Recipe: Extremely Flaky Sour Cream Crust

Enough dough for a 9-inch square or round baking dish

1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon salt

½ cup (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into 16 pieces

¼ cup sour cream

1. To make pastry in an electric mixer: Sift flour, baking soda and salt into a large bowl. Add butter pieces and mix with an electric mixer on low speed until the largest of the butter pieces are the size of small lima beans, about 1 minute. There will still be a little loose flour. Add sour cream and continue mixing about 30 seconds or until large clumps of smooth dough pull away from the sides of the bowl. Stop mixer and scrape beaters clean, if needed.

2. To make pastry by hand: Sift flour, baking soda and salt into a large bowl. Use a pastry blender or your fingers to combine the flour mixture and butter until lima-bean-size pieces form. Add sour cream and stir with a large spoon for about 2 minutes or until clumps of smooth dough form.

3. Form the dough into a smooth ball and flatten it into a 6-inch square. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate 30 to 60 minutes. You will still see small pieces of butter in the dough. This is good and contributes to the flaky texture. The dough is now ready to roll.

From "Potpies: Yumminess in a Dish" by Elinor Klivans