Cold butter turned my pie crusts from sad to stellar, no arguments.

I stubbornly used soft butter for years and wondered why my crusts were tough. Keeping everything ice cold made all the difference, and now I get perfect flakes every single time.

3 comments

3 Comments

oscar_wood29d ago

You mention cold butter made your crusts stellar, but I've had the opposite result. Soft butter gives me a more tender crust every time. I just make sure to keep the other ingredients chilled and work fast. Overmixing is what makes crusts tough, not butter temperature. My grandma taught me this way and her pies were always perfect. Maybe it's more about method than the butter itself.

the_holly25d ago

@nathan226 is onto something with the flour type. I use cold butter AND pastry flour now, it's a total game changer. The gluten just doesn't get tough that way.

nathan22629d ago

Honestly the real variable nobody talks about is your flour. Low protein pastry flour with cold butter is a dream, but if you're using all purpose or bread flour, the soft butter method might be saving you. It's all about how much gluten forms, and the flour type changes that whole game.