I love my KitchenAid for lots of things but I still do basic yeast dough and pie crust by hand.

I always divided larger quantities of anything by weight. I use my kitchen scale a lot for everything from measuring ingredients,weighing out meat for hamburger patties,to portion control for diet.

I do most baking by weight instead of volume.

I haven't made my own pie crust in years. I've seen a recipe for making the crust using water and Vodka, 1/2 & 1/2. Hummmm, I wonder if the Vodka would last long enough for me to get around to make the crusts. LOL

I make nearly everything from scratch *except* pie dough. I've never made a pie dough as good as Pillsbury's refrigerated pie dough. (I know that many people have, because I've eaten them! I just don't make pies often enough to bother with it. I'd rather bake another cake.)

I hate making pie dough and don't do it any more. Yay Pillbury's!

But, when you do make it by hand, use a pastry cutter, like the one in the amazon link at the bottom of my post.

And find a recipe that makes only 2 or 4 single crusts. That way you can easily divide your dough in half or quarters.

Here is a link that might be useful: pastry cutter

I don't like making pie crust but when I need it I will make it. I use the recipe on the Tenderflake shortening box like my Mom did. I don't really have the surface area to roll out the dough though. I am hoping to get a piece of marble so I can roll out dough on my kitchen table. My Mom had a big wooden board she used. She was the pie baker in the family and I loved it when she would give me the left over scraps to make a jam turnover. Maybe it's a good thing I am not an expert at making dough because I would be baking butter tarts or a lemon meringue pie all the time. LOL

I don't know how to make dough in my Kitchen Aid but I do use my bread machine for pretzel, pizza and bread doughs.

Anne

Ok....ya know I make pie dough from scratch. Yes, I have a Kitchenaid mixer, but I've never used it for dough.

I have a recipe for 1 crust, for 2....I don't freeze them. It's too easy to make and whip up any time I need one. Like for quiche....sooooooooo easy! One crust!

Here's a recipe that lists sizes....I have others using vinegar or booz...yes they ALL work. :0)

8-inch-shell

1 cup plus 2 TBL flour(all purpose)
1/2 Cup shortening
1/8 tsp salt
2-3 TBL cold water

8-inch-two-crust-shell
2 cups flour
2/3 cps shortening
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup cold water

9-inch-shell

1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup shortening
1/4 tsp salt
3-4 TBL cold water

9-inch-two-crust-shells

2 1/2 cups flour
3/4 cup shortening
1/2 tsp salt
6-7 TBL cold water

Mix salt, flour & cut in shortening with a pastry blender...add water till workable, till it sticks together when pressed into a ball....roll it out....

Does that help?

I make my own, although the purchased ones are pretty good. They are also very expensive to use when one makes two or three pies. I use the recipe with the lemon juice, or vinegar, in it.

I make dough by hand..I use a pastry blender/cutter..but I often still dig my fingers in and "rub out" pieces of butter. I like some to be "long and flat" and others to be small bits.

I use my KA for doughs..but not pie dough..

When I make bread dough, I do so with the aid of a Kitchenaid mixer. I might also knead it by hand or use the mixer dough hook and then finish it off by hand.

Funny you should ask. I used to always make my own, but those Pillsbury crusts are so good I stopped. But for some reason I decided yesterday to do it myself. I have no idea what happened to my pastry blender, so I ended up doing it the really old-fashioned way but cutting with two knives. Then I did like Terri and mooshed it with my fingers. I have a KA, but never thought about using it. Duh! I'd be afraid I'd overwork it with the mixer though. Maybe not????

Well, it was a giant pain in the rear. BUT, just awhile ago I took the prettiest peach pie out of the oven you've ever seen. I wish I could learn to post pictures. I "accidently" knocked off a little piece of the crust so I had to eat it. OMG, it's so flaky and delicious.

I knew my recipe would make 5 crusts so I just tried the best I could to divide it into 5 balls. Then I flattened 3 of them to go into the freezer and used the other two.

Will I do it again? Not until I get a pastry blender!!

I don't have and never have had a KA.Wish I did!I always made bread and pie dough by hand.I loved making bread dough.Something theraputic about kneading dough.LOL I did have a food processor years ago that I used for pie crust a few times but I prefer to make it by hand.
Patti43-I use my fingers.Hate the knife method and never had a pastry blender.
I'll tell you a story about pie dough that my family has never let me live down.I don't know about making large quantities in a KA but I do know never make enough for 12 pies in one batch by hand! I make really good pie dough in batches for 2 pies.I really I do.
About 35 years ago we lived on the farm.My SIL and I decided to make some pies for the tired farmers when the got home from riding in the air conditioned tractors all day.We started out with 2 chocolate.Then decided we wanted lemon and caramel.The list got bigger so we decided to just mix up all the crust at one time to save time.Got them all made and they looked beautiful.After we ate supper we asked the guys what kind of pie they wanted and they told us.We cut into the first one and the crust was like cement,and I'm not kidding! SIL and I looked at each other then tried another one,same thing.We were laughing so hard we were crying.They were all inedible! We had some pretty good pudding for a few days though.The guys still tease us about the "Frisbee" pie crusts! Moral of the story,never mix dozen pie crusts at one time by hand!

