How early can I make pie dough Without freezing?

M

mariadnoca

Moderator
I’m going to make Thanksgiving pies on Wednesday. Can I go ahead and make the pie dough now or should I wait till like say Monday?

Hopefully, I can keep them non-smoke flavored in the refrigerator.

(Have us bay area folks mentioned how much smoke there is in the air from the fires here? I’ve lived here my whole life and I have never seen this much smoke before. Even when “our” mountains were burning. It feels like our whole state is burning down.)

 
Maria, the only dough that changed in the refrigerator (versus freezer) had

rising agents in it. It was a laminated scone dough with baking powder and after 10 days it had taken on a slightly grey-ish tone. I kept thinking I would bake more each night, but that never happened. I've kept that same dough in the freezer for months with no problem.

I recently made four different sugar cookie doughs and they were in the refrigerator for a week. Again, all had rising agents, but only one had a subtle change to color (but none to taste).

I've left pie dough in the refrigerator for 2 weeks with no problem. Mine has AP flour, leaf lard, butter, salt and sugar. The thing I have to remember is to pull it out sooner when ready to bake because it gets hard in there.

 
I have made and stored pie dough in the fridge for 2 days B4 rolling out and using, but BH&G says U

can do it 3 days ahead==>

BH&G comments: You can also refrigerate unbaked pie dough or unbaked pie crust for up to 3 days. Keep tightly covered with aluminum foil or plastic wrap.

PS from Wigs: I also put my dough into a plastic Zip-Lock bag to store in addition to wrapping it in plastic wrap first before storing in either the fridge or in the freezer.

Other opinions:
Monita is a Recipe Tester for Food52 who says

You can keep well-wrapped pie dough in the fridge if you plan on using it within 24 hours. Otherwise, I'd put it straight in the freezer

Shuna is a pastry chef in New York City and author of the acclaimed blog Eggbeater says
I will second the 24 hour rule. It also depends on how cold your refrigerator is and if there's butter in your dough. a pie dough made exclusively with vegetable shortening is not quite as sensitive to oxidizing as one made with only butter. Also the disc of dough should be as flat as possible. If you're needing to thaw it before rolling, thaw it slowly in fridge rather than at room temp.

ChefOno says

Rose Levy Beranbaum says two days stored in the refrigerator (frozen up to three months). I've gone longer in the refrigerator but at some point mold will appear in as dark spots distributed throughout the dough. Ick. Moist flour creates ideal conditions for mold.

 
The one time I had some stored pie dough take on a grey-ish hue is when I'd used UN-bleached flour

instead of my usual Gold Medal All-Purpose Bleached flour. I always assumed it was because of the unbleached flour, but I do put a bit of baking powder in my pie crusts and never thought the grey tone might be due to a leavening agent. Hmmm, I am pretty sure it was dough I'd frozen, too, but forgotten about so it was in there longer than I'd meant to leave it. What I definitely remember is that I was NOT pleased! ha!

 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top