Perhaps you have never tried making a homemade pie crust before. Or maybe you have tried it and it flopped. Never fear. It’s not as difficult as it sounds. It can
be a little fussy, but if you know a few tricks, you can make a perfect pie crust every time. I promise! My mom taught me, and her mother taught her. Now I’m going to teach you!
First of all, there are two Cardinal Rules that you must not break. Now, write this down.
A) There is no substitute for Crisco. Before you get all high and mighty on me, we all know that trans-fats are EEEE-VILE. However. For a treat, every once in a blue moon, a bit of Crisco in your pie crust won’t kill you. Okay, so it’s a lot. But let’s not get too bogged down in the technicalities.
When it comes to pie crusts, there is just no substitute for Crisco. Unless you use butter, which is a whole other ball of wax, so to speak. But Crisco has been the cornerstone of the famous family pie crust long before I was a twinkle in my daddy’s eye, and I’m not going to be the first to break with family tradition. Therefore, Crisco it is!
B) Handle your dough as little as possible. This is what keeps it light and flaky. The more you handle the dough, the tougher it gets. Also, you want your ingredients to be cold, and the more you handle it, the warmer they will become.
Okay. Let’s get on with the lesson. I always use my trusty Betty Crocker Cookbook for pie crusts because, you guessed it. That’s what my mother uses.
First, the ingredients:
Two-Crust Pie Crust; 9-Inch
2/3 cup plus 2 Tbsp Crisco brand vegetable shortening
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
6-8 Tbsp ice-cold water
Now for the instructions:
1) Preheat your oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.
2) Measure the first three ingredients into the bowl.
- Measure the CRISCO. As stated above in Cardinal Rule #1. Not butter. And certainly not a cheap shortening imitation; I mean, if we’re gonna consume a hefty portion of trans-fats, let’s not skimp on quality ingredients. Scrape the Crisco into a medium-sized mixing bowl.
*Helpful Hint* A small rubber spatula is perfect for getting every bit of Crisco out of the cup measure and tablespoons.
- Measure the flour without packing it down. Then add it to the Crisco in the mixing bowl.
*Helpful Hint* To get an exact measurement, take a knife and draw it across the top of the measuring cup to level the flour. Precision is very important in baking.
- Measure the salt and add it to the bowl.
3) Blend the flour and salt into the Crisco until it resembles large peas.
*Helpful Hint* A pastry blender is ideal for this task. If you don’t have one, you can use two knives.
4) Add the water.
- The water should be ice-cold so you don’t melt the shortening particles. It’s those little pea-sized balls of shortening that make it so light and flaky. You can put an ice cube in a bowl of water to be sure it’s cold enough.
- Use a fork to gently form a ball of dough. Remember Cardinal Rule #2. DO NOT OVER HANDLE THE DOUGH. You will have to use your judgment on the amount of water you use. It depends on a variety of factors, so I can’t tell you exactly. Start with 5 tablespoons and then add one at a time until you get the right amount. You want enough to get all the flour off the bottom of the bowl, but not so much that the dough gets soggy. Add extra water slowly until the dough is just moist enough to form a ball.
5) If you are making a two-crust pie, divide the dough in half.
6) Rolling the dough.
- Dust off that rolling pin and pastry cloth. You know, the one that Great Aunt Merle gave you as a wedding shower gift back in 1998. You probably shoved into the darkest corner of your kitchen cabinets because you thought you’d never use it unless you someday find yourself in need of a defense weapon against a nighttime intruder. Yeah, that’s the one.
- Next, sprinkle a light dusting of flour over the cloth and the rolling pin. Then place the dough on the cloth, and begin rolling, gently, making sure the dough does not get stuck to the cloth. (I usually turn it over once to be sure.) And remember Cardinal Rule #2. DO NOT OVER HANDLE THE DOUGH.
- Roll until it is circular in shape. Try to roll from the center out, instead of rolling back and forth over and over. Again, the idea is to handle it as little as possible. (Say it with me, now… Do not over handle the dough. That’s right! You got it!)
- To be sure it is the right size, gently invert the pie plate over the dough. The dough should be about 2 inches wider in diameter than the edges of the pie plate. (That’s 2 inches total, 1 inch overlap on each side.)
- Now then. CAREFULLY, gently, gingerly, fold the rolled-out dough in half and place it inside the pie plate.
- And unfold.
- And breathe.
- Gently press it into the pie plate without stretching the dough.
*Helpful Hints*
a) If it’s not quite big enough, slide it back onto the floured mat and roll it out a bit more. But whatever you do, don’t form another ball and re-roll the whole thing. That just negates Cardinal Rule #2.b) If a piece breaks off, gently re-attach.
c) If you have a huge overhang on one side and not enough on another, tear off the overhang and gently attach it to the side that’s too short.
It’s not rocket science, folks. And it will be covered up with a sugary mass of blueberries in about two seconds. So don’t sweat it if it doesn’t look perfect. I always say that I’d rather my food taste good than look good.
7) If you are making a one-crust pie, the recipe may tell you to bake it at this point. Go ahead. Or you may fill it and then bake it, as I did when I made this blueberry pie. Just follow the directions on the filling recipe you are using.
I am making a blueberry pie, so I will proceed with the tutorial based on that recipe. My tips will apply to any two-crust fruit pie.
Prepare the filling using your favorite recipe. (My blueberry filling recipe is posted below.) Pour the prepared filling into the crust.
And at this point, I dot some butter on top of the filling. Most fruit pie recipes direct you to do this. If they don’t, I do it anyway. Because there wasn’t enough saturated fat already in the crust.
9) The Top Crust.
- Roll out the top crust so that it’s just big enough to cover the pie.
- Now, are you ready for this? My mom taught me to spread the top with a little more Crisco, then sprinkle with flour, and spread it around a little bit with your fingers. I have no idea why; I just do what I’m told.
- Fold it in half, and cut a few slits in it. This will allow air to escape while baking.
- Very carefully place the crust on top of the fruit-filled bottom crust; unfold.
10) Finishing Touches.
- Now, get a small bowl of milk. You’re going to use this to seal the crusts together. With your fingertips, dab a bit of milk all around the bottom crust, where it rests on the edge of the pie plate. Then gently press the top crust down so it seals.
- Then what I do is kind of tuck and roll the excess dough to make a nice edge. My mom sometimes takes a fork and crimps and then cuts off the excess, but that’s hard to do with the pie plate I’m using here.
- Finally, dip your fingertips in the milk, and spread it lightly over the top of the crust. This well help it brown up nicely. And then if you desire, you can
sprinkle some sugar over that, to give it a pretty glisten on top.
11) And pop it in the oven!
See, now wasn’t that easy? I didn’t say it wasn’t messy or labor intensive. But it’s not difficult.
Oh, yeah, I bet you wanna see how mine turned out. Yall are demanding internets, aren’t you? Okay, here it is. Dum-Dum-Duuhhhhh!
Here is the blueberry filling recipe I used.
Blueberry Pie Filling:
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup flour
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
6 cups fresh blueberries
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1 Tbsp butter
Heat oven to 425 degrees. Mix sugar, flour, cinnamon in large bowl. Stir in blueberries. Turn into pastry-lined plate. Sprinkle with lemon juice. Dot with butter. Cover with top crust that has slits cut in it; seal and flute. Sprinkle with milk and sugar.
If you want, you can cover the edge with 2- to 3- inch strips of aluminum foil to prevent excessive browning. Remove foil during last 15 minutes of baking. (I never bother; I like a crispy crust.)
Bake 35-45 minutes or until crust is brown and juice begins to bubble through slits in crust.
