Simple, flakey, and delicious pie crust made at home. Forget about the pre-made stuff!
When you think of pie crust you think of a 4 hour long, very tiring process which this pie crust is not, this pie crust is so simple you won’t even believe it! The hardest part is getting it into the dish, the rest is nothing! And with Thanksgiving next week you need the perfect pie crust recipe, and this my friends, is just that.
This pie crust is not…
labor intensive, time consuming, or hard.
This pie crust is…
Simple, flakey, buttery, and delicious.
Important tip:
Make sure your butter and shorting are very very cold, the worst thing that could happen to your dough is that when you’re rolling it out your fat starts melting, believe me I know what it’s like.
1) Start by cutting the cold butter and vegetable shorting together with a pastry cutter or two forks. Now cut in the flour until you have a nice crumbly texture, as shown above, then pour in the ice water and stir with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula until you have a workable dough. Add more ice water if needed, adding 1 Tablespoon more at a time.
2) On a lightly floured surface, shape the dough into a rough ball/rectangle and rap tightly in plastic rap as shown above then place that in the fridge for at least 30 minutes, or up to 4 days (which is why this can be a make ahead recipe).
3) Now that the dough has “chilled out,”on a lightly floured surface unwrap and roll it out into an 11 inch circle. It doesn’t have to be perfect. I use a ruler for accuracy.
4) Place your dough into a 9 inch pie dish. Very gently press it into all of the edges, then using a sharp knife cut the overhang off the sides and either form it with your fingers or with a fork. I used my fingers. You can also use the extra dough to fix any overly thin places or holes that may have formed .
5) Now it’s almost time to pre-bake the crust. Place a layer of foil on top of the dough, then either use dried beans or pie weights on top of the foil to keep the dough from rising. I use dried beans. Pre bake the pie for about 30-35 minutes or until the center is just about baked.
Homemade Pie Crust
Ingredients
- yields 1 pie crust
- 4 Tablespoons half a stick unsalted butter, chilled
- ½ cup vegetable shorting chilled
- 1½ cups all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/3 cup ice water + more if needed
Instructions
- In a large bowl with a pastry cutter or two forks cut together the chilled butter and shorting until combined. Cut in the flour starting with 1 cup then add the half-cup after the first cup is cut in.
- Once you have a nice crumb-like texture stir in the ice water. What I did was I measured out 1/3 of a cup of very cold water and put some ice cubes in it, then I poured the water into the bowl through a strainer. Stir it in with a rubber spatula or spoon adding a little more water, 1 teaspoon at a time, until you have a workable dough.
- Lightly flour your work surface then turn the dough out onto the work surface and form it into a rough ball (it doesn’t have to be perfect), then tightly rap it in plastic rap and chill for at least 1 hour or up to 4 days.
- After the dough is chilled preheat oven to 350F (177C or G4), turn it out onto a lightly floured work surface and roll it out into an 11 inch circle, making sure it has an even thickness and isn’t too thin or too thick.
- Place the pie dough into a pie dish (mine is a 9 inch pie dish) and press the dough gently into the bottom of the dish. Cut some of the overhang off but leave a little bit to pinch or fork shape. You can use any of the cut off dough to repair any mess-ups you’ve made.
- At this point you can either press the outside edges with a fork or you can form little pleats with your fingers, which is what I did.
- Cover the dough with foil and either use pie weights or dry beans to keep the dough from rising.
- Bake the crust in the preheated oven on a large, rimmed baking sheet. For half-baked pie shell, bake about 30-35 minutes or until the crust is partially baked and the edges are flakey to the touch. For baked shell, bake about 45-50 or until completely baked and golden brown and flakey.
