“I used to be challenged by pie crusts. After 27 plus years of experimenting, this is the MOST successful recipe that I have developed. If using salted butter, reduce salt to 1/4 teaspoon.” - by CAROLEALANA
Ingredients
Adjust Servings
Original recipe yields 1 deep pie crust
Directions
- Measure butter & shortening onto a plate, put into freezer for about 20 minutes.
- Measure cake flour, all-purpose flour, sugar, salt and baking powder into the bowl of a food processor. Pulse for a few seconds to mix.
- Take 1/2 of the cold butter and 1/2 of the cold shortening, put into processor with dry ingredients and pulse off and on for about 1 minute. Scrape down twice while doing this.
- Take remainder of the cold butter & cold shortening and cut in very briefly with the processor, leaving visible pea-sized chunks. Do not over process at this stage!
- In a measuring cup, mix egg yolk and vinegar together, add ice cubes and water. Let this get chilled, about 3 to 4 minutes.
- Remove mixed flours and shortening from processor, put into a large mixing bowl. Sprinkle approximately 4 to 5 tablespoons of this egg, water, vinegar mixture, a little at a time, mixing gently with a fork. The key to this is, you do not want a wet dough, and you do not want to overmix.
- Place this dough into plastic wrap or plastic bag, chill in refrigerator for a few minutes. (May also be frozen for a few weeks at this stage for future use).
- Remove from refrigerator and roll out. This makes absolutely the BEST pie crusts. I have won County Fair competitions with this pie crust. Double for making a 2-crust pie.
Nutrition
Amount Per Serving (8 total)
- Calories
- 222 cal
- 11%
- Fat
- 14.5 g
- 22%
- Carbs
- 20 g
- 6%
Based on a 2,000 calorie diet
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Reviews (241)
Rate This Recipe
"I feel like I've been saved a lot of trouble and time by finding this recipe. I don't need to look further. I actually get compliments on the crust. The butter adds flavor while the crisco adds fla..." See morekiness. Also, a couple of hints: After you have molded the pie crust to the pan, rest it in the refrigerator for 40 minutes. This relaxes the gluten and reduces shrinkage. After 40 minutes, put it directly into the freezer for 20 minutes (this step increase flakiness). Add the filling quickly and bake immediately. Of course,this added step is if you're truly in pursuit of perfection, but isn't essential. Lastly, I am not very talented at rolling out the dough and peeling it off the counter. Plus, adding flour to the counter alters the recipe. I discovered that if I roll it out between 2 pieces of large saran wrap, I can unpeel one piece, flip it onto the pie plate and then unpeel the second piece of saran wrap without ever even having to touch it with my hands. This was a great discovery! Thanks for this truly exceptional recipe. Try this crust with the Apple Crumble Pie recipe on this site!"
Jillian
"OMG! This has to be one of the BEST pie crusts I've ever had on this site! It's so delicious, and so flaky yet easy to roll out that I can see why this person has won County Fair competitions with thi..." See mores recipe. I followed the recipe exactly using cake flour which I have to admit I've never used in pie crust before - I doubled the recipe for a deep dish pie "Vermont Apple Pie" from this site to be exact. I used butter flavored shortening and found that I only need 8 Tbsp. of the egg yolk, water/vinegar mixture. I chilled the dough in the freezer for a bit and then I rolled the dough out onto wax paper that was lightly floured and it was a breeze to put into a deep dish pie plate. It baked up beautifully! I'm so glad I found this recipe!!!"
KC192
"This is by far my favorite pie crust recipe! It sounds a little labor intensive but it's not too bad. The key is to keep things cold and to handle the crust as little as possible so the gluten doesn't..." See more break down (which makes it tough and not flaky). I always just used a fork instead of a food processor and regular AP flour and it turns out wonderful. I've also used frozen butter cut with a cheese grater (easier then a fork) and it worked out great."
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