I’ve tried everything
Frozen butter
All butter
half-butter/half-shortening
very moist (with water)
not so moist
blend with fork
blend with food processor
But everytime I make a crust, it is very tender (tears to easy) and I never get that nice flaky consistancy. The first problem may be because I’m too afraid to overwork and toughen the dough plus working the dough tends to melt the butter no matter how cold I get it and the water.
How do I get a good flaky shortcrust that I can get into a pieplate without tearing?
it sounds like your dough is too warm. Are you refrigerating your dough as a thick disc after you make it but before you roll it out? I refrigerate dough for at least an hour and usually overnight and only let it warm up for 10 minutes or less before I start rolling it out.
It sounds like you’re not letting the dough rest after mixing and before rolling it out. Every pie crust recipe I’ve ever read has called for wrapping up the dough and stashing it in the fridge for a couple hours before you roll it out. That gives the gluten a little time to develop and lets your fat firm back up, which should solve both your problems.
You might be over mixing the flour and fat. From what I understand, the flake factor involves having the fat in little bubbles throughout the dough, so that it will melt as the crust bakes.
However, I can’t make a pie crust to save my life, as I tend to overmix them. Instead, I rely on the fine products put out by the Pet Ritz company to hold my pot pies together.
Given the problems you describe, it definitely is getting too warm. Start as you’ve done with very cold butter (Ruth Levy Berenbaum even advocates half well-chilled, half frozen). Use a food processor. Chill the bowl and blade first for extra measure. Pulse only, just until you get the desired crumb texture (usually described as "the size of small peas), then add ice-cold water. Pulse again until it JUST comes together. It’s OK if there are tiny beads of butter in the dough. Turn it out onto a sheet of plastic wrap and form into a disk with your hands. Wrap well and refrigerate at least 30 minutes (so the gluten RELAXES, not develops) and several hours or overnight is better. Roll out, put in the pan, then – and this is really important, and most recipes skip it – refrigerate again. If the gluten is too developed, the crust will shrink. Resting in the refrigerator not only chills it again to help with flakiness, but again lets the gluten relax.
I’ve been making pie crusts since I was old enough to push a rolling pin. I’ve never refrigerated the dough itself. If I use butter I take it straight from the fridge, and the water I use always has ice cubes in it.
Other than that, for about 27 years I have been using flour from the cupboard, a pinch of salt, whisk to keep it fluffy. Drop a cup of whatever fat you’re using (I usually use vegetable shortening, room temperature) into this, cut it with a pastry cutter. In a pinch I’ll use the tines of a fork. The bits of fat in the flour should be about the size of kidney beans, and it’s okay to have some bits smaller and some bits larger.
Add about 8 tablespoons of icy water to it, mixing after each tablespoon, until if you push the dough together with your hands it sticks together. Don’t put too much water in it - that may be your problem right there. Then dump the whole thing on a well-floured worktop, smush it together with your hands some more until it’s a nice even shape, pile more flour on top and roll it out.
This works for me every time and I get fantastic flaky crusts from it.
If you’re worried about cutting the fat into the flour (or can’t be bothered with cutting it) cold butter can also be grated into the dough, using a large gauge grater. The butter’s got to be really cold though or it ends up a mushy mess.
The crust recipe I use at work, and I’ve done literally thousands of pie crusts, is very simple.
To a given amount of shortening(or lard) measure out an amount of flour that weighs one-third MORE than the fat. So six ounces of shortening would take eight ounces of fat and so on. For every pound of fat use one teaspoon of flour and one cup of cold water. Cut the fat, salt and flour together with your fingertips, working quickly till it’s flaky, then pour over the water. Ice cold is best. Let it soak in for maybe thirty seconds then toss the mix until it’s evenly blended.
I wish I could be more specific, but until you have done it over and over and over, you don’t get a “feel” for it.
I don’t like using butter or margarine though. Their melting or softening point is lower, and make them harder to work with. The crust will tend to be too tender.
One thought is that you make be cutting the butter too finely. There should be lumps of butter up to the size of peas when you’re done adding and cutting in the butter (whether you’re cutting it in with a pastry cutter, your hands, or a food processor (which is what I use now)).