Help! My Pie Dough's Crumbly

You skipped the store-bought pie crust in an attempt to make your own from scratch, but the dough won't stop breaking apart when you try to roll it out. What should you do?

If the pastry is crumbly and difficult to roll, then the crust is most likely too dry. Increasing the moisture will help the dough become more coherent. Add a few sprinkles of cold water (no more than a teaspoon at a time), handling the dough as little as possible until it's evenly moistened.

Is the dough cracking only a tiny bit at the edges? If so, it simply needs to warm up a little bit — but not too much — before you work with it. If you warm it up too much, the crust won't come out flaky. It's a delicate balance to get homemade pie crust just right, but it'll be worth it when your dessert dish comes out of the oven looking and tasting more delicious than anything you could've thrown in your grocery cart.