FWIW I've been experimenting with crust. Am turning out super flaky light and tasty crust by doing three things and maybe carrying them to an extreme.

1. Butter. After trying scratch and several crust mixes the best has been bulk pie crust mix from a local discount grocery. Ignore instructions that call for water only and use a fine grater to grate in about 1/3 stick of butter per two cups of crust mix. Ditto for name brand crust mixes.

2. Cold. I keep the pie crust mix in the freezer and put all other ingredients and mixing tools, bowl, rolling pin etc. in the freezer. Best to put all in the freezer the night before for baking an early morning pie before the day gets warm. Frozen butter grates well with a cold grater.

3. Minimal working of crust dough. 3 tablespoons of ice water is plenty for two cups of crust mix. I use a huge serving fork to mash crust mix, butter and water against the side of the bowl. When it is barely mixed, still chunky and not really blended, use hands to form a ball. Wrap the dough ball in plastic wrap and stick it in the fridge for half an hour or a day or more, then roll out.

This crust approach with minimal water is harder to roll out, takes a bit of practice. I roll around near the edges to avoid cracks that come from only rolling outward from the middle. I use a homemade pastry cloth with circles marked on it to roll out the right diameter crust. With a pastry cloth it is easy to wrap the flattened crust around the rolling pin to transfer to the pie dish. We like it thin.

the following is what I use. It's not original with me, at least the idea is not. I use both lard and butter in the mix, and use a Cuisinart to make it. Takes about 20 seconds. Perfect pastry every time

I ain't a cook but I have helped make a pie with my wife until she chases me away.

She uses little vodka in her crust. it makes it more workable .....kinda like a plastizer in concrete.

I am pretty god at eatin' em , how some ever.

Whats left of a blueberry rendition from yestiddy.

My wife was looking at the recipes and said
Grated butter - great idea! She is going to try it
Also have heard a bit o lard is good
Question for cisco1: blueberries are set firm and not runny, would she be willing to give out her secret to my wife who thought her pie looked so perfect and tasty? PM okay too.... Thanks

My wife puts the pie in the 'fridge instead of cooling on the counter.

I can remember runny pies until my gal changed up.

I like a flaky crust too, but can't do the premixes. I do some of the cold tricks you list but am not as rigorous about it as you are.

Dunno where I go this recipe but have been using it for years:

Basic Pie Dough

1 cup flour
¼ tps salt
6.5 tbl butter
2 tbl water

Ella, thanks. I'm gonna tuck that one away for a time when I run out of the mix. I should have kept track of which was which but one of the pre-mixes is extra pathetic.

Trail Hog, I'm cutting down on runniness by using a little corn starch. Most recipes call for adding some flour to the fruit or berry filling. I skip the flour and add one tablespoon of corn starch in a 10 inch blackberry pie, half in an apple pie. That plus cooling stems the run. But WOW! hot pie is good with quality French Vanilla ice cream. And I suspect that you will want a little more corn starch because we like our pie a little oozy. It's your pie. Experiment and eat the imperfections!

Sam, I plan to try your Cuisinart recipe to compare. That is quick short work on the flour dough. I knew that I would learn things from this topic.

Generally, I've found that if you make the crust dough easier to work with it is more rubbery when rolling out and a tougher crust when baked. Some folks prefer that taste and texture. Most never knew there was anything different.

I lucked onto grating butter and it makes finer pieces much more mixed in.

Internet research says that the more flour is worked and the warmer it is when worked, the more it changes into Elmer's glue. That's a technical description, but I'd rather not descend into gluten and molecules.

I'm not a dessert guy, but love homemade pies !

Pastry dough is best worked cold.

I've started using the vodka trick too. Right out of the freezer. Replace half the water with it. Allows you to make a very short flaky crust.

Thanks for all of the tips! After following this thread I am experimenting with adding more liquid to the crust mix. It is waaay easier to roll out, slightly less flaky but acceptable. Hmmm... would like to try the vodka and I wonder if any potable alcohol would do to make the crust workable and then evaporate? I wonder if rum would add to the hint of molasses taste that I get from the raw sugar I prefer, especially with wild berry pies.

Had peach pie for breakfast this am, and will compare a piece of huckleberry pie for seconds. Made one of each yesterday. Picked several four liter ice cream buckets of huckleberries in the sub-alpine this week. This is our third fresh huckleberry pie and we will freeze about 20 pies worth in packets pre-measured to fit a particular pie pan.

FWIW I bought a one piece double-tapered French style rolling pin, no handles, and love it. Pick one with NO blemish or tiny trace of knot. Hindsight speaking. I smoothed mine more by rubbing it with mineral oil and then working it lengthwise with 0000 steel wool. Then just wipe it clean, don't use water on it. I gotta try one of those synthetic rubbery silicone plastic rolling pins. Are they any good?

I make due with a marble rolling pin, consistent results

I use a 100+ year old oak rolling pin. It was my great grandmothers. It is smooth, but I always rub it with flour before and during use. Keeping your pastry dough cold is the most useful thing you can do. Adding liquid is not really something I would recommend.

But of course Mannlicher has to upstage everyone else. It's his style.

I learned my version of pastry a long time ago. If motivated, I'd test numerous recipes and techniques just to see what happens. Nothing like a good pie crust.

laughing. You crack me up Denny.

I watched a man pay $660 for a rolling pin. He must have really liked pie.

The elder ladies of my family were great cooks and insisted that the better pie crust is made with lard. I have a very elderly
couple nearby that insist the bear fat makes the best pie crust.......Every spring I search among my friends for bear fat from recent kills.
Not much fat on a spring bear but their pies would win at any county fair......they just brought me a raspberry pie that is out of this world.

Since I was a kid I've heard it claimed that bear fat makes the finest pastry lard. I have intended to render some and try it but never have. One Fall my mother visited a hunter friend with me and she remarked that it smelled like someone was rendering a corn fed hog. (She was a country girl.) The man looked surprised and told us that he was rendering the fat from a bear that had lived in a corn field.

I may try lard and that is what my mother used for pie crust, but the butter flavor sure is good.

I roll my crust with a basic marble rolling pin but I roll the crust inside a plastic grocery bag and the mess stays inside, and the bag peels away like a store bought one.