Okay, maybe not the easiest pie crust. You can buy a package at the store, roll it out and have yourself a pie crust. But this recipe honestly isn’t much more difficult.
This is the first homemade pie crust I ever tried. After a bit of experimentation with other ingredients I returned to this simple recipe and use it for all my pies. It’s quick, tasty, flaky and turns out every time.
Ingredients:
You wouldn’t find a more basic pie crust recipe. Shortening to provide moisture and fat combined with flour and a bit of sugar and salt. Combine with a pastry blender or a fork. The goal is small bits of shortening distributed in the flour mixture.
Instructions:
Water is slowly added, one tablespoon at the time, into the mixture until a dough forms.
Gather the dough and form into a ball. Place the dough ball on a floured surface. I like this silicon mat.
Use a lightly floured rolling pin to roll the dough ball into a circle. Roll until the dough ball is about 2 inches larger than your pie plate.
Now the fun part; we need this thin, flat pie crust transferred to our pie plate in one piece. One method is to fold the dough in fourths, transfer to your pie plate then unfold. The other method is to roll the dough onto the rolling pin then unroll onto the pie plate.
Instructions with pictures found here.
Once your crust is in place, pierce all over with a fork to keep the crust from puffing up.
Now the truly fun part; we get to fill the crust with something delicious and bake into a pie. November is, after all, the season for pumpkin pie. I would also highly recommend French apple!
Depending on your pie, you may need to blind bake the crust, which refers to baking the crust without filling. If your pie is no-bake or only spends a short time in the oven, such as lemon meringue, a blind ensures the crust is fully baked.
If your recipe is a two crust pie, simply double the ingredients, then half the dough into two equal balls and roll out.
Pie crust
Ingredients
- 1¼ cups all-purpose flour
- ¼ tsp salt
- ½ tsp sugar
- ⅓ cup plus 1 tablespoon shortening
- 4-6 Tbsp cold water
Instructions
- Mix flour, salt and sugar in a medium bowl. Add shortening and combine using a pastry blender or a fork. Mix until crumbly and only small bits of solid shortening remain.
- Add 4 tablespoons of water and stir mixture until the liquid absorbs and the mixture comes together into a dough. Add more water, if needed; a tablespoon at a time, until a dough ball forms.
- Lightly flour surface or countertop. Place dough ball in the center of the flour. Using a rolling pin roll dough into a circular shape. If the dough is sticking to the rolling pin add a bit more flour. Roll until the dough circle is about 2 inches larger than pie pan.
- Transfer dough to pie plate: Either place the rolling pin in the center of the pie dough and roll the dough on the rolling pin. Transfer the dough to the plate by rolling it out over the pie plate. Otherwise, fold the dough into fourths and unroll the dough in the pie plate.
- Continue with your pie recipe.
- Blind baked pie crust: bake 35-40 minutes at 375 °F until lightly brown. Line with parchment paper and fill with dried bean or uncooked rice to prevent the crust from puffing up during baking.
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