Pie Dough

Store bought dough is pretty much just as good but Whole Foods is too snooty to sell it so I had to make my own.

Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp sugar
2 sticks of butter, cut into quarter inch bits (I cut the butter up, then put it in the freezer for a little while because it gets too warm in my hands while I'm cutting it)
1/2 cup ice water plus a little bit

Put the dry ingredients into the food processor with a steel blade and blend for a moment. Add the butter and pulse the machine on and off 4-5 times.  Turn on the machine and pour the ice water in, then turn the machine off.  Pulse the machine on and off until the dough begins to mass on the blade, adding a little more water if necessary (I had to add a fair bit more water in).  Don't overmix it -- you'll mix more when you do the final "knead."

Turn the dough out onto a floured counter or smooth cutting board.  Push the pastry out with the heel of your hand (not the palm because its too warm), squashing it into the counter, by two-spoonful bits.  Once you've done this to all of the dough, gather it into a fairly smooth ball, rub the outside with flour and wrap it in wax paper.

Chill the dough in the freezer for an hour, or refrigerate for 2 hours / overnight.

Roll out the dough by beating the ball down until its somewhat flat, then using a rolling pin, start at the center and roll away from you.  Rotate the dough a little bit and repeat until the dough is about an eighth of an inch thick.  Fold it in half and then in half again, so that it is a triangle with one round edge.

Ideally you will have a false-bottomed pan but I did not so I had to use a cake tin lined with parchment paper, which was sort of annoying.  Butter the pan and then put the triangle over the side, with the point in the middle and the rounded edge on the outside of the pan.  Unfold it over the pan and press the dough down into the pan, trying not to stretch it too much (I lifted the dough off the rim of the pan where I was pressing so it didn't get caught and tear).  Push the dough down the sides of the pan to make it a little thicker/sturdier on the sides.

Cut off the spare dough around the edges with a knife, leaving a little bit hanging over to form the crust.  Roll the dough hanging over underneath itself and press down onto the edge of the pan with a fork, all around, to create the crust.

For partially baked pastry shell:

Put parchment paper over the dough and press it down, into the bottom and sides of the pan so that it conforms to the shape of the pan.  Fill it to the top with rice or dried beans so that the dough will keep its shape when the butter melts in the oven.

Bake in a 400 degree oven for 8-9 minutes until the pastry is set (I had to bake it for a lot longer, probably 12 minutes all in -- I took it out and it was still melty so it cooled a little bit...12 min is my estimate if I hadn't taken it out).

Take it out and lift up the parchment paper (you can save the rice or beans).  Prick the bottom of the pastry with a fork to keep it from puffing up and return it to the oven for another 2-3 minutes.  When it is starting to turn golden and shrink from the sides, take it out.