Who needs a flaky pie crust?

Milk Street’s Christopher Kimball had a Reddit AMA session earlier this week. Kimball solicited questions on his favorite food holiday (Thanksgiving), asking Redditors to “get the conversation (argument) started!” He was ready to opine on topics such as cutting fat into flour for making pie crusts, the right way to brine your turkey, and his favorite dinner roll recipe.

Many of the questions were about his relationship (breakup) with America’s Test Kitchen, and it seemed like he was annoyed by those queries. However, the answer that caught my attention had to do with pie crusts, specifically, flaky American pie crusts. Kimball believes that the worst cooking advice he sees is the instruction for pie crusts to cut butter into flour until there are pea-sized pieces. He says this is the “WORST piece or advice ever. Cut the butter or fat in completely like the French dough for tart dough. You get more tender baked dough and it is much easier to roll out. Why does American pie dough have to be flaky? Who thought that one up?”

To me, this sounds like sour grapes. Sometimes a French-style tart dough is fine, but nothing beats a crust so flaky that it shatters the instant your fork hits the surface. The texture of this airy crust is divine to eat. Kimball might as well say that you shouldn’t aim for flaky layers in puff pastry, or that a crescent shaped dinner roll is equal to a croissant. It just isn’t!

Yes, it can be tricky to achieve a really flaky crust that is also tender. But it is achievable in a home kitchen without any fancy tools. In fact, my preferred method of making pie crust doesn’t involve anything other than a flat surface, a bench scraper, and a rolling pin – not even a bowl! I cut butter into thin slices and toss it with flour and a dash of salt on the rolling surface. Then I roll, scrape, and roll until I have long, flat, buttery/floury “scales”.

I scrape the scales into a loose pile and sprinkle water over them, scooping and folding gently with the bench scraper until the dough is cohesive. Then I pop it into the fridge to rest prior to rolling. I have found that this method produces a tender, flaky crust, which I find to be a worthwhile goal. What do you think of Kimball’s advice?