This pastry dough was developed by the Cook's Illustrated publisher, my friend Christopher Kimball. If you like a bottom crust in your pot pie, you can mimic that texture by tucking overhanging dough down into the side of the pan rather than fluting it. T
INGREDIENTS (for 6 servings):
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 8 tablespoons unsalted butter cut into 1/4-inch pieces and frozen
- 4 tablespoons all-vegetable shortening, frozen
- 3 tablespoons ice water, or more if needed
PREPARATION:
Mix flour and salt in a food processor fitted with a steel blade. Scatter butter pieces over flour mixture, tossing to coat butter with a little flour. Cut butter into flour with five 1-second pulses. Add shortening; continue cutting in until flour is pale yellow and resembles coarse cornmeal with some pea-size butter bits, about four more 1-second pulses. Turn out mixture into a medium bowl.
Sprinkle 3 tablespoons ice water over mixture. Using a rubber spatula, fold water into flour mixture. Then press down on dough mixture with broad side of spatula until dough sticks together, adding up to 1 tablespoon more water if dough will not come together. Gather dough into hands, shape into a ball, then flatten into a 4-inch-wide disk. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 30 minutes while preparing pie filling.
Roll dough on a floured surface to an approximate 15-by-11-inch rectangle, about 1/8 inch thick. If making individual pies, roll dough 1/8 inch thick and cut 6 dough rounds about 1 inch larger than pan circumference. Lay dough over pot pie filling, trimming to 1/2 inch larger than pan lip. Tuck overhanging dough back under itself so folded edge is flush with lip. Flute edges all around. Alternatively, don't trim dough, but simply tuck overhanging edges down into pan sides. Cut at least four 1-inch vent holes in large pot pie or one 1-inch vent hole in smaller pies. Bake as directed in step 5 of recipe for Simple Chicken Pot Pie (see note).
Note:Simple Chicken Pot PieArticle:One-Pot Chicken Pot Pie'The Perfect Recipe' by Pam Anderson. Copyright© 1998 by Pam Anderson. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.