Olive oil makes a good pie crust.
Some cooks go beyond the basics in making pie crusts. Ooh and ahh enough over their pies, and they may reveal their secret ingredients.
I thought I had heard them all, or at least most of them ... buttermilk, vinegar, baking powder, hot water, cold water, lard.
But a friend, Cathy Reynolds, shared her secret ingredient, which was completely new to me.
Olive oil? She knows how strange it sounds, but she swears it makes the best, flaky crust you'll ever eat.
Cathy learned to make an olive oil pie crust from a Lebanese friend. It's now the only pie crust she'll make.
I haven't tried it yet, but I will soon. Wouldn't it be good as the base for a savory tomato and basil tart?
Olive Oil Pie Crust
For a 1–crust pie
2 cups flour
1/2 cup olive oil
5 tablespoons water
salt
For a 2-crust pie
2-crust pie
3 cups flour
3/4 cup olive oil
7 1/2 tablespoons water
salt
1. Place the flour in a large bowl and make a well in the middle. Sprinkle the flour with salt.
2. Pour the olive oil and water in the well of the flour. Using a fork, mix the flour, oil and water in a folding motion until all the flour disappears. Handle the dough as little as possible.
3. The dough will have a green tint (from the olive oil). For a two-crust pie, divide the dough in half and flatten into two disks. Place one disk between two sheets of wax paper or parchment and roll to size. Freezes well.
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