Can I Use Butter Instead Of Oil For The Pecan-Plus Pie Crust?

Our answer

Nigella's Pecan-Plus Pie (from NIGELLA CHRISTMS) has a no-roll crust. The pastry dough is made from a combination of flour, oil and milk, mixed to a rough dough. The dough is then pressed into the tart pan to form the crust.

You could use unsalted butter, though you would need to melt the butter for this recipe. However, the pie crust could be a little tougher as there will be slightly more liquid (as opposed to fat) in the mixture. Unsalted butter is 80% fat and the remainder is water and milk solids. In pastry, fat helps to tenderise a crust but water will toughen it as water strengthens the glutens in flour. The difference is probably only going to be very small and you may not notice any difference. You don't need to change the baking temperature or time. In Nigella's recipe the pie is cooked in a metal loose-bottomed fluted tart pan. This heats up quickly, so the crust should bake through without problems. However, if you are using a ceramic or Pyrex pie dish then it may be a good idea to put a baking sheet to heat up in the oven and put the pie dish onto the hot baking sheet, as this will give an extra little boost of heat to the bottom of the pie.