Why did butter melt out of my pie crust?

[Anonymous]

I’ve had some butter melt out before, but this time butter pooled on top of the pie crust and dripped down onto the bottom of the oven.

I kept it cold, the butter was the size of peas before adding the water, etc. It has been a while since I made a pie but I’ve never had a disaster like this before, and I don’t think I did anything different.

[Anonymous]

Butter should be at room temperature when making the dough and fully mixed with the flour and water.

[Anonymous]

Oven temp was too low.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’ve had some butter melt out before, but this time butter pooled on top of the pie crust and dripped down onto the bottom of the oven.

I kept it cold, the butter was the size of peas before adding the water, etc. It has been a while since I made a pie but I’ve never had a disaster like this before, and I don’t think I did anything different.

you didn't fully mixed in?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Butter should be at room temperature when making the dough and fully mixed with the flour and water.

Nope.

[Anonymous]

Was it European butter?

I have had similar issues with European butter doing this in cookies and crust bc the fat/water ratio is different.

[Anonymous]

European butter does have a higher fat content and lower water content. It can make dough rise slightly lower, give a more cakey, instead of bready, texture to your baked goods, or leave a greasy mark. Some of these things are eminently desirable in certain recipes, not so much in others. However, it should NOT leak out. I think you might have used too much butter, or perhaps not had it cold enough when you were working it in. Usually the process requires butter to be mixed to a "sandy" texture, so pea-size lumps are slightly too large to leave in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ve had some butter melt out before, but this time butter pooled on top of the pie crust and dripped down onto the bottom of the oven.

I kept it cold, the butter was the size of peas before adding the water, etc. It has been a while since I made a pie but I’ve never had a disaster like this before, and I don’t think I did anything different.

you didn't fully mixed in?

Well the largest pieces were the size of peas, generally it had a sort of coarse polenta texture.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Butter should be at room temperature when making the dough and fully mixed with the flour and water.

what? no! that would give you shortbread

[Anonymous]

My guess is you used too much butter. But I’d be more concerned about the texture than the butter melting. How was it? What was the temperature?

I make crusts that have big chunks of butter sometimes - it makes the crust really flakey.

[Anonymous]

Butter and crust should be ice cold before popping into oven

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My guess is you used too much butter. But I’d be more concerned about the texture than the butter melting. How was it? What was the temperature?

I make crusts that have big chunks of butter sometimes - it makes the crust really flakey.

Yeah I use a smitten kitchen recipe and I like the chunks of butter. The crust was, predictably, tough. I baked it at 375. I thought I measured carefully but I was in a rush. And I was in a bad mood. So yeah, I wouldn't be surprised if it was too much butter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Butter and crust should be ice cold before popping into oven

This is the correct answer. Re-chill the dough before baking.

[Anonymous]

Use COLD Butter and a HOT oven.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Butter should be at room temperature when making the dough and fully mixed with the flour and water.

What? This is absolutely incorrect. The butter needs to be very cold, which is why you also need to make pie crust with ice water.

That said, I have no idea why the butter ran out--that has never happened to me before.