Easy Homemade Pie Crust Recipe

Instructions

• Mix flour and salt together.
• Add shortening. *It is very important not to skimp on the shortening or else it will be harder to roll out. I use a handheld dough blender to mix the flour and shortening together to where it is in very tiny pieces.
• Sprinkle 1 T of ice-cold water (make sure it is ice-cold and not warm) onto the flour mixture and gently toss with a fork.
• Repeat until all the flour mixture is moistened. (It usually takes me 7-8 T of ice-cold water for a double crust).
• Use your hands to form the dough into a ball.
• If you are making a double pie crust, set aside 1/3 of the dough.
• Sprinkle some flour on your counter. I also put a small amount of flour on top of the dough and also on my rolling pin.
• Roll out the dough starting, from the center and working your way out to the edges.
• Once it is about half the size you want it, fold the dough over slightly to flip the dough to the other side, and then continue to roll from the center outward until it is large enough to fit into pie plate. *I flip it so that is isn’t stuck to the counter when you are trying to pick it up and place into plate.
• Then, in order to pick up the dough and place it into pie plate, I fold it over a few times (like a burrito) and then unfold it once you have centered it over the desired plate.
• Press dough slightly in the corners of the plate. Cut off extra dough from the edges with a knife.
• For aesthetics and texture, I press my two thumbs together around the edges to make little ridges.

Double Pie Crust

• If this is a double pie crust, roll up the 1/3 remainder of the dough and repeat the steps of rolling out the dough starting with putting flour on the counter.
• This dough will be what is placed on top of whatever filing you choose.
• Once you have placed it on top of filling, press down the two crust edges together and make ridges as described above.
• Then, dip a fork into milk and dab on the top layer of crust a few times (you could also use a brush to apply it).
• Sprinkle sugar or cinnamon-sugar on top of milk. (This will give it a brown look once it is baked and make it look very warm. *you could also use an egg wash (eggs and a splash of water) for this step.
• Cut in a few vent holes and your pie ready to bake!

Baking

• If the filling you are putting in your pie is not cooked, bake it according to the recipe for whatever type of pie I’m making. (Do not prebake)
• If you are making a pie with filling that is already cooked, you should bake the crust before filling it (prebake).
• If prebaking: the crust needs to bake for 10 minutes at 450.