but a homemade crust is life-changing good.
My favorite part about home-making crusts is I have complete control over the flours. Almost all of my pie crusts are made with 100% whole wheat pastry flour. If you use a good whole wheat pastry flour, I’d venture a guess that you’d have a hard time telling the difference between it and its enriched white flour brother. I love this organic flour from Great River so much that I order it specially online. That’s love.
Other good options are white whole wheat flour (I really like the King Arthur organic one) or, honestly, just live life and use regular all-purpose flour. Never forget that there are two ways food nourishes us—our body and our soul. And I believe an occasional slice of butter, sugar, and gluten-filled pie is about as soul-nourishing as it comes. Read the post »
