Pie-lovers rejoice! Hot pies, cold pies, hand pies, or pot pies – regardless of the recipe, you too can make the perfect pie crust every time. Here are our top tips (and a recipe guaranteed to never fail you):
- Mix your dough by hand. When you use the food processor to mix your pie crust dough you run the risk of over-mixing . The dough should be a little crumbly,
- Looking for that elusive flaky crust? Keep your fats cold! Pop your pie crust in the pie plate into the freezer or your fridge for at least a few minutes (15 minutes suggested) before baking.
- Avoid undercooked crusts by baking your pie on the very bottom rack of the oven.
- For filled fruit pies, avoid soggy bottom pies by sprinkle a flour and sugar along the bottom of your pie to help soak up any juices
Never Fail Pie Crust
This recipe freezes well. Make pie shells in bulk in aluminum pie plates and place in ziplock bags into freezer – ready for berry picking season!
Ingredients
- 3 cups flour
- 1 1/3 cups Crisco
- 1 egg beaten
- 1 tsp vinegar
- 5 tbsp ice water
- 1 tsp salt
Instructions
- Cut Crisco into flour with pastry blender or fork until size of peas.
- Mix together: 1 egg beaten, 1 tsp vinegar, 5 tbsp ice water, 1 tsp salt
- Pour egg mixture over Crisco/flour mixture and mix with fork.
- Shape into ball. Divide in half and place on floured surface.
- Flour top of pastry, rolling pin and roll out.
- Transfer to pie plate.
- Place prepared crust in freezer or fridge prior to baking.
Notes
For cream pies etc. that call for baked pie shell. Place pie shell in 450º oven and bake for 10 minutes.
DID YOU MAKE THIS RECIPE? We’d love to know how it turned out! Please let us know by leaving a review below or snap a photo of your pie and share it on your Instagram and tag @chef_lynn_michelle – and we’ll share it too!