Written for Just Baking on the Well Fed Network
One of my favorite amateur food photographers and Recipezaar Chefs, Marg, turned me on to the most wonderful little “gadget” the other day. Marg is always posting photos on Recipezaar of gorgeous pies that she has made. The crusts always look flaky, delicious and professional.
I finally sent her an e-mail to see if she would share her secret. Much to my thankfulness, she did. So…what was Marg’s secret to making delicious looking pie crusts? She always uses a product called a Pie Crust Bag to roll out her pie crust dough in.
I had never heard of a pie crust bag, so Google came to the rescue. Come to find out, there is a wonderful tool out there that pie crust makers around the world should be rejoicing about. This is a simple round plastic bag with a zipper. To use it, you very lightly flour the interior of the bag, place your pie crust dough into the bag, zip it up and begin rolling. The bags come in several different sizes. If you are rolling a 9″ pie, use the 9″ bag and roll your dough out to the edges. Need a larger pie crust? There is a bag a size larger just for you!
After you are done with the rolling process, you unzip the bag, lift the dough off the bag and place it into the pie pan. No messy flour board to clean up. No sticky dough to contend with. No guessing on if your circle is big enough. This wonderful tool has redeemed the pie crust making process for me. Just when I was getting tired of always having my dough stick to the board and cleaning up the big mess after making a pie crust, I find this gadget that has given me faith into pie crust baking again. Since there is a significantly less amount of flour when you use the pie crust bag, your pie crust will have the perfect moist, flaky texture that you have been striving for all along.
Pie Crust Bags can be found in many stores and online at several websites, including King Arthur Flour. At roughly $6.00, it is a gadget well worth the minimal investment.
What a brilliant idea! My pastry is always sticking to my worksurface! I must get one of these. Thanks for sharing!
I’m always learning new things from my favorite foodies!
Brilliant Idea! Sometimes I am amazed at what people create that I would never dream up.
I love me my gadgets! Thanks for the head’s up. 😀
What a great idea. May have to get one of those.
I never really make pies but this sounds really neat anyway! I do love a beautiful pie! 🙂
I have always rolled out my pie crusts in-between two sheets of parchment paper, but I like this idea better because you would know when the pastry is the right size! I am ordering one of these right away. Thanks for the secret!!
For once, this is a bag that I really need!! I usually roll out my pie crust between two plastic bags, wich actually works for me…until now. This is so much convevient and so Stylish.
Awesome idea. I just recently bought my first pie dish and was a little terrified of making a crust. I can’t wait to get this handy dandy (and easily stored) tool!
That sounds incredible but logical. I will check it out!
How neat that she wrote back to you!
What a clever idea! I’ve kind of gotten the hang of rolling out pie crust but sometimes getting it round can be frustrating!
I don’t make pie crusts from scratch because they’re messy and *never* round… round-ish, but not round. What a cool idea – thanks for the tip. I think I’m getting an Easter present this week now 🙂
I’ve been in a quest for perfect pie crust, i think this definitely is something I’m going to look into. Thanks, Kristen!
That is a great idea! My sister in law makes this one pie crust to die for. It’s the best pie crust I have ever had, but she said it’s such a pain to roll out- I have to tell her of the bags to eliminate the mess!
Oh my goodness…what a wonderful gadget this is for sure! I can definitely see how this would be a great time saving thing. Thank you so much for sharing this with us. Hope you don’t mind if I add you to my blog. My readers would love to come visit 🙂
I think I pressed a wrong button, my comment didn’t show up yesterday.
Kris, great gadget! and a good price too. Now I’ve been using clingwrap.
Thank you a zillion times! I’m going to order that. I always dread rolling out pie crust because it sticks to my counter and the size is always very imperfect. This is a marvelous idea! :):)
WOW, this is such a perfect idea! I wonder if it is in stores too? That is something I definately need….especially because when the rolling gets tough, I just press the dough into the pie pan. 😛
Oh dear! You know what I am like with gadgets. What a great idea. Will have to see if we get those here in the UK.
Interesting about the pie bag. I rarely make pies because I have NO counter space for rolling out the dough.
I highly recommend Penny’s Pies "secrets of the trade"
http://www.pennyspies.com/
I learned a great deal…and made the "flaky crust" dreams come true!
What a great gadget! I need to find one of those… maybe I won’t be a likely to use those refrigerated pie crusts.
I’ve never heard of this gadget before, who knew? I wonder who invented it and what sort of pre-gadget pie stories they tell. 🙂
I want one for sure.
omg THAT is what i need! things always go horribly wrong for me as soon as a rolling pin is called for….
I’m with the others, so simple yet so smart! And, to think it’s not just useful, it makes for better pie crusts, that’s a big WOW! Thanks for sharing that tip.
Holy moly! Thanks for pointing this posting out to me….I am so excited!