Hey there foodies! The holidays are right around the corner and I just know we all are going to have such a great time cooking up some delicious food for our families and ourselves. I don’t know about you guys but one of my favorite things to eat during this great time of year, is pie. Apple, pecan, sweet potato, you make it, I’ll eat it! So to kick things off, I wanted to share a super simple pie crust recipe with you guys, they will work well with just about any pie.
Fun fact about pie crust. Not all pie crust contain sugar! I know what you are thinking….’How can you not add sweetness to a sweet desert?’ Well with pies, the sweetness comes from filling instead of the crust. Sugar can actually make your pie dough a bit too tender and make it hard to stretch without breaking. With that being said, same crust recipes do contain sugar, you just won’t work the dough as much.
Now back to taste. Though your crust will not have sweetness added to it, doesn’t mean it won’t taste amazing! After all, the crust is always the best part. In the recipe I use a mixture of unsalted butter and vegetable shortening. The butter will help with the crust flavor and the shortening helps make it nice and flaky. Of course there is a pinch (or two) of salt added to help bring everything together.
Again, this recipe is a very basic pie crust that works really well with savory and sweet pies. So give it a try and let me know what you think. Happy eating!
What you need:
- 2 1/2 cup flour
- 1 1/4 tsp salt
- 6 tbsp unsalted butter, chilled
- 3/4 cup vegetable shortening, chilled
- 1/2 cup ice water (or cold water left in freezer for 5-10 minutes)
Method:
- In a large bowl whisk together flour and salt
- Add butter and shortening and with a pastry cutter, 2 forks or your hands, chop up fats into the dough. It will start to resemble coarse meal.
- Start adding in cold water 1 tbsp at a time, working dough after each table spoon. Once all water is added, if dough to too sticky, sprinkle in some additional flour
- Form dough into a ball and cut in half
- plastic wrap both halves and place in refrigerator for at least 2 hours or up to 5 days.
When you’re ready to use:
- Always place dough on floured surface before rolling it out.
- Start from the center of dough ball and work your way out creating a circle
- Make sure to spin dough after a few rolls (This helps it not stick to the counter)
- When placing in pie dish, use knife to cut off extra
Pro tip!
**Brush top of crust with an egg wash after putting pie together to help get a nice golden crust
TlKitchen 