Make the perfect pie crust in your stand mixer

The good stuffingThe good stuffingIt’s turkey time, which means you might not know how to cook the biggest meal of the year. Don’t worry, we at Lifehacker have you covered The good stuffing, with tips, tricks, and loads of recipes to make Thanksgiving the easiest and tastiest possible.

Thanksgiving just isn’t Thanksgiving without a pie. So it follows that every Thanksgiving needs a Pie Captain – and with COVID-19 nixing travel and in-person meetings this year, those tasks may be yours for the very first time. If you’re used to homemade crust but are afraid to make your own, use your stand mixer for the next best thing.

Baking by hand is actually quite easy, but it depends enough on the temperature to be intimidating. A good pie crust has flaky layers, which you get by handling butter that is pliable – not soft or melted – into long, thin sheets. But the window between “bendable” and “soft” is only a few degrees Fahrenheit, and working confidently indoors takes a lot of experience. If you live in a hot climate – or if you just have an overly aggressive radiator – keeping butter in that perfect spot is only possible if you really know what you’re doing.

A stand mixer levels the playing field. Replacing a paddle attachment for your hands completely takes buttery body heat out of the equation, and if your kitchen is unusually hot, you can pre-cool the bowl and the pallet for additional fusion assurance. The mixing process is essentially an operation milling: Where food processors turn bthe graters crush them into delicate shards, the palette gently crushes them into – you guessed it – long, flat sheets. Since the mixers combine the ingredients so efficiently, the dough comes together quickly. This is obviously convenient, but it also gives the butter less time to think about melting on you.

You can use any recipe you like, but if you’re not at all familiar with making pie crust, check out King Arthur Flour’s Guide to Pie Crust on Base for a more detailed procedure. The steps will sound familiar to anyone who has tried a pie crust even once: Refrigerate the cubed butter (and bowl and paddle, if you like) in the freezer. Combine the dry ingredients on low speed, add the cold butter and mix until each piece is flattened and coated with flour. Gradually sprinkle in the ice water and mix until the dough holds just when pressed. Finished. That you deploy it right away or freeze for later, your pie crust will turn out just as flaky and delicious as the hand-made one, without lifting a finger.