My Mom's Flaky Pie Crust
By
Kimberly Quintal
@KQuintal
1
This is a versatile crust recipe and can be used for more than just pies. Plenty of appetizers start with a crust too!
When I was learning how to make crust, I would practice with mom's recipe, roll it out, cut the dough into 2-3 inch wide strips, sprinkle with cinnamon/sugar, bake and eat, YUM!
Ingredients
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2 call purpose flour
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1 ccrisco shortening (or butter flavor shortening if you prefer)
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1/4 to 1/2 ccold milk or cream or half n half (if using the crust for something like chicken pot pie you can use stock/broth for the liquid)
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1 tspsalt
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1 tspsugar
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·i have added lemon zest when making a lemon pie and have also added cinamon when making an apple pie. you can play with flavor add-ins like that!
How to Make My Mom's Flaky Pie Crust
- Pour 2 cups flour into a mixing bowl. Add sugar and salt and stir. Add 1 cup shortening. With pastry cutter, cut in the shortening until the mixture resembles sand.
- Add 1/4 cup of milk at first. Sometimes you will use the full 1/2 cup of milk and sometimes not depending on time of year and humidity, etc. With a large fork (I like to use a large serving fork for example) stir until it "comes together" and STOP! Over mixing is what causes a tough dough. With floured hands, form a dough ball then flatten a bit into a "disc". Wrap in plastic wrap and set in fridge for about 20-30 minutes to rest and allow the dough to relax, making it easier to roll.
- During the last 10 minutes of resting, pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. When ready, on a well floured surface (you can use less flour if you have one of those pastry discs with a pastry cover on it) roll dough out to whatever shape you need it for the pan or pie plate you are using. "Dock" the crust (poke holes in it with a fork, toothpick or other utensil to make small steam release holes) before baking, usually bakes for about 25 minutes if you are using for a no-bake pie filling to add in afterwards. For crusts that bake with the filling, follow your recipe's instructions.
- This recipe makes enough dough for a double crust pie but I love crust so much that I sometimes use 3/4 of the dough for a thicker crust then roll out the remaining dough, cut into strips and sprinkle with cinnamon & sugar and bake, making YUMMY treats!
- Why not butter? Butter gives good flavor but makes crust hard/crunchy not light & flaky. Shortening really is the key. I've known people to combine both like: 3/4 shortening to 1/4 butter but I stick with mom's success! I suppose butter flavor shortening would work.