Directions: |
Directions:Mix together flour and Crisco with pastry blender until the consistency of coarse meal. Then add cold water by tablespoons, mixing well after each tablespoon is added. Keep adding water by tablespoons and mixing well until dough gets sticky enough to cohere when formed into a ball. This just takes practice. Form into a ball. Prepare surface with flour or pastry cloth, and roll out pastry into a 12" round. (You will need to roll it out in all directions, making it as uniformly flat as possible.) Then carefully fold it in half, placing it over half of pie plate. Unfold it and lay it out over pie plate, pressing bottom and sides against the plate. Crimp edges with fork tines all the way around and cut off excess pastry. It is now ready to bake (if using a pre-baked shell) or to fill with filling for a baked pie (such as pumpkin).
For a two-crust pie, divide the dough into two equal parts. Repeat the steps for the bottom crust, but do not crimp edges or cut off excess. Then fill the pastry with whatever filling you are using, adding dots of butter, lemon juice, or whatever other additions you will use. Then brush the bottom crust edge with water, and roll out the top crust the same way you did the bottom crust. Lay the folded top crust on top of the filling, unfold and gently press the edges of the top crust to the edges of the bottom crust. Then crimp with a fork all the way around and cut off excess pastry. Cut two v-shaped slits on each side of the top crust to allow steam to escape. If desired, you can sprinkle the top crust with sugar before baking. |
This recipe for Grandma's Pie Crust is from