Directions: |
Directions:Combine flour, shortening, sugar and salt in a med-large mixing bowl. In a separate bowl, beat 1 egg and then add ½ cup of ice water (I usually fill a 1 cup measuring cup with water and add a couple of ice cubes and then measure out ½ of the water) and 1 TBS vinegar. Mix well.
Slowly add wet mixture to dry mixture, pour around outside edge of mixing bowl and mix with a fork (fold edges where you pour the liquid into the center of the dry mix). Mix as little as possible, just so it holds together. You may not need to use all of the wet mix. If you use all of the wet mix and crust is still too dry, add a little more water. Err on the side of too wet as you can compensate by using more flour under and on top of crust when rolling it out. Compensating for too dry dough is hard to do without compromising the quality of the crust.
Divide dough into 4 balls. Keep dough you are not using covered with a damp cloth or wet paper towel. It dries out quickly and won’t roll well. Sprinkle the rolling surface with flour. Roll one ball at a time. You will need to sprinkle a little flour on top of the crust as you roll to keep the rolling pin from sticking. Once you have a circle rolled, place your pie pan upside-down on the crust and cut around the pan about 1 inch from the edge of the pan. Remove pan. Using a spatula, carefully lift half of the crust and fold it over itself (half circle) without tearing the crust. Lift the crust off surface and place fold in center of pie pan, unfold crust, and gently press into pan. Trim any excess crust from edge and crimp or fold edge as desired. Take a table fork and stab bottom and sides of crust. Err on the side of stabbing too much as it is hard to over fork. Cover with a damp cloth until you are ready to put crust in the oven. I usually roll all four crusts and put in the oven together (or if making double-crusted pies, have both pies ready to go in oven together). If you tear the crust while rolling or putting in pan, dampen the edges of the tear with water and gently press together.
Bake at 425º for 15 minutes or until the crusts just start to turn from white to golden. Leave crusts in oven but reduce temperature to 350º and bake for about 10 more minutes until golden brown. Crusts will be chewy if not baked at 425º first and will burn if baked at 350º the entire time. The high temperature along with the fork holes & shortening basically deep fry the crust making it flaky. Practice makes perfect. The more you make it, the better you get at recognizing how wet the dough should be, etc. |
This recipe for Grandma Hansen's Pie Crust is from