I get a lot of compliments on my pies...so to start what I like to call my 'Pie Posts' I'm going to give you the recipe I use for crust. It's really simple, the trick is not over mixing it....I'm actually just now updating it because I read a pie tutorial on the Pioneer Woman website and well...it was way better.
For a nine inch, two crust pie:
2 ½ cups all purpose or pastry flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon to 1 tablespoon sugar (for a fruit pie. Omit sugar for a savory pie.)
¾ cup cold butter, cut into chunks
¼ cup cold leaf lard, cut into chunks
¼ cup cold water
Mix the 2 cups of the flour, salt and sugar together lightly in a mixing bowl or in the bowl of a food processor.
Add the butter and lard chunks and cut into the flour using a pastry cutter or by pulsing the food processor. The mixture should look like large crumbs and begin to cling together in clumps. Add the remaining ½ cup of flour and mix lightly or pulse the processor two or three times.
Do not over mix this flour. It should coat the clumps and be about pea sized...over mixed dough is gross and should be banished.
Sprinkle the water over the dough and with hands or a fork fluff until the dough sticks together.
Divide in half and roll out. I roll it out on parchment paper so I don't have to worry about flipping, tearing and all of that jazz.
Go crazy...do a lattice work top. leave it solid... Sometimes I cut out a bunch of holiday shapes with my Williams Sonoma cookie cutters and put them all over the top...it's all up to you. If you do a solid top make sure to cut slits in the top so heat can release. If you are just doing a bottom shell make sure to poke holes in the bottom so it doesn't go all wonky shaped on you.
Brush a quick egg wash (one egg beaten with one tablespoon of water) over the top and a little bit of sugar (I use cinnamon sugar because I think it's more tasty). Place it on a baking sheet and bake in a hot oven, 425 degrees, until the pie starts to brown, about 30 minutes. Cover the pie with foil to hinder more browning, turn the oven down to 375 and continue baking until the juices in the pie begin bubbling. Depending on the fruit used this could take twenty to forty minutes more. Be patient. As long as the pie crust is covered to prevent over-browning, the pie can continue to bake.
For a nine inch, two crust pie:
2 ½ cups all purpose or pastry flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon to 1 tablespoon sugar (for a fruit pie. Omit sugar for a savory pie.)
¾ cup cold butter, cut into chunks
¼ cup cold leaf lard, cut into chunks
¼ cup cold water
Mix the 2 cups of the flour, salt and sugar together lightly in a mixing bowl or in the bowl of a food processor.
Add the butter and lard chunks and cut into the flour using a pastry cutter or by pulsing the food processor. The mixture should look like large crumbs and begin to cling together in clumps. Add the remaining ½ cup of flour and mix lightly or pulse the processor two or three times.
Do not over mix this flour. It should coat the clumps and be about pea sized...over mixed dough is gross and should be banished.
Sprinkle the water over the dough and with hands or a fork fluff until the dough sticks together.
Divide in half and roll out. I roll it out on parchment paper so I don't have to worry about flipping, tearing and all of that jazz.
Go crazy...do a lattice work top. leave it solid... Sometimes I cut out a bunch of holiday shapes with my Williams Sonoma cookie cutters and put them all over the top...it's all up to you. If you do a solid top make sure to cut slits in the top so heat can release. If you are just doing a bottom shell make sure to poke holes in the bottom so it doesn't go all wonky shaped on you.
Brush a quick egg wash (one egg beaten with one tablespoon of water) over the top and a little bit of sugar (I use cinnamon sugar because I think it's more tasty). Place it on a baking sheet and bake in a hot oven, 425 degrees, until the pie starts to brown, about 30 minutes. Cover the pie with foil to hinder more browning, turn the oven down to 375 and continue baking until the juices in the pie begin bubbling. Depending on the fruit used this could take twenty to forty minutes more. Be patient. As long as the pie crust is covered to prevent over-browning, the pie can continue to bake.
