According to French Laundry founder Thomas Keller, per RealSimple, the act of leaving your dough to chill overnight can result in a crust that’s far less flaky than you’d expect for a classic apple pie. By letting the dough sit overnight, Keller explains, the dough will thicken and become incredibly firm. When the time comes to roll it out to bake the pie, you will not only find yourself struggling a bit more to get the dough flat, but you also run the risk of compounding all the fats and flour. As fats are key to helping create a flaky crust through the evaporation process, leaving those little air pockets (via Fine Cooking), the combination of fats and flour means you’ll get less of those pockets and a less flaky crust.
But hold on. In the very same article, Keller says that it’s important to keep everything cool. So, wouldn’t it be counterintuitive to make sure the dough isn’t cold? While it is important to keep your ingredients and your kitchen cool, this is done to keep the butter, fats, and other certain ingredients from melting during baking. You can chill your dough if you so like, but it’s recommended to leave it in the fridge for only an hour or so, and then prepare the pie the same day you’re going to bake it. So, get ready to commit to making the pie today to have the best results!
