The most important ingredient in making a delicious piecrust is good, fresh butter. We use unsalted, high-fat butter—82% or more fat content—often called European-style. Plugra is a good, readily available option, as is Cabot. If you can’t get your hands on either of these, you can definitely use a standard butter, but it should be sweet (unsalted) butter for sure.
For a readily available flour, we recommend Hecker’s all-purpose unbleached flour. Gold Medal is also good. No matter the brand, make sure to use unbleached flour. We find that using pastry flour results in a subpar, sandier, less flaky crust. Organic flour is increasingly available on the market; if you can find it, all the better.
For the recipes in this book, you will want to use large eggs. Finding locally grown, farm-fresh eggs shouldn’t be that difficult, so make an effort to get some—the flavor and richness of fresh eggs are so much better than those of commercially produced eggs. At the very least, make an effort to get cage-free eggs.
Using a fresh, high-quality heavy cream (preferably not the ultra-pasteurized kind) is an absolute must; it is pricey but totally worth it. We use a cream with 40% milk fat content, though you can substitute cream with a lower milk fat content if that’s what is available to you. Battenkill Valley Creamery is our favorite source for milk; it is small and local. Get your fresh dairy as close to home as possible.
In the previous section, you will have noticed our emphasis on fresh, local, and seasonal when it comes to fruit. Try your hardest to get your fruits locally. If you don’t have enough of one kind of fruit, perhaps you can combine it with another; alternatively, you can substitute one fruit for another of similar structure and moisture content. Canned fruit doesn’t count unless you canned it yourself. Think outside the box, use unconventional fruits, look to the natural world around you, and think about using fruits in season. Start a friendship with a fruit farmer—or two or three.