Mealy Pie Dough

For mealy pie dough, the fat is blended into the flour more thoroughly, until the mixture looks like coarse cornmeal. The more complete coating of the flour with fat has several results:

• The crust is very short and tender because less gluten can develop.
• Less water is needed in the mix because the flour won’t absorb as much as in flaky dough.
• The baked dough is less likely to absorb moisture from the filling and become soggy.