Published January 1, 2006. From Cook's Illustrated.
While tasters didn't find any store-bought crusts comparable to homemade, they thought one would do in a pinch.
A flaky, buttery homemade pie crust is the ultimate crown for our Chicken Pot Pie, but it's also a fair amount of work. How much would we sacrifice by using a store-bought crust instead? To find out, we tried several types and brands—both dry mixes (just add water) and ready-made crusts, either frozen or refrigerated—in recipes for chicken pot pie and custard pie.
The dry mixes all had problems. Some were too salty, some were too sweet, and all required both mixing and rolling—not much work saved. Homemade pastry isn't much more difficult, and its flavor and texture are infinitely better.
Frozen crusts were the ultimate timesavers (zero prep needed), but tasters found them pasty and bland, and it was nearly impossible to pry them from the flimsy foil "pie plate" in which they are sold.
The one refrigerated contender wasn't bad. Though the flavor was somewhat bland, it wasn't offensive, and the crust baked up to an impressive flakiness. Better yet, this fully prepared product comes rolled up and is flexible enough to top a pie or line one of your own (nondisposable) pie plates.
