How to save failed pie crust dough (warm butter)?
OK, I've accidentally used warm butter in a common pie crust recipe (250 g flour + 205 g butter + salt + cold water). The dough formed before I could even add some water at it does not look like the dough you could form a normal pie crust from - it is barely rollable at all. What can I do to turn it into a more or less usable pie crust or anything else usable at all?
Best Answer
There's a recipe I saw a while ago that uses butter that's thoroughly incorporated into the flour instead of the usual cold chunks. I think it creates a butter/flour paste, then cuts fresh flour into it just prior to adding the water (the idea being that instead of layers of tricky-to-work-with pure butter separating layers of water-dough, you would have more workable layers of butter-flour paste separating layers of water-dough).
In that case, assuming your mention of 'the dough coming together before you added water', means you have mostly butter and flour in the bowl at this point, you might add more butter to it so the ratios work out, and treat your whole first batch like that butter/flour paste. You will need to cut fresh flour into it, since the paste is only supposed to contain 2/3 of the recipe's flour and all the butter, so it might take some math to figure out how to make what you already have fit into the ratios neatly. Then add the water and gently bring it together into a dough, refrigerate for a couple hours, and roll as normal.
This might still work even if you've added water, maybe making a smaller portion of the butter/flour paste to cut into the dough, and adding a balancing amount of flour and water afterwards - you should still get some of the texture benefits, although not as much as if the whole batch were done the same way.
You will end up with more dough in either case, but you can either chill the leftover dough, or pre-divide and store the leftover portion of the butter-flour mix, and it should store pretty well (both flour and butter store well in the fridge).
(I have found the original recipe, it can be found here, and the sciency-rationale over here, at seriouseats.com)
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What can I do if my pie crust is not done?
Your crust is pale and underbaked. Just bake it some more. To ensure a bronzed, shiny crust, I like to give the pie a quick brush with eggwash before sending it back into the oven. Make sure your oven is hot enough: 425\xb0 F or 450\xb0 F is ideal. Just set a timer first so that you don't end up with a burnt pie.Does butter have to be cold for pie crust?
When it comes to pie dough, keeping the butter as cold as possible is the key to achieving that gold-medal worthy flakiness. Once you've rolled out and folded your pie dough, those distinct bits of butter will steam as the dough bakes, creating the pockets of air that puff up into distinct layers.Why is the butter melting out of my pie crust?
This occurs because solid pieces of butter separate layers of dough prior to baking. When a pastry goes in the oven, those pieces of butter melt in the high heat and the small amount of water in the butter evaporates; this leaves little pockets of air in between the dough and creates distinct, separate layers.What happens if you put too much butter in a pie crust?
BUTTER CHUNKS = FLAKY POCKETS If the butter chunks are too big, you'll have melted butter leaking from your pie crust as it bakes. If they are too small because they've been worked into the dough too much, you won't have as much air separating your layers, producing a more dense crust.Easy All-Butter Flaky Pie Crust Recipe - How to Make Homemade Pie Crust
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