feline fanatic

I use King Arthur's "Best Pie Crust Recipe" that I cut from the bag decades ago. I tried to find it on line and it looks like they use a slightly different recipe now. From memory, the old recipe is:
2 cups King Arthur flour (and yes I suppose it will work with any flour but I only use KA)
1 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup of shortening
1/3 cup of cold unsalted butter cut into small pieces
5 tablespoons ice water (as needed)

The recipe uses both Shortening and butter. Their explanation: Shortening makes a pie crust tender, butter makes it flaky. The key to this recipe is cutting the fats into the flour in two steps. First cut in the shortening until the mixture resembles corn meal, then cut in the butter until you have about pea size pieces. I use a pastry cutter.

They also call for adding a teaspoon of vinegar or lemon juice to the ice water. Again they explain that the acidity of the vinegar or lemon juice helps to develop the gluten in the flour also making the crust more tender. You then must refrigerate the dough for an hour or half hour in the freezer.

I do not roll out between paper. I flour my surface and my rolling pin and I add more flour as needed to prevent sticking. This crust never fails me and is good in both fruit and meat pies. It is always flaky and tender.

The recipe is enough for a single deep dish crust or a lattice top shallow crust. I tend to double it for my apple pie which I make in a super deep stoneware pie dish and do a full top (as opposed to lattice). For a standard 8" double crust pie (not deep dish) I make 1 1/2 times the recipe.

Onebyone

Here is one a caterer gave me. I haven't made it but have eaten it. It's very tender.

Spreadable Pie Crust

Pastry Crust


3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
1/4 cup powdered sugar

Beat all ingredients with electric mixer on low speed 1 minute, scraping bowl constantly. Beat on medium speed about 2 minutes or until creamy. Spread on bottom of ungreased (I use parchment lined) springform pan, 9x3 inches. Bake 350 12 to 15 minutes or until golden brown. Cool completely.

Onebyone

Lard is very acceptable for flaky tender biscuits, crusts and other finer dough. No different then eating bacon.

SusieQOH

Lard has such a bad rap but it does make wonderful crusts. I'm quite sure most of the oldtimers didn't have Crisco

maudeflanagan

The recipe I really like is from Lucinda Scala Quinn's old TV show "Mad Hungry". It makes really good pot pies or fruit pies:

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Cream Cheese Pastry Dough

Makes 10 Pocket Pies or 1 Double Crusted 10-Inch Pie
For a novice baker, this is the most forgiving dough to work with. The cream cheese allows this pastry some elasticity but still produces tender and flaky results. It also adds a yummy crackery flavor to the crust. Unconventionally for pie dough, the butter isn’t ice-cold for this recipe.


INGREDIENTS

• 8 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
• 4 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour plus 2 tablespoons, plus more for rolling out the dough
• 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt

DIRECTIONS
1. Process the butter, cream cheese, and cream in a food processor, electric mixer, or by hand to thoroughly combine.
2. Add the flour and salt. Process just until combined and the dough holds together in a ball. Turn the dough out onto a well-floured surface. Divide into 2 pieces. Flatten into disks and wrap each in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before rolling out. If the dough is chilled overnight, take it out 15 minutes before rolling out.
3. Rub flour all over a rolling pin. Working with one dough disk at a time, place the disk on a clean, well-floured surface. Applying some pressure with the rolling pin, roll gently from the center of the dough to the top and bottom edges. Rotate the disk and roll to the top and bottom edges again. Reflour the work surface and rolling pin, turn the dough over, and continue to roll the dough from the center out to the edges. Turn over and roll again, rotating the disk to ensure even rolling until the dough is about 12 inches in diameter, thin but not transparent.

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sewblessed5

If you don't want to use shortning or butter for your pie crust, coconut oil works very well as a substitute.

tropit

Ya know...I'll bet it would, due to it's semi-solid form in cooler temperatures.

Speaking of oil in pie crust, I've seen several recipes for crusts made with vegetable oil instead of shortening. I've never tried them.

~ C

luvstoquilt

Tropic, I use the same recipe! Mine came from Crisco when they used to have recipes on the back of their labels on the cans. That was in the early 1960's. I have never found a better recipe.