Pie crust crumbles why

Then I pulse 20 times. Pulse, don't process. Look inside the processor. You should have mostly pea-sized pieces of butter with some pieces slightly bigger, some slightly smaller. Over-processing at this point won't ruin your dough but it will take you toward a crumbly, sandier dough.

Leaving irregular pieces of butter in the mix will help create flaky layers during baking. Almost every pie dough recipe calls for too little liquid to bring it together. Never in the hundreds of times that I've made pie dough has 3—4 tablespoons of ice water been enough.

My theory is that too little liquid forces you to beat the dough into shape versus allowing the water—which will eventually evaporate—to help you bind the mixture. So, add a little liquid. Pulse, pulse. Add a little liquid. You might not use all of the liquid.

That's okay. You'll see that the dough comes together faster at the bottom of the machine, so check through the outside of the machine, not through the top. Then, you go to roll the dough out on your work surface and it just falls apart. The dough is no longer a nicely blended mass but a pile of pieces, all crumbling apart. Pastry dough becomes crumbly mainly when it is too dry. If there is not enough moisture to hold the dough together, it will just fall apart.

Simple as that! Understanding what caused your dough to dry out and crumble will help you repair it and get that pastry dough back to a nice smooth ball! Once you have diagnosed the reason why your pastry is crumbly, you will know how to fix it.

Bottom crust is soggy and pale Not enough heat was directed to bottom crust. Or, the cut fruit and sugar sat too long before the pie was assembled, causing the fruit to release its juice before baking. For custard pies, the shell was not adequately prebaked. For crisp crusts, bake pies and tarts on a preheated baking sheet situated near the bottom of the oven. Prebake the crust for custard pies whenever possible. Private Notes Edit Delete.

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