Perfect Pie Crust Pictorial
This pie crust is so superior to what you can get in the stores. It is really simple to make and you can freeze it for later use.
Perfect Pie Crust (makes 3 pie crusts)
- 1-1/2 cup Butter or Crisco (vegetable Shortening)
- 3 1/2 cups All-purpose Flour
- 1 whole egg lightly beaten
- 5 Tablespoons Cold Water
- 1 Tablespoon White Vinegar
- 1 teaspoon Salt
- 3 TB sugar (optional for sweeter crusts)
Directions:
Combine the flour and salt in a large bowl. Add in the shortening.
Using a pastry cutter, gradually work the butter and shortening into the flour until the mixture resembles tiny pebbles or really coarse, wet sand. This step should take a few minutes.
Add lightly beaten egg to the mixture, Then add cold water and vinegar. Stir the mixture until just combined.
Remove 1/3 of the mixture and put it on saran wrap. Put another piece of saran wrap pver it and gently flatten pie dough to make a disc about 1 inch thick.
Do the same with the remaining 2/3 of the pie dough for 3 crusts total.
Chill in the refrigerator for 1 hour or you can put in a zip loc back and put in the freezer until you are ready to use.
Amazing!! I have been making this exact recipe for over 55 years! I found it as a young girl somewhere–that part is lost from my memory– when I wanted to make apple pies for my dad and was learning to bake. It was called “foolproof pie crust”, and for me it always has been–always flakey, easy to roll out, freezes perfectly for months (in a flattened ball). I make it into 5 single crusts, however, and occasionally use lemon juice instead of vinegar, and sometimes substitute in 1 to 1 1/2 c whole wheat pastry flour for part of the flour. One warning, however: do not attempt to use all butter if you are making this crust on a warm day in the summer. Impossible to roll out–butter gets soft too fast, even with well-chilled dough. Using all butter tastes great, though, for either quiche or fruit pies :). I’m trying to find a good substitute for margarine, which is what I used up until about 10 years ago in combo with butter. I also used to use part lard, which also isn’t as dangerous to health as we were lead to believe (compared to hydrogenated oil/trans fats). Where did YOU find this recipe??? I have never ever seen it anywhere but here!