Temperature

You must be very careful about only one thing: the pastry dough must never get warm. Pastry dough will withstand any number of mistakes—even the dreaded overworking—as long as the butter it contains never melts. So, regardless of the recipe or procedure you follow, you may need to refrigerate or freeze the pastry two or three times while you are making it, especially if you’re working in a warm kitchen.

If your pastry dough never gets warm while you’re making it or rolling it out, you’ll almost invariably end up with a more than acceptable crust. But if you want an exceptional crust, there are a few other things to consider.