Flaky Pie Crust

I am finally finally getting better at making pie crusts.  I made my first double crust when I was at my parents' house last week and had a much larger kitchen than mine to cover with flour.  I've posted this recipe before as a single crust, but I'm going to post it again, by itself, mostly to use as a linked reference when I post about pies. Like the apple pie I'll be posting about right after this. So basically, this is a selfish post so that I never have to copy and paste the recipe for this again.

This is Mark Bittman's flaky pie crust recipe from his book How to Cook Everything (though I modified the steps a bit). I used to curse and whine while making it, but it must really just take a little practice.  The stand mixer makes it way easier as well, but it does make the dough more moist, so I found that I didn't need to add as much ice water to get it all to stick together.

Flaky Pie Crust - double crust

3 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
3 teaspoons sugar
20 tablespoons butter (2 stick + 4 tablespoons), cut into pieces
6-8 tablespoons ice water, divided between 2 discs of dough

1. Combine the flour, salt, and sugar in a food processor. Add the butter and process until the butter and flour are blended and look like cornmeal.... As an alternative...whisk together the dry ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer and mix in the butter until the dough comes together.

2. Place the mixture in a bowl and sprinkle ice water over it.  Use a wooden spoon or spatula to gather the mixture into a ball. If it seems dry, add a little more water. When you can wrap the mixture into a ball, divide the dough in two and cover each ball with plastic wrap. Flatten each ball of dough into a disc and freeze the for 10 minutes.

3. Sprinkle a large work surface with flour. Sprinkle the top of the dough with flour. If the dough is hard, let it sit for a while until you can press your fingers into it.

4. Roll the first disc of dough from the center out. Add flour if it's too sticky. Rotate the dough occasionally and turn it over once or twice while rolling. Use ragged edges of dough to repair any tears, adding a drop of water while you press the patch into place. When the dough is about 10 inches in diameter and less than 1/4 inch thick, place dough into your pie plate.

5. Press dough firmly into the bottom of the pie plate and trim excess dough to about 1/2 inch all around, then tuck it under itself around the edge of the plate

6. Freeze the bottom crust for 10 minutes and prick all over with a fork before adding the filling. 

7. Roll the next disc of dough out in the same way and place on top of pie filling. Seal the edge together with the bottom pie crust (you can use a fork to decorate while doing so) and brush a bit of milk over the top crust.  With a sharp knife, cut about 4 long slits into the top crust for ventilation.

8. Refrigerate pie for about 10-30 minutes before baking.