I love this thread!

I read a recipe the other day for scratch bread, and I'd love to try making bread from scratch. (I use the breadmaker, start to finish).

I do make biscuits now, and they turn out great. I mix the butter in with my fingers. If the butter is super cold, almost frozen, I use my box grater.

The very first pie I made for my DH was a
bad one. It was a banana cream pie and the
crust was so tough no one could eat it.
The banana cream was good though. DH teased
me for years. He said I should have saved
the recipe and sold it to the cement Co.
I never made a pie for 2 years. I found
a never fail crust recipe and have never had a
bad crust since.
Dolly

I love my Kitchen Aid but I would never make pastry with it. In my opinion, it would be too hard to ensure you end up with the proper sized "fat" pieces that are essential to getting flakey pastry. I think I made bread dough with it a couple of times, with the dough hook, and it turned out fine. Now I have a bread maker though, and I use that for mixing the dough.

When I saw this thread, I thought it was going to be about making bread dough literally by hand- kneading it the old fashioned way. I used to love doing that, and it brought up some very nostalgic feelings for me because my mother used to make bread that way all the time. I had to stop making it that way after an MVA, and I was a little bitter about having to give up doing that, and giving up some other things. I'm over that now though, and just enjoy doing what I can.

I use a food processor to make pie crusts.

as long as I do not touch it,my pie crust is perfect..lol

if I stay at the table and guide whomever is using the mixer or doing it by hand,its great..if I get near it,you need a chainsaw to eat the end product

now homemade bread-all by hand...nothing comes close to mine,if I do say so myself...I am the pro there.

I never have used a mixer for pie dough. The one thing I do since most shorting is not up to old standards ( even Crisco) now days I use the lard amounts.this is almost 1/3 cup less (I think) and to mix I use my good old spud masher,I use a mixer for mashed spuds. I know people make great pies with boughten crusts, but they never work for me.

Luckily, we live relatively close to Apple Hill, and each year during the Apple Hill season (Opens Labor Day weekend, closes at Christmas) we drive up there and buy a bunch of just-picked apples (do you realize that the apples you buy in grocery stores have been in cold storage for at least a year?); and I also buy some pie dough balls. Nearly all of the apple ranches have them, because they all make and sell apple pies. Two of the ranches, Boa Vista and High Hill Ranch, make particularly good pies and pie dough. I don't even remember how much the dough balls cost -- somewhere between $3.50 and $5 for a bag of two dough balls, but it's worth it to me. Both ranches say the dough balls can be frozen for at least a year, so I always buy at least 6 bags, which gives me 12 potential pie crusts. I only make single-crust pies, so I then have enough dough balls to make several pies for Thanksgiving and several for Christmas; with enough left to makes pies to bring to office potlucks and other family gatherings.

I use my mixer to mix my pie dough, mixing half of the flour and half of the shortening and them putting each batch in a very large stainless steel bowl and mixing them together and then adding the liquid. I use a five pound bag of flour and a 3 pound can of shortening. I just divide it up into balls and flatten, wrap in plastic and then put that in either another plastic bag or a plastic container and freeze until I am ready to use it. Saves me a lot of time. I am planning on making a couple of pumpkin pies very soon and I have the pie dough in my freezer.

Sue

That's a step I didn't add to my dough making saga. I tried mine in the food processor but mine's only 7 cups, so 5-1/2 c. flour and the shortening filled it too full. Then I had that mess to clean up. The crust, for all the agony (;0) is delicious!

Sue, your method seems so much better, so for the next time,I want to make sure I read you right. You put in 1/2 the flour and 1/2 the shortening. Which part do you put the salt in or does it matter? Then do you take that out and do the same with the other half or just add the mixed part with the rest of the flour and shortening and cut that in together before adding the liquid.

Sorry I got my marilyn c and marilyn sue mixed up! I'd better take up drinking coffee again.

Patti, I don't think it matters, but my recipe doesn't call for salt. I don't measure just guess at what is half of the flour and half of the can of shortening. I do each half separate and put them in my great big bowl and stir it around, then add the liquid, let it set and then mix with a big fork, then start shaping into balls and flatten. I just got through making my two big pumpkin pies and I rolled out two ten inch shells and tops and put back in the freezer.

Sue

I make pizza dough, and Irish Soda Bread from scratch.

Never tried a pie crust, would though.

Most of the food we eat here at home is made from scratch. I love to cook and I do make my own pie crust. It is so easy and always is so light and flakey. I tried a couple of the store bought crusts and hubby said it was like wrapping fruit in cardboard ... so I keep making my own.. I bake most of the breads we eat too.. Artisan breads, French, and white and wheat, rye and pumpernickle.. I love to cook, so to me it is pure pleasure.

Kitt

I make my pie dough using the lard, butter and vodka ingredients....very easy and so tasty.
I got the recipe from Cooks Illustrated.
I also make pasta dough....usually I use the food processor and the Atlas hand cranked pasta machine cutter.
I find it very therapeutic to make the pasta dough by hand, with the big pile of flour on the board and adding an egg or so to the middle and going from there.
I love making bread, too but have never had any luck using a bread machine.