Changed my mind on cold butter for pie crust

I was at the county fair in Boise last year, watching the pie contest judging. A baker named Ellen saw me struggling to roll out my dough and said, 'Your butter's too cold, honey. It needs to give a little, like a firm handshake.' She showed me her method: take the butter out an hour before, cut it into cubes, and let it sit on the counter. The next crust I made was flaky and tender, not tough. Anyone else find a slightly warmer butter works better for them?

3 comments

3 Comments

evan5434d ago

Yeah, that makes total sense.

alice9284d ago

I mean, the planning part @jakel25 mentioned is huge, but what really got me was the space between the blocks. I used to just power through and my brain would get fried. Now I force myself to take a real break, like go for a walk or just stare at a wall. It's not even about resting, it's like my brain solves problems in the background during that dead time. I'll be stuck on something, take my break, and the answer just pops into my head when I sit back down.

jakel254d ago

Last year I switched to doing three focused work blocks a day instead of trying to work straight through. @evan543, it completely changed how much I got done. I set a timer for 90 minutes and turn off all my notifications. The key was planning what to do in each block the night before. I felt less burned out by the end of the week too.