It’s a biscuit?

For all you mixing method fanatics out there (and aren’t they just everywhere in our culture these days?) wondering what mixing category pie dough falls into, the answer is: the biscuit method. It’s easy to see the resemblances…the “cutting in” of fat by hand, the emphasis on minimal handling, this despite the fact that biscuits are tall and fluffy and pie crusts are flat and dense. The goal they both share is, of course, tenderness. The rubbing of the butter (or shortening) into the mix serves to coat the flour granules with fat. This prevents the protein molecules within from bonding to one another, keeping the finished product toothsome and crumbly. And did I say delicious? Yes, that too.