How-To: Loaded Baked Potato Slab Pie Dough

Get tips for working with this pie's unique homemade dough.

©2014, Cooking Channel

©2014, Cooking Channel

©2014, Cooking Channel

©2014, Cooking Channel

©2014, Cooking Channel

©2014, Cooking Channel

©2014, Cooking Channel

©cooking channel 2014

©cooking channel 2014

©2014, Cooking Channel

Find Your Flour

When baking any pie, make sure to use the type of flour called for in the recipe. All-purpose does fine in most doughs; bread flour has more gluten and makes great bread but a tough pie crust. Whole-wheat flour also has more gluten, along with a coarser texture and nuttier flavor you might not want in your crust. Always smell and taste your flour before using it to confirm freshness. Rancid, old flour makes for a sad day in pie land.

Get the Recipe: Loaded Baked Potato Slab Pie

Measure with a Spoon

Our recipes have you measure flour by spooning it into a dry measure, then leveling it off. Whisk flour to lighten, then add spoonfuls of flour to the cup until it is overfilled.

Level It

Sweep off the excess with the back of a knife or an offset spatula to level off the flour. Scooping flour up with a measuring cup can pack it too tightly, giving you more flour than you need and a tough crust.

Pay Attention to Texture

Some dough recipes call for cutting butter into flour until you get large clumps or pea-shaped balls; others, like this one, call for coarse meal. Here’s what that looks like.

Know when it's done

This is what it looks like when dough “comes together.” It still looks crumbly, but once we give the dough a gentle squeeze, it forms a soft little blob. If you continue to process past this point, you run the risk of an overworked, tough dough.

Slice It

The flat blade of a bench scraper makes it a good tool for dividing dough and cleaning up the extra flour and dried dough bits from your work surface.

Roll with a Ring

The orange ring is a rolling pin guide. You can get them in different thicknesses. Put one on either end of a straight rolling pin to keep your dough even.

Press the Dough

Gently use your fingers to press the dough into the corners of the pan, so as not to make any holes. Heatproof glass or ceramic work equally well; metal will work too.

Almost Ready

This potato pie is now ready for a sprinkle of bacon before we cover it with the top crust. For deep crusts, divide your dough into one-third for the top and two-thirds for the bottom, so you have enough dough for the sides, with a consistent thickness all around.

Crimp the Edges

To make a basic crimp, first pinch the two edges of dough together and tuck them inside the baking dish to create a slightly raised edge. Pinch one side of the raised edge with your thumb and index finger while pressing your other index finger into the gap each pinch makes.