dough

Whether you're spearheading the entire feast or just bringing dessert, one thing's for sure: You don't want to fudge up everyone's last bite, the pie.

You skip the store-bought stuff in an attempt to make your own from scratch, but the dough won't stop breaking apart when you try to roll it out. What should you do?

If the pastry is crumbly and difficult to roll, then the crust is most likely too dry. Adding moisture will help the dough become more coherent.

Add a few sprinkles of cold water (no more than a teaspoon at a time), handling the dough as little as possible until it's evenly moistened. Is the dough cracking only a tiny bit at the edges? If so, it simply needs to warm up a little bit — but not too much, otherwise the crust won't come out flaky.

Worried that your turkey's too dry? Gravy's too lumpy? Bread doesn't rise? Then write us in the YumSugar Community to get that problem solved!

Thanks to your encouraging words, this Summer, I've made it a goal to officially get over my fear of dough. I'm following ticamorena's advice, she says, "it's more about experience." Since practice makes perfect, I'm taking every opportunity I can to make dishes that involve dough. I made grilled pizzas, blueberry pie, and last weekend, this peach pie. Although I prefer pies with a lattice on top, as an exercise, I made a double-crusted pie. I followed the recipe to a T, and the dough wasn't that hard to roll out! Oh, side note: the pie is really good. You should make it. If you want the recipe I used, keep reading.

PartySugar keeps puff pastry in her freezer; it comes in handy when she's looking for an easy appetizer to pull together at the 11th hour. But what exactly is puff pastry, and what differentiates this dough from others? Puff pastry originated in the 15th century in France, where it's known as pâte feuilletée, or "leafed pastry," a reference to the dough's countless flaky layers. Although its main ingredients are as basic as flour, butter, water, and salt, puff pastry expands exponentially when baked, rising to up to eight times its original height. The dough's many layers are the result of a labor-intensive process of chilling butter in between layers of pastry, rolling it out, and allowing it to rest. The prevalence of commercial, ready-made puff pastry makes for easier preparations of sweet and savory classics, including turnovers, strudels, croissants, palmiers, beef wellington, and pot pie. To achieve the best results, avoid overhandling the dough (this will make it tough), and bake it in a preheated oven at a moderate temperature.

Source: Flickr User syvwlch

There are some dishes that I'm absolutely terrified of making at home. They're scary because I'm afraid of failing. Dough (pizza, bread, pie, etc.) has always been very intimidating to me. However, I'm taking baby steps, like mastering pie dough, to overcome this fear. One recipe that I'm totally intimidated by, and not ready to face, is Boston cream pie. I made it years ago and it was a total disaster. The sponge cake was dry and crunchy, the custard didn't set, and the chocolate glaze didn't harden. Since then, I've avoided making Boston cream pie at all costs. I'm sure I'm not the only one who is frightened by certain recipes, so tell me, what dishes intimidate you?

Anytime I bake a recipe that requires the rolling of dough (pizza, pie, cracker, etc.), I get a little scared. What can I say? Dough is intimidating. That's why, whenever I can make it easier on myself, I do! Many recipes will have you place the rolled, ready-to-be-baked dough on parchment paper. When this happens, I recommend rolling the dough out directly on the parchment paper. None of the dough gets stuck to the kitchen counter. To move the rolled dough to the pan, you simply lift the entire thing, parchment paper included.

Do you have a trick for dealing with dough? Please share it with us below!