Pie Crust Recipe

Easy as pie is not just a quaint saying, but also a tasty reality when you are armed with a great pie crust recipe.

Keep Your Cool

There are some secrets to making perfect pie dough that are generally easy to follow. First, be sure to keep everything very cold. As you measure out the butter, shortening, and water, store them in the refrigerator until the last possible moment.

The reasoning behind the cool treatment is this: if the butter and shortening are cold, they will not melt into the flour but will actually create little pockets of fat. In turn, these little pockets of fat will, as the piecrust cooks, create the flaky layers that make the difference between a passable pie and a great and delightful pie.

Yes, I said shortening. I know that in the past I have railed against shortening, but in this case we are using shortening in our pie crust recipe to give us a better flake. There are some people who use lard in their pie crust recipe. So have I and I have gotten very good results with it, but I have found lard to be difficult to find from time to time. Since the method I have been taught to make pie dough utilizes shortening and I have gotten consistently excellent results with this recipe, I am, this time, advocating the use of shortening.

Pies Are Round

This recipe uses pastry flour because pie is a pastry. While you can use all-purpose flour, your pie crust will be a bit tougher than if you used pastry flour. I have been able to find pastry flour in just about every grocery store.

In order to make the pie crust even more tender and flaky, we will be using apple cider vinegar. Apple cider vinegar, vinegar, or any acid in general, will help the glutens relax. Relaxed gluten and cold fat equals the best pie crust recipe you have ever baked.

Pie Crust Recipe

This pie crust recipe makes enough dough to make one pie. I will give you a larger recipe as well because you can freeze your dough. If you decide to freeze a portion of the pie dough, be sure to thaw it in your refrigerator at least overnight before using it.

For One Pie

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups pastry flour
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• A pinch of salt
• 2 1/2 ounces of cold butter cut into 1/2 inch cubes
• 2 1/2 ounces of cold shortening broken into small pieces
• 1/2 teaspoon of apple cider vinegar
• 1/2 cup of ice water

Instructions

1. Sift pastry flour and sugar.
2. Add in salt.
3. Using a pastry cutter or a plastic bench scraper, cut in the butter and shortening.
4. Drizzle in the apple cider vinegar.
5. Drizzle in the cold water and continue to cut the flour and fat until the dough becomes soft and dry.
6. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and roll out to 1/2 inch thick.
7. Let the dough relax in your refrigerator for at least 1 hour.
8. Then roll out to 1/4 inch thick and place in your pie plate.
9. Then fill or blind bake according to your pie recipes needs.

For enough dough to make four pies you will need:

Ingredients

• 2 pounds, 5 1/2 ounces pastry flour
• 1 1/4 ounces sugar
• 3/4 ounce salt
• 10 ounces of cold butter cut into 1/2 inch cubes
• 10 ounces of cold shortening broken into small pieces
• 2 1/2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
• 10-15 ounces of water

Instructions

1. Sift pastry flour and sugar.
2. Add in salt.
3. Using a pastry cutter or a plastic bench scraper, cut in the butter and shortening.
4. Drizzle in the apple cider vinegar.
5. Drizzle in the cold water and continue to cut the flour and fat until the dough becomes soft and dry.
6. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and roll out to 1/2 inch thick.
7. Let the dough relax in your refrigerator for at least 1 hour.
8. Then roll out to 1/4 inch thick and place in your pie plate.
9. Fill or blind bake according to your pie recipes needs.

Tips and Hints

• You might not need to use all the water. Add the water slowly until your dough is soft but can hold together. Stop adding water at this pointand proceed with the recipe.
• When baking, it's generally better to use table salt than kosher salt. The smaller grains of table salt mix in just a little better. I have made cookies and cakes with both salts and I find that kosher salt sometimes doesn't mix in as well, giving some bites more saltier than others. If you find that you only have kosher salt on hand, you can grind it down using a mortar and pestle, two spoons or anything that you can think of to get a finer salt grain.