Recipe(tried): Flaky Dough Tips

Dear Tayo,

Make sure that your butter, margarine or lard is very cold. Some recipes specify cutting the butter into small pieces and freezing it for 10 minutes or so before incorporating it into the flour.

Place the flour and salt in a bowl and toss together. Scatter the chilled butter over the flour. Holding a knife in each hand, slice through the butter and flour. Your knives should be parallel to your body. In other words, start with the two knives in the center of the bowl. Your elbows will be raised and directly out. Lower the knives into the bowl of flour with your hands almost touching. Draw the knives away from each other and toward your elbows. Keep "cutting" the butter into the flour mixture until it looks mealy. You can turn the bowl a bit now and then in order to incorporate all of the butter into the flour. (The purpose is to have tiny bits of butter or fat coated with flour. Then when the crust is baked, the small amounts of liquid in the butter emit steam and make tiny pockets containing air. This is what makes your crust flaky.) The flour/butter mixture will look kind of like uncooked Irish oatmeal although the texture will not be dry.

I hope that this description helps you. Good luck.

Marilyn