My family loves it when I make pie. It’s one of those things that no matter what flavor it is, we all enjoy it. Pie really is one of the best ways to enjoy fresh fruit, in my opinion. Pie making itself is fairly easy, but the one task that everyone always seems to find so daunting is making that crust. Is that you? Raise your hand and wave at me, and then keep reading, because this recipe is completely foolproof. I know, because I’ve made it several times over, and there are times where I know I’ve totally overworked the dough- the point where a normal crust would become hard and tough after baking. Not so with this crust.
This is Judy’s Flaky Pie Crust, and it comes from Sara Foster of Foster’s Market fame. She admits she’s not much of a pastry person herself, so when she recommended this crust, I simply had to try it. Let me tell you, it works out every single time. Every time! I have adapted it just a tad by adding two tablespoons of sugar to the flour. I like the sweetness it adds to the crust, but feel free to leave it out.
Judy’s Flaky Pie Crust
- Stir the flour,salt, and sugar together in a large bowl. Add the shortening and cut in into the flour with a pastry cutter until the mixture resembles coarse meal.
- In a separate small bowl, beat the egg with the 1/3 cup ice water and vinegar. Pour this into the bowl with the flour mixture, stirring with a fork just until it comes together. Do not mix any more than necessary. If the dough is dry and crumbly, add more water, 1 TBS at a time, until it comes together, but don’t add so much water that the dough becomes wet and sticky.
- Lightly dust your hands and work surface with flour. Turn the dough out onto your work surface and form it into a ball with your hands. Divide the dough ball into two pieces, and flatten each piece into a disk about 1 1/2 inches thick. Wrap each disk in plastic and refrigerate it for at least 30 minutes, or up to 3 days.
Now the thing about this crust is that it makes a generous amount of crust. I can easily roll out my two pie crusts and have plenty leftover. In the past I’ve used it to decorate the top of the crust, or made little piecrust cookies out of it. But the last time I made pie, I used the extra dough in a completely different way. I made a little free-form pie. Holy cow, was this easy! I simply balled up the dough scraps and then rolled it out into a circle. I laid the dough on a baking sheet and then peered in the fridge for some fruit. Raspberries were my choice, so I tossed them with some sugar and a touch of cornstarch and then piled them up in the center of my dough circle. After that, it was a simple matter of folding up the dough around the fruit. The dough held it’s shape nicely and held the fruit juices in perfectly. This was such a fun way to use up the dough, and way easier than I had anticipated. Think about it the next time you find yourself with extra pie dough. This made enough for four of us to each have a wedge of raspberry pie.