Whether you’re making a savory pie, a dessert pie or a pizza, you want to be able to transfer the rolled crust into the baking pan without breaking it.
There are two ways to lift the crust dough to make sure that it stays in one piece.
The non-stick paper technique
Roll the dough between two sheets of non-stick paper. You peel off the top sheet and lift the rolled dough by holding the edges of the bottom sheet. You invert the rolled dough over the baking pan then peel off the paper. That’s the easier way. The problem is that you use a lot of paper and baking paper is not cheap.
The alternative way does not need any paper at all.
The rolling pin technique
Place the rolling pin near the edge of the rolled dough. Lift the edge of the rolled dough and wrap it around the rolling pin. Roll the rolling pin over the dough so the rest of the rough wraps around the rolling pin. Don’t roll too tightly especially when handling butter-based pie crust because the crust might stick all over itself. So, roll loosely.
Then, hold the rolling pin above the baking pan and position the visible edge of the dough near the edge of the pan. Unroll the dough and you’ve got it perfectly positioned in the pan.