Hands off that dough, if you want tender crust

Light touch: Pie crust hard as a rock? You’re handing it too much.

Don’t overwork the dough and do not add too much water. The more liquid dough has, the tougher it gets.

You want to see pea-size chunks of cold butter in the dough with lots of loose sandy flour. Press it into a disc inside some plastic wrap, until the moist part grabs onto the loose sandy bits. Chill it for a good 30 minutes before rolling or make a few weeks in advance and freeze to spread out all your work.

If the dough becomes hard to work with, it usually means the butter has gotten too warm.

Transfer it back to the fridge until firm. The less you touch it the better.

Once the pie is completely assembled, chill the whole thing again before baking.

On another note: Most people undercook pie dough. Cook it until it’s a brown nutty color. It’s called French brown and is delicious.

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