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Great pie dough is easy for some and a quest for others. Flour, salt, butter, water — how can it be so challenging? Sometimes, recipes call for one extra ingredient: a splash of vinegar in the cold water that brings the pie dough together.
What does that vinegar do? The most common answer — that it affects gluten development — isn't actually that useful. If you had a mass spectrometer at home, you could measure the teensy difference vinegar makes in the tensile strength of gluten strands in the dough, which in theory makes it a bit more tender.
But there are two much more important perks to using vinegar: it provides a little insurance against overworking the dough. And, that splash of vinegar will keep your dough from oxidizing and turning gray.
To watch the oxidation process play out, I made two batches of our All-Butter Pie Crust and mixed 1 tablespoon of vinegar into the ice water of the second batch.
Here's the same recipe after three days. The water-only version has become noticeably grayer. It was also a bit more slack to work with when rolled out.
What happens if your dough is gray and oxidized, and you bake it anyway? Good news. It'll be fine. While the oxidized dough was a little floppier to work with and didn't hold the pattern of the pie top cutters, the look and flavor of the baked dough were pretty much the same.
In the end, if you prepped your dough without vinegar, forgot about it, and worry you'll have to start over, fear not. Use your gray dough and give it a little egg wash on top before baking.
The biggest determining factor in the quality of your pie crust is the technique used to make it. Vinegar, buttermilk, lemon juice, and vodka all change the interaction of the liquid and gluten in the dough. But the difference between a dough with acid in it and one without (when made with the same technique) is infinitesimal. In other words, no ingredient can cure poor execution.
So remember the essential rules of pie baking:
When it comes to pie dough, practice makes perfect. The most essential pastry ingredient is confidence. But if you're a busy baker and aren't sure when you'll be making the leap from dough to oven, a little splash of vinegar (or lemon juice) in your recipe is a good idea.
If you're a visual learner, check out the video tutorials in our Pie Baking Guide.
Our thanks to Anne Mientka for the photos in this post.
November 23, 2022 at 12:44pm
I’m making a balsamic and tomato torte, can I use balsamic vinegar in the pastry or would it not work the same way?
November 29, 2022 at 7:09pm
In reply to I’m making a balsamic and… by Hannah (not verified)
Hi Hannah, you can certainly replace some of the liquid in the pastry recipe with balsamic vinegar. Sounds delicious!
November 22, 2022 at 4:19pm
Today I should stay far far away from the kitchen. But I actually have a pizza dough going and a pie dough. (Still need to make a pot of chili for incoming houseguests later tonight.)
But here's what I numb brained did: My pie dough recipe calls for 2 cups all purpose flour and 1/2 pound butter. So yesterday I shredded 2 sticks of unsalted butter into a bowl with a lid and put that into the freezer. I have done this before and the finished pie dough came out amazing. Anyway, today I needed to get the dough happening. So I measured out 240 KA all purpose flour, plus the baking powder, salt, and sugar as directed in the recipe. Mixed those together. Had my ice water at hand... pulled the frozen shredded butter out of the freezer and used my pastry blender to mix the flour, etc. & butter. At that point the flour & butter was actually pretty perfect. But I had a senior moment or something. Looking at the recipe, for some reason my brain went stupid and thought I had put in 2x too much butter. So I put that bowl into the freezer while I quickly measured another 240 grams flour, etc. Pulled the bowl out and dumped in the additional flour, etc. and cut that in with the pastry blender (for a very dry, flour-y blend at that point), then I doomed the effort by adding the water... Not being smart enough to know when to cut my losses, I realized that I now had 2x too much flour, et.al. EXCEPT butter. So I put the bowl into the refrigerator while I shredded 2 more sticks butter and put that into the freezer to get hard. At this point I still could have saved a little of the effort by realizing that since I had added the water to the first attempt that if I tried to incorporate more butter into the mix I would be risking overworking the dough.... But I wasn't that bright in my panic. So I added the additional butter and picked up my pastry blender to try to incorporate that in with the chilled too-flour-y mess in the bowl. THAT is when I realized it may be time to give it up for this batch. I put the mess into a gallon ziplock bag and just put it into the fridge for now. I'm not sure if I will try to salvage the mess when I need to bake my pie tomorrow or what. I need to get ready for my guests now. Ugh. Any advice?
November 28, 2022 at 2:09pm
In reply to Today I should stay far far… by Dee Dee in FL (not verified)
Hi Dee Dee, I'm sorry we weren't able to respond to your dilemma in a more timely fashion! If ever you're in need of a more immediate response, please don't hesitate to contact our Baker's Hotline. We're generally here M-F from 9am-9pm EST, and Saturday and Sunday from 9am-5pm EST (with extended hours until 7pm during the holiday season), and you can reach us by phone at 855-371-(BAKE) 2253, or via CHAT. I think in this situation I would still try to bring the dough together with the additional butter, even if the process required a little too more working of the pie dough. I often add butter in 2 parts to my pie dough, with the first round of butter rubbed into the flour to coat it, and the second half of the butter allowed to remain in slightly larger pieces, which will be flattened and provide more flakiness. If you still have that "chilled too-flour-y mess" in your refrigerator, you might try incorporating the additional butter but tossing and rubbing the butter into the flour, add any additional water necessary, and then use the fraisage method to bring the dough together. This should result in a limited amount of gluten development and you may still end up with a decent dough.
December 15, 2022 at 11:26am
In reply to Hi Dee Dee, I'm sorry we… by balpern
Thank you, Barb! In the end I did make a 10" deep dish crust for a pumpkin pie with the mess (then tossed the remainder as I never got around to forming disks, etc. I am fixin to start a fresh crust now. I'll be baking smaller, 6" apple and pumpkin pies. I will try that fraisage method. I live in Florida so stuff warms quickly! Once I get good at crusts, then I'll try to figure out the correct amounts for the smaller crusts.
Have a blessed Advent and Merry Christmas!
December 17, 2022 at 9:35am
In reply to Thank you, Barb! In the end… by Dee Dee in FL (not verified)
Merry Christmas to you and yours, Dee Dee!
November 20, 2023 at 8:11am
In reply to Today I should stay far far… by Dee Dee in FL (not verified)
Make it into cookies!
November 6, 2020 at 10:14pm
What about vinegar in a gluten free pie crust?
November 9, 2020 at 9:24am
In reply to What about vinegar in a… by Mary (not verified)
Hi Mary, our Gluten-Free Pie Crust recipe uses lemon juice or vinegar so you are good to go! Happy gluten-free baking!
November 3, 2020 at 3:34pm
For my double pie crust I add 2 tsp of sugar to dry ingredients and 2 tsp distilled vinegar to ice water. Perfect flsky crust every time
Pagination