My wife's grandma convinced me to stop using a scale for my pie crust, and it actually worked.

She was over for Thanksgiving and saw me weighing everything out to the gram. She just laughed and said 'Honey, my hands are the scale. You feel it.' She showed me her method, just mixing flour and fat until it looked like wet sand, then adding ice water a spoonful at a time until it held together. Tried it on a batch of apple hand pies yesterday and the crust was flakier than anything I've made in years. I was so sure precision was the only way. Has anyone else gone back to the 'by feel' method for something and been surprised?

4 comments

4 Comments

sean489d ago

Double down on that gravy thing because it's honestly a LIFECHANGER once you get it. I used to be the same way with my pie crust, measuring every last drop of ice water like it was a science experiment, and my crusts were always either too crumbly or tough as a boot. Then I watched my buddy's nonna make pasta dough and she did the whole thing by feel, pinching the flour and egg mixture until it felt like "play dough but a little softer" and it came out PERFECT every time. Now for my crust I just mix the fat and flour until it looks like coarse cornmeal and then drizzle in water a little at a time, stopping when it just barely holds together when I squeeze it. It takes the stress out of it and I swear the texture is BETTER because you're not fighting the recipe when the humidity or the flour brand changes things up.

ninar681mo ago

Grandmas just know these things.

ward.tara1mo ago

Honestly that part about letting go of the measuring cups is so true. Tbh I had the exact same problem with my biscuits. I used to weigh everything out perfectly and they were always just okay. My grandma finally told me to stop and just feel the dough. Ngl it was scary to wing it but now I just know when it's right by how it looks and feels in my hands. That kind of cooking can't come from a book.

hannah_craig1mo ago

My mom taught me to make gravy the same way, just by looking at it in the pan. I used to follow recipes exactly and it always came out lumpy or too thin. Now I know when it's right by how it coats the back of a spoon. It's a different kind of knowing that comes from messing it up a few times. Letting go of the measuring cups was hard but the results are way more consistent for me now.