Pate Brise/Pie Crust Help

[mbfergie]

I am attempting to perfect my pie crust. I was always afraid to make my own, but it's so easy. I watched the Martha Stewart video online and it's helped to produce an incredibly flaky and good crust. My problem is that when I take it out of the fridge to roll the edges split and crack so it doesn't look "pretty". Is it too cold, too dry?

Thanks in advance....

Marie

[lupaglupa]

Do you leave those edges on your finished pie crust? I always get ugly edges on the rolled out crust but trim them so the end result is smooth all the way around. Even if I have a very bad result and have to patch or mush cracks together it doesn't show when it's cooked.

[mbfergie]

i do patch them together, but i was making a tart and even though it doesn't look too bad i notice it. also trimming the edges makes the crust thinner to get the same size.

[lupaglupa]

If you want more thickness at the edge you could roll over the excess and press it into the sides but that leaves a bit of a ridge there. I'm not sure how you could eliminate all of the splitting and cracking - you can't make the dough wetter or you'll have real problems with stickiness. Do you chill it in a ball or in a disc shape? You might get more even chilling if your dough was an even thickness when you chill it. I'm not sure though that that will eliminate your cracks, but it might reduce them.