Customer said my pie crust was too tough. Changed one thing and it fixed everything.

A lady at the farmers market told me my apple pie crust was like shoe leather. I was using ice water but not letting the butter get cold enough before cutting it in. Now I pop my butter and flour in the freezer for 15 minutes before mixing. Has anyone else gotten feedback that changed how they make dough?

2 comments

2 Comments

dylanmurray1mo ago

Oh man, that reminds me of my friend who used to bake pies for her church potlucks and everyone would always compliment her fruit filling but say the crust was "fine" at best. She told me she was following her grandma's recipe exactly but still getting that tough, dense crust every time. Then one day her grandma actually watched her make it and pointed out she was overworking the dough because she wanted it to look perfectly smooth and uniform. Turns out her grandma always left little visible chunks of butter and flour in there, like she wasn't afraid of a shaggy mess. My friend said she felt so dumb but now she literally stops mixing the second it barely holds together and her crusts are light as air, lol. It's wild how one tiny change can flip everything around like that.

jamie_white1mo ago

Yeah the overworking thing is brutal. I read somewhere that the whole "don't overmix" rule applies to pie crust too, not just muffins and stuff like that.