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*Homemade Pie Crust
 As any frequent reader has figured out, I LOVE homemade pie crust however I HATE making it. I will not resort to store bought crusts but often I curse and complain at pie. Seriously I should get points for honesty here, I do often curse at my food. You'd think it would take a lot more for me to be so agitated however I'm about as patient and gentle as ... A stampede of elephants? I don't know but seriously pie crust is one of those things thats a necessary evil for me. When my husband and I first got married (a long long time ago when dinosaurs roamed the earth) I bought the store bought crusts now and again because I figured whats the difference? That quickly changed, although the first pie I ever made had a homemade crust I just kind of flipped and flopped back and forth. Now I most definitely will not flop back to the store purchased crusts, theres something about them that kind of scare me. Why are they so smooth? Thats not normal, is there even a morsel of butter or real ingredients in them? Although my home made crust is often fairly ugly its the homely pies that remind me it was made with love. I've recently asked Stephen if he would purchase my ugly pies in a market if he saw them and he answered swiftly... "I sure would! Ugly means they're made with love" Yes he really said that and no I didn't put him up to it. So even though in my home we've coined the phrase "ugly as pie" I still always make my crusts from scratch or I don't make it at all. (they eat a lot of crisps and cobblers, mix it all up and say yeah its really pie!...yeah? well it was pie, whatever... just eat it.)   So anyway after all of my ranting and raving about how much I hate pie crust a generous reader felt bad for me and sent me her recipe for "idiot proof" pie crust. So here you have it folks another "fool proof pie crust". It is much easier to handle than the traditional French style butter crusts I love so much but its more pliable. If you ask me its still slightly a bit of a pain to work with but thats not the recipe's fault, its purely me I promise. Its a great go to recipe, the flaky texture is incredible and well worth the extra few minutes. (your not still considering the store bought one are you?) I dare you to not try this recipe! In comparison to my fool proof pie crust recipe, Its just a slight step up the ladder of difficulty. Its really still much easier than the many other recipes I've made. Its absolutely worth making in advance, the same convenience of grocery mart/frozen pie crusts but its made with love not mystery ingredients. Heres the exact recipe that was sent to me, Enjoy! (Thanks Lynn!) Pie Crust: 4c flour (preferably the good stuff, but bleached, enriched, 7 bucks for 50lb at the warehouse club flour works if that's all you have) 1c cold butter (I use unsalted) 1c shortening (Crisco works...freeze it for a while) 1T salt (if you use salted butter, omit) ice water Mix the flour and salt. Cut up the shortening with a spoon (think small globs) and add. Cut the butter into small cubes, the smaller the better. Using a pastry cutter or two knives, cut fats into flour until the butter resembles peas. Don't overthink this; not ALL the butter should look like peas, just most. Add about 1/2c of ice cold water...this is the hard part, since flour moisture content and humidity level varies A LOT. Mix in with a spoon. Dough should still be a little crumbly, and not wet at all. Add more or less as needed. Dump all onto a counter, piece of waxed paper, or my favorite, a piece of freezer paper (the plastic-coated kind). Add a bit more cold water or flour at this point if necessary. Using the paper, form into a sort of rectangle. Fold rectangle into thirds like a letter, using the paper as much as possible to keep your hands from warming the dough too much. Pat together and fold into thirds again. Cut into fourths, or whatever you like. I make four single crusts from this recipe...my husband would have me make ONE single crust, as he is totally a "crust guy". Pat into balls, or some semblance thereof. You will see layers of butter/shortening. Handle as little as possible. Put into bag or bags and chill for 20-30 minutes. I like to use 2 1/2 gallon zippy bags, and use the bag to roll out the dough after it chills. I sprinkle in a bit of flour, and it works like a charm. WAY less mess, and you use less flour, so the dough doesn't "toughen" up. Note: if you are out of shortening, use all butter. If you are out of butter, use all shortening. If you only have whole wheat flour, or pastry flour, or spelt flour, use it. It won't be the same, but it will work.  Notes: For whatever its worth heres my two cents on pie crust. Take it or leave it, I don't blame you if you leave it. *I literally only had 2 cups of flour available so I HAD to halve the recipe. It worked out just great regardless. I would have liked to just doubled the recipe so it would have saved me the trouble down the road of making crust all over again. *The only difference in the recipe as you'll see I do not get my crumbs like wet sand or "pea sized" which might be why I always have such a hard time rolling dough out, however it leaves pockets of butter that bake to be so perfectly flaky and it just amazes me. *I also add vinegar or booze to my crusts. (rum, cognac, brandy, vodka etc.) If you are anti booze I really recommend the vinegar. The flavor evaporates out mostly but it helps relax the gluten in the flour and prevents a tough and chewy dough. *When making 3-4 crust recipes, sometimes I add an egg. It makes it a bit more tender and pliable without removing any of the butter, it also adds a little richness. (my "fool proof/ cat proof" recipe uses all vegetable shortening so that its easier easiest to work with)  related searches : Homemade
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