Perfect Pie Crust
“Promises and pie-crust are made to be broken.”
– Jonathan Swift, Polite Conversation.
My grandma used to tell the story of herself as a young woman, making pie crust after pie crust, trying to suss out by herself how to make a decent one. Apparently, a lot of her early efforts went in the trash – and this from a woman to whom throwing away food (or just about anything, for that matter) was a mortal sin.
I can personally attest to the beauty of her pie crusts in the end, but for such a simple thing with so few ingredients, pie crusts sure do evoke a lot of anxiety. Granted, there are a lot of places where pie shell prep can go awry – perhaps the two most common are during the adding-ice-water phase, and during the rolling-out phase.
But never fear! With the tips below and this easy recipe, your crusts will be looking gorgeous in no time!
The Steps
Tips
- Shortening adds to the flakiness of this crust and helps the shell keep its structure, making this an ideal recipe if you’ll be doing any fancy lattice work, or other decorative details. If you prefer the flavor of an all-butter crust – and I’ll admit, I often do for sweet dessert pies – see my all-butter pie crust recipe.
- Cold, cold, cold – be sure your shortening is cold, your butter is cold (and cubed), and your ice water is just that – icy! For truly flaky dough and great flavor, you want your fat deposits (butter and/or shortening) kept cold and suspended throughout the dough rather than warmed up and fully integrated.
- Watch the water – too much ice water means too much gluten means tough dough. You want to work the dough as little as possible so only add enough ice water to barely keep the dough together when squeezing it in your hand.
- Chill for at least an hour before rolling out – this will help prevent shrinking. But let it rest on the counter for 10 minutes or so after taking it out of the fridge. If you roll it when it’s too cold, it will likely crack.
Reality Bakes
This pie crust is excellent in sweet pies, like my Classic Deep-Dish Apple Pie, or in savory dishes such as the rich and delicious Chicken Pot Pie. Give them both a try!
Perfect Pie Crust
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups (350g) all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled with a knife
- 2 tsp sugar (optional for sweet pies; omit altogether when making savory pie crusts)
- 1 tsp kosher or table salt
- 1/4 cup (46g) cold vegetable shortening, cut into small pieces
- 10 tbsp (142g) cold unsalted butter, cubed
- 1/4 to 1/2 cup (2 to 4 oz) ice water
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar (optional), and salt until combined. Cut the shortening in with a fork, a pastry cutter, or your fingers, until mixture is crumbly. Cut in half the chilled butter until crumbly again. Cut in the other half of the chilled butter and work in with your fingers until mixture is mealy and there are pea-sized lumps of butter. If using a food processor, pulse the flour, sugar and salt briefly to combine. Add the shortening and pulse until integrated. Add the cold cubed butter and pulse until mixture is mealy and butter has formed pea-sized lumps, usually about 8 to 10 pulses. Transfer mixture to a large mixing bowl.
- Slowly drizzle 4 tablespoons ice water into the flour mixture and gently mix it in. Keep drizzling in the ice water 1 tablespoon at a time until the dough starts to come together. When you are able to squeeze dough and have it just stick together stop adding water.
- Shape dough into a shaggy ball and turn out onto a lightly floured surface. For a standard, 9-inch double crust pie, cut the dough into two pieces with one larger than the other for the bottom crust. For single pie crusts, cut the dough in half. Shape both into discs, flatten, and wrap tightly in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least one hour.
- Allow chilled dough to warm up for about 10 to 15 minutes before rolling out. Fill and bake according to recipe instructions.
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