If you have problems with sticky or cracked dough, it may in part be because of a few things happening while mixing the ingredients and during rolling. Here are few tips that will give you perfect piecrusts every time.

Think Cold: Keep everything connected with pie dough well chilled. Dough becomes sticky when it is too warm. The tendency is to throw more flour on the countertop or to add more flour to the dough, which always results in a tough crust and problems with rolling it out.

The Ingredients: Shortening (called butter here), a key ingredient, acts as a spacer between the gluten strands in the flour and will produce a flaky crust only if it has not melted before you put it in a hot oven.

1. For very flaky pastry, chill the fat 15 to 20 minutes in the freezer before mixing. Make sure the water you use is ice-cold; some people even freeze the flour for 15 to 20 minutes as well. Cut your well-chilled butter into small pieces and quickly distribute it through the flour and dry ingredients. Use a fork to toss the flour mixture while adding the MINIMUM of cold water. Work quickly or the shortening will become soft and sticky, which will result in a flavorless tough crust.