I learned most my cooking and baking skills by trial and error. Pie crust is no exception. Believe it or not, recipes used to be passed on down through families and friends. They weren’t readily available as they are today thanks to the internet, and sometimes treasured recipes were guarded and even taken to the grave. Truth! A dear older woman shared her pie crust recipe with me. She made some of the best pie around so I decided to give it a try. I found it challenging to roll the crust out and it didn’t quite work out as a crust so I decided to give it another try. I reasoned it would be easier if I used hot water. And boy was it! It rolled right out and went beautifully into the pie plate. I filled it and baked my pie. It was a lovely sight. I was having friends over for dinner and couldn’t wait to showcase this masterpiece. But when the time came to cut into it, the knife barley would cut through, and chewing it, well let’s just say I learned a valuable lesson that day.
The secret to a light flaky crust is temperature. Make sure to use cold fat, cold water and if possible, cold flour. Working with the cold ingredients is a little more challenging, however with a little practice you can do it.
- Ingredients:
- 2 cups flour 240g
- 1/2 tsp salt ( I tend to use a tad more)
- 2/3 cup fat 127g (I use Spectrum all vegetable shortening, the expeller pressed one.)
- 7 to 8 Tbls Ice Water
Directions: In a bowl whisk flour and salt together. Add cold fat (I use a kitchen scale, put the bowl on and weigh out my fat. No Mess 🙂 *Note If you are weighing out your flour, you will probably need less water. Now with a pastry blender, blend until it resembles course crumbs. using a fork, add a couple Tbls of ice water at a time until the flour has been combined and dough is smooth, but NOT sticky. Do not over work the dough, it becomes tough. Shape dough into a ball, cover and refrigerate for 2 hours.It is now ready to use. This recipe makes dough for 2 crust pie or 8 hand pies. (recipes soon)
The yumminess you can make from this recipe is endless 😉 Have fun and let’s get cooking!
Cheers, Kristy
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Cooking with Kristy 
Can you use butter, and can you freeze dough for later use?
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Hi Therese, you can use clarified butter, but pie crust does not freeze as well as other pastries.
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