This excerpt is from Wanda's Pie in the Sky: pies, cakes, cookies, squares, and more, by Wanda Beaver, Whitecap Books, 2002, ISBN 1-55285-214-8
PIE CRUST 101
"The first thing I ask the students in any of my pastry classes is how many of them have made pies before. Of the half or so who respond in the affirmative, I ask how many have made pies that were actually eaten. Between the chuckles and the moans I gather that the problem is invariably in the crust. It is either too dry to roll out (resulting in no pie at all-just filling) or so gooey and soft that it tears and sticks when rolled (resulting in a messy pie). Quite often, if it is easy to roll out, it tastes and feels like cardboard when baked.
"The first thing I ask the students in any of my pastry classes is how many of them have made pies before. Of the half or so who respond in the affirmative, I ask how many have made pies that were actually eaten. Between the chuckles and the moans I gather that the problem is invariably in the crust. It is either too dry to roll out (resulting in no pie at all-just filling) or so gooey and soft that it tears and sticks when rolled (resulting in a messy pie). Quite often, if it is easy to roll out, it tastes and feels like cardboard when baked.
When I made my first pie, it must have been by pure luck that it turned out well enough for me to do it a second, third, and fourth time, because I sure enough did.
Although luck is always welcome, the art of making pie crusts (and it certainly is an art) is something that combines not just understanding of ingredients and technique, but, most importantly, experience. In other words — practice, practice, practice! It is valuable to know, for example, why your crust came out so impossibly dry. Is it a result of undermixing the flour and fat before adding the water, or perhaps not enough water, or maybe not enough fat.... Or is it something else altogether? (You see, at this point is seems very complicated, doesn't it?) But after actually doing it a few times (with some instructions as you go), all these problems will be merely academic and, as always, experience will turn out to be the best teacher.
Before you begin, do your homework! You say you hated physics and chemistry in high school? Maybe if you got to eat your projects at the end of each class, it would have been more enjoyable. Baking is definitely physics and chemistry, and a few basic rules can be very helpful."
