Pie Crust Tutorial

From Scratch Pie Crust. For some, those simple words strike fear into their stalwart hearts. But never fear, faithful blog-readers! The Candid Cook is here!

Okay, that's enough cheese for one day. So let's get down to business. Homemade pie crust. It's not that I'm that ambitious, really. I just don't like store-bought pie crust. When you've grown up with the real thing, flaky and melt-in-your-mouth delicious you just can't be happy with a second-class substitute. And don't kid yourselves - there's nothing low-fat about a good pie crust. You can put whole wheat flour in it, but that's about as healthy as you're going to make it. The trick to not gaining 50 pounds is just not to eat it too often.

To get started, you need a recipe. Here's the crown jewel of my recipe box, obtained from my 80 year old aunt who makes the best rhubarb pies - and if I can ever get my hands on rhubarb, you'll get that recipe too!

Flaky Pie Crust
(makes 4 crusts)

4 c. flour (I use 2 c. white and 2 c. whole wheat)
1 Tbsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
2 c. shortening
1 beaten egg
1 tsp. vinegar
1/2 c. water

In a large mixing bowl, combine flour(s), sugar, and salt. Add shortening and crumble with your hands. You do this by adding the shortening to the bowl, scooping the dry mixture over top, and squeezing the shortening through your hands. Once you've done this a few times you can start working it in with your fingers, rubbing it back and forth between fingers and thumbs. You can use a pastry cutter if you prefer, but eventually you should end up with a bowl of crumbles that looks like this:

Make a well in the center and set aside.

In a small bowl or large liquid measuring cup, combine water, egg, and vinegar. Mix well and add to flour mixture. Mix as well as you can with a spoon, then use your hands to finish kneading it together. Shape into a large circle.

Cut the circle into fourths. Each fourth will be one pie crust.

Now comes the "hard" part - rolling it flat into a crust. The trick is to roll it out using wax paper. If this isn't something you normally keep in your kitchen, repent and go get it!

Shape 1/4 of the dough into a ball with your hands. Place on a sheet of wax paper.
(Note: I generally don't have to use flour to keep it from sticking to the paper because there's plenty of shortening in this recipe. If you're using a different recipe or are worried about it, you can sprinkle flour on the wax paper before putting down the dough.)

Flatten the dough with your hands a little, then top with another sheet of wax paper.

Using a rolling pin, roll out dough into a round shape that's about 1-2 inches larger than your pie dish. This is actually a little trickier than it sounds because at first your wax paper keeps sliding all over the table while you're trying to roll out the dough. You can fix this by either weighing down one corner, you can flatten it more with your hands, or you can rope your kids into service and make them hold it for you. Either way, once you get it mostly flattened it's easy enough to roll it out the rest of the way. Be sure to roll in all directions so the dough flattens out in a circular shape, unless you happen to have an oval-shaped pie dish.

Peel off the top layer of wax paper. Place your pie plate on top (upside down), then flip the whole thing over, pressing the crust into the dish. The crust should hang over the edge a little.

Peel off the wax paper. If you're making a single-crust pie, go ahead and trim off the excess crust and flute the edges (see below). If you're doing a double-crust pie, fill the pie and add the top crust before trimming and shaping the crust.

To trim the edge, take a butter knife and cut the crust off about even with or a little longer than the pie dish edge depending on what type of pie plate you have. Just remember that the crust will shrink a little while baking.

To "flute" the edge of the pie crust (i.e. make it look pretty) you pinch it between your first finger and thumb and give it a little twist toward you. Do this all the way around the edge.

If baking a double-crust pie, be sure to cut slits all the way through the top crust so steam and juices have a way to escape. Otherwise they will bubble out the edge between the two crusts and you'll have a real mess on your hands.

Bake the filled pie crust according to your recipe directions.

If you need to bake a single crust without filling it, prick it all over with a fork and then bake it at 450 for about 10-12 minutes until the edges are golden-brown.