Sunday, December 17, 2017

Recipe - Pie Crust

Recipe for Pie Crust

There are countless recipes for pie crust.  This one is a slight alteration of the one my mother taught me.   I always make pie crust from scratch.  They taste so much better than anything you can buy from the store.



NOTE: I bake my pies in glass pie pans because I believe it cooks them the most evenly and doesn't interfere with the flavor.

Pie Crust
This is for a single pie crust, I usually double to make 2 pies.  Also, If you have a pie with crust on the top, or latticework crust, double this for 1 pie.

Ingredients

Flour: 2 cups
Salt: 1tsp
Shortening: 1/2 cup
Unsalted Butter: 1/4 cup
(You can do all shortening or all butter, or you can switch the ratios from above.  I like the consistency that shortening adds, but I like the buttery taste.  I've found a combination works best for me.)
Cold Water: 5tbsp

Directions
30 minutes by hand, or 15 minutes with a Kitchenaid mixer

1. Mix flour & salt.
2. Cut in shortening until pea size. (A Merlot 7qt Kitchenaid Chef's Catalog Special
Edition Mixer purchased for $35 at a warehouse sale makes this far easier than using a pair of butter knives. (It's okay to hate me now.))
3. Sprinkle water in 1tbsp at a time.
4. Toss lightly with fork and form dough into a ball.
5. Dust clean surface with flour, flatten dough into pancake shape. Then roll with rolling pin until proper size for pie pan.
6. Roll pie crust onto rolling pin. Place pie pan underneath and unroll crust over pie pan.  Lift edges while gently pushing into bottom corner of pie pan with fingers.
7. Trim edge until a inch of crust is left all the way around.  Fold edge of crust under to create a ridge around the top of the pan.
8. Scallop the edges, using two fingers of each hand next to each other and thumbs in between.  Go around the edge.
9. Add whichever pie filling you like and you're good to go!

Picture of the gorgeous 7qt Merlot Kitchenaid.

Happy eating!

John H. Carroll

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