Basic Pie Crust

This is a general recipe for a crust that can be used for either dessert or savory pies.   The recipe is enough for two 9 to 10 inch single crust pies or one double crust pie.   It is the starting point for main courses such as quiches, savory tarts and pot pies.   For one single crust pie, cut the recipe in half.

Sift the flour and salt together.   Cut the shortening and butter into the flour mixture by mashing with a fork.   Do this until the dough resembles bread crumbs or corn meal. The ingredients should be thoroughly mixed.   Add the water a little at a time. Blend lightly into the dough.   You want the dough to hold together without being wet or soggy.   Form into two balls of about equal size.   Roll out each ball on a lightly floured surface using a lightly floured rolling pin.

Baking unfilled crust

For things like cream pies, you will want to bake the crust unfilled.   Preheat the oven to 450°F.   Put something on top of the dough to hold it down.   Another pie plate works well.   Alternatively, fill the pie crust with dried beans (pinto beans work well).   This will keep the crust from separating from the pan.   Bake for 10 - 12 minutes.   The crust should be golden.

Notes

1:   The amount of water you need will depend on the protein content of the flour.
      Flour with a high amount of protein will absorb more water than flour
      containing less protein.   I have found that 4 tablespoons tend to be the
      minimum that you can get away with. Usually, it takes 6 - 8.

2:   Have the water as cold as possible. This helps the crust get flaky.

3:   Work (mix and roll) the crust as little as possible. Mixing and rolling are the
      equivalent of kneading. Kneading develops gluten, which is nice for bread
      baking, but leads to lousy pie crusts.

4:   Chilling the dough for up to 12 hours before rolling out will tenderize it. If you
      do this, let it warm up for an hour (or more) before rolling it out. Rolling out
      cold dough leads to overworking it.

Variations

1:   Replace some or all of the shortening with lard. This makes wonderfully flaky
      crusts (Hey, it's not a party unless you're serving a pork product!).

2:   Replace 1/3 to 1/2 the flour with whole wheat flour.

3:   Add dried herbs or spices to the crust. Depending what the filling will be thyme,
      sage, powdered rosemary, marjoram, cinnamon, black pepper or oregano work
      well.

4:   Replace the shortening and butter with 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) chilled unsalted
      butter and cut the salt to 1/2 tsp. Cut the butter into the flour and salt mixture.
      Beat together one chilled egg, 2 Tbs cold lemon juice and 2 Tbs ice water. Mix
      into the dough. Add more ice water if necessary.

5:   Replace 1/6 - 1/3 of the flour with yellow (or white) corn meal.