Basic Pie Crust
Based on Karen Barker’s pie crust recipe in her book Sweet Stuff: Karen Barker’s American Desserts. This is not the pastry recipe that we use (we don’t include any shortening in our pastry), but it is a good recipe for beginners as the addition of shortening makes it much more forgiving to work with!
Makes enough for 2 single crust pies or 1 double crust or lattice topped pie.
Ingredients
- 2⅔ cups flour
- ¾ tsp salt
- ¾ tbsp sugar (optional)
- ¼ tsp baking powder
- 4 OZ (8 tbsp) unsalted butter, chilled, cut into pieces
- 4 OZ (½ cups + 1 tbsp + 2 tsp) vegetable shortening, chilled, cut into pieces
- 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- ⅓ to ½ cups cold water, as needed
Instructions
- Place flour, salt, optional sugar, and baking powder in food processor with a steel blade. Pulse to combine.
- Add the chilled butter and shortening, pulse until it is even mixed and the mixture resembles coarse sand. Remove to a mixing bowl.
- Working quickly, add enough cold water, while tossing mixture with a fork, until dough just begins to come together. Don’t squeeze the pastry as you don’t want to melt the butter! Divide into 2 equal portions, wrap in plastic, and chill for several hours or overnight.
This can be frozen for up to 1 month – defrost in refrigerator overnight before using.
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Originally from Pacific Pie.