Directions: |
Directions:More than 40 years ago, hoping to impress a woman I was dating, I made a pie for her. I do not remember what the filling was. What I remember is that, rather than be impressed, she scorned my use of a store-bought pie shell. She told me it was simple and just took a little practice. I think she gave me these proportions and I learned from reading the subtleties of the process. This recipe is for a single crust; if you need a top to your pie, double it. First put flour and shortening in a bowl. (I have had trouble with cheap store-brand shortening-- use Crisco. I never used lard but many afficionados insist it is best; my son and daughter-in-law had a long-standing feud as to whose pie crust was better, his dad's or her mother's, because of this issue.) Use a pastry cutter (pictured) to blend the two ingredients until the pieces of flour-covered shortening are somewhere between rice and corn in size. (Many say two knives or just your hands work just as well, but I never could make those work.) DO NOT OVER MIX! When you roll out the dough, these pieces are what makes the crust flaky. Finally, add the ice water. Do this very slowly with a fork which you use to continually keep lifting and moving the flour/shortening. You do not want to stir it in since this would be equivalent to over mixing. (The water, when the pie bakes, turns to steam lifting and separating the flaky layers.) You can roll the dough now, but it is much better if you can gather all the dough into a ball, wrap in wax paper or plastic wrap, and chill it for a couple of hours. When you roll it out, flour the surface well, flatten the ball with your hands to a thick disk, flour the disk top, and roll it out to as circular-shaped a disk as you can, a bit larger than your pie pan. Now comes a tricky part--getting it off the surface and onto the pie pan; I usually use a pastry scraper (also pictured) to lift up one side and fold in half, then repeat to end up with it folded in quarters. Now you can pretty easily pick it up and drop it in the pan and unfold it. (Some folks roll it around their rolling pins and unroll it in the pan. I have never tried that.) If there are tears or holes they can be pretty easily patched up with pieces of scrap dough using ice water as "glue". You can make it semi-pretty by trimming the excess dough around the rim and impressing a fork repeatedly around the circumference. To get the pretty fluted edge you often see just takes a little experimentation and practice--seems like I use the thumbs and forefingers of both hands in a pinching motion. Some recipes call for a partially or fully baked crust. You need to make a circle of foil to fit in the bottom and add some rice to weight it down; otherwise it will tend to puff up and maybe even break. At about 425 for 15 minutes will give a partially baked shell; take weights off after 15 minutes and bake another 10 minutes or so for fully baked. |
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