Had to pick between butter and shortening for my grandma's pie crust

I was making my grandma's apple pie recipe last weekend and it says you can use either butter or shortening for the crust. I went with butter because I thought it would taste better, but man, that dough was so sticky I had to keep adding flour like three times. The crust came out tougher than a boot and my roommate said it tasted like a saltine cracker. Has anyone else had butter ruin their pie dough or is it just my bad technique?

2 comments

2 Comments

miles_grant3510d ago

Yeah butter makes a good crust but it is way harder to work with. The trick is to keep everything ice cold, even the bowl and your hands. If it gets sticky you gotta chill it again before rolling out, not just dump more flour in.

ellis.charles9d ago

UGH, butter is a NIGHTMARE for pie dough. It's all about that temperature control for sure. If it gets sticky, you gotta just throw the whole thing in the fridge for 20 minutes, not dump flour in until it's a brick. Grandma probably used shortening for a reason, it's way more forgiving.