Pie Crusts

As someone mentioned, making pie crust is for most people difficult. I know, as I struggled for years, looking for a good pie crust recipe. My mom made the most wonderful tasty crusts and I watched her for years but never could get the knack. She never used a recipe, just threw things together. I resorted to cracker crusts and bought ones as mine always were tough, broke into pieces, and were terrible.
Then I found several great recipes, and shared them on my blog recipe page but will share it again.

Fool Proof Pie Crust ala Alan Carter

 In a very large bowl, combine 3 3/4 c. flour, 1 T. sugar, 1/2 to 1 T. salt (I didn't use that much, he likes a salty crust), 1/2 t. baking powder. Mix well. With a pastry blender, cut in 1 1/4 c. unsalted butter leaving chunks the size of peas. Combine 2/3 c. very cold water, 2 T.  sour cream, and 1 t. vinegar. Add liquid all at once to the flour mixture. Quickly stir to distribute, do not over mix. The dough should be slightly crumbly. let rest on the refrigerator at least 2 hours or overnight. Divide into 3 portions, shape into disks and use right away or can be frozen for up to a month. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator to use.

The above one is very good, if you remember to make the crust dough early. Like for Thanksgiving which is rushing up before we know it.

The second pie crust recipe, which is the one I used for the pie I posted about yesterday is from Pioneer Woman...

Perfect Pie Crust... 

          1-1/2 cup Crisco (vegetable Shortening) 

          3 cups All-purpose Flour 

          1 whole Egg 

          5 Tablespoons Cold Water 

          1 Tablespoon White Vinegar 

          1 teaspoon Salt

Preparation Instructions

In a large bowl, with a pastry cutter, gradually work the Crisco into the flour for about 3 or 4 minutes until it resembles a coarse meal. In a small bowl, beat an egg with a fork and then pour it into the flour/shortening mixture. Add 5 tablespoons of cold water, 1 tablespoon of white vinegar and 1 teaspoon of salt. Stir together gently until all of the ingredients are incorporated.
Separate the dough into thirds. Form 3 evenly sized balls of dough and place each dough into a large Ziploc bag. Using a rolling pin, slightly flatten each ball of dough (about ½ inch thick) to make rolling easier later. Seal the bags and place them in the freezer until you need them. (If you will be using it immediately it’s still a good idea to put in the freezer for about 15 to 20 minutes to chill.)

With both of these recipes, you should be successful in making crusts and its also wonderful to have a few of these in the freezer whenever the pie making urge comes along!