pie crust party!

I give you…PIE CRUST! To some, pie crust is overrated, just a means to deliver whatever you put inside them. To me, a pie crust is a flaky, tender pastry that compliments your delicious sweet or savory ingredients. I love pie and I love pie crust! Today I baked this pie crust for my French Silk Pie

I’ve used many pie crust recipes over the years, some with butter, sugar, even vinegar. And I have nothing against the Pillsbury refrigerated pie crusts either. But I always come back to this one from Betty Crocker. It’s basic, old-fashioned and delicious, not to mention beautiful! Yes, I got carried away with the photos.

Standard Pastry Pie Crust for one-crust, 9 or 10 inch pie

ingredients:

1/2 cup shortening
1 1/3 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 to 4 tablespoons ice cold water

directions:

1. Cut shortening into flour and salt until particles are size of small peas.

2. Sprinkle in water, 1 tablespoon at a time, tossing with fork until all flour is moistened and pastry almost cleans side of bowl. (1 to 2 teaspoons additional water may be added if necessary).

3. Gather pastry into a ball; shape into flattened round on lightly floured surface. I like to use parchment paper.

4. Roll pastry 2 inches larger than inverted pie plate with floured rolling pin.


5. Fold pastry into fourths. This makes it easier to transfer into you pie plate. Folding the dough is super easy if you rolled it out on parchment paper since you can just lift the paper & fold it over.


6. Unfold and ease into pie plate, pressing firmly against the side.

7. Trim overhanging edge of pastry.

8. Crimp edge as desired.

9. For BAKED Pie Crust: Heat oven to 475 degrees. Prick bottom and sides thoroughly with fork.

10. For BAKED pie crust, bake until light brown, 8 to 10 minutes; cool. Otherwise, fill with desired pie filling & bake according to directions.

P.S. If you have any extra crust, roll it out, put it on a separate pie pan, dot with butter & sprinkle with cinnamon & sugar & bake until lightly browned for a special sweet treat.

P.S. If you are making a 2 crust pie, double the recipe, divide dough in half, shape into 2 rounds & roll out top & bottom crust separately.