Pie Crust

When I think of pie crust I think of the left over pie crust mom would roll out sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar and bake on a cookie sheet until golden brown!  I also remember all the times I couldn't wait for it to cool down and burned my tongue..........oh wait, I still do that!
    

3 c. flour

2 tsp. sugar

¼ tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt         

¾ c. shortening

½ c. cold butter

1 egg

1 tsp. vinegar

5 T. water

Sift dry ingredients together into a large bowl. 

Cut in shortening and butter. This means you need to mix the flour with the shortening and  butter until it looks like you have little clumps of pebbles or peas in the flour.....

I'm going to use a pastry cutter to cut the shortening and butter into the flour. Here are the three tools I will use. A pastry cutter a fork and my hands.

 Make a well in the middle of mixture and set aside. 

Mix egg, vinegar and water together and pour into the well in flour mixture.  

Stir all together with a fork until the dough begins to stick together more......

 then form into a ball with hands working as little as possible.  Be careful not to handle the dough too much or it mixes the shortening and butter together too much and will give you a tougher crust...

Cover with plastic wrap and place in refrigerator for at least 4 hours or overnight. 

Remove from refrigerator and divide into fourths.  Set other 3 aside, for other pies.

To roll the dough out, it is good to put some flour down on what ever surface you have.  Marble is good to roll out on or a pastry mat works great too.  I am using a pastry mat I bought from Pampered Chef several years ago, here is the link to see the one they have now. http://www.pamperedchef.com/ordering/prod_details.tpc?prodId=16731&words=pasty%20mat this is a nice tool to have because it has the measurements to help you make the right size circle.  Roll the dough out at least 1 inch bigger than the pie dish, rolling from the center out, turning the dough as you go and adding a little flour underneath if it starts to stick....if you flour the pastry mat you  just turn the mat as you go.

When you get crust to the size you need, and about 1/8 inch thick.... fold in half then in half again so it is easier to place in pie dish.

Center the best you can then gently unfold to cover dish making sure it is flat in the bottom and up the sides. You want about a half to one inch to hanging over the edge.

If the edge is not exact all the way around, don't worry!  You're going to turn it under so it will look nice anyway!

Now you are going make the edge pretty.  This is called fluting or to flute the edge.  Because I can't use both hands today because I'm taking pictures also, I hope this part will be clear enough for you.  If you could imagine me using the nail side of my right hand index finger, I would be gently pushing in next to  my left finger that is pulling out.  Not too hard to do but you can practice a little first if you want to. Now do that all the way around....

 Perfect!!

This recipe makes 4 single layer crusts or 2 double crusts.  

If your pie recipe calls for a baked single layer crust such as for a  cream pie, bake crust first at 425 degrees for 10 minutes, let cool and fill.

© Nancy Rappleye 2011