Pie Crust

This pie crust is very easy and only has 6 ingredients (one of which is water)! It has a subtle sweetness and has the perfect amount of flake. It rolls out wonderfully and can be used for pies, hand pies, tarts, or whatever needs a crust! Yum!

All you need is a food processor, two bowls, and a fork and you’re in business! No food processor, no problem! You can use a cheese grater instead.

Time: 2 hours

Yield: 2 crusts

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, cold
• 1/2 cup shortening, cold
• 8 tbsp water, cold
• 12.5 oz all purpose flour
• 1 tsp table salt
• 2 tbsp white granulated sugar

Directions:

Start by freezing your butter and chilling the shorting and water. These ingredients have to be very cold so that the crust gets that wonderful flakiness.

While the butter, shortening, and water chill, you can measure out the salt, flour, and sugar. You can use the fork to combine the salt, flour, and sugar in a bowl.

Then push the butter through the food processor with the grater blade. If you don’t have a food processor, you can use a cheese grater to break down the butter. Grating the butter allows it to better incorporate into the flour.

Now you can drop in the grated butter into the bowl with the flour mixture.

You can then drop in the shortening in small chunks into the mixture. Don’t be afraid to use your fingers to break up the shorting into smaller pieces.

At this point, take a look at the butter and shortening. If it looks frozen, you can move forward. However, if it looks like it is beginning to soften or melt, pop the bowl into the fridge for 5 minutes before moving on.

Once you have the flour, sugar, salt, butter, and shorting together, you can start to add the water. Start by adding 4 tbsp of ice cold water. Use the fork to lightly start to mix everything together. It will still be very dry. Then add the remaining 4 tbsp of cold water. Again use the fork to mix everything together. It should not be wet or soppy, but it shouldn’t be very dry either. The best test is to take a chunk in your hand, and if it can form a loose ball when you press it together, you’re good to go.

Now dump the dough into a sheet of plastic wrap. Wrap up the dough in a tight cylinder.

Let the cylinder rest in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. I typically leave it for at least and hour.

After it has rested, you can roll out the dough. This recipes makes two crusts, so you can cut the dough ball in half. You can wrap up half and store it in the fridge for up to three days or in the freezer for a month. You can also use the second half for a top crust or lattice!