Description

This pie crust recipe has NEVER let me down. It’s made with solid Crisco shortening and is super flaky.

Ingredients

Units Scale

REGULAR PIE CRUST

2 cups all-purpose flour, more for dusting the work surface.
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup Crisco solid shortening, very cold. I keep mine in the refrigerator.
6 to 7 tablespoons of ice water

DEEP DISH PIE CRUST

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, more for dusting the work surface
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup Crisco solid shortening, very cold. I keep mine in the refrigerator.
7 to 8 tablespoons ice water

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Instructions

Place the flour and salt in a large bowl and mix together. Add the Crisco shortening and cut it into the flour using a pastry blender or fork, until it’s the size of peas.
Add the ice water and mix only until the water is incorporated into the flour and you can form the dough into a disc. Do not overwork the dough, or it will result in a tough pie crust.
Place 1/2 of the dough at a time onto a lightly floured work surface. Form it into a disc and slightly flatten it with your hand. Wrap each disc in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1/2 hour.
Roll the dough out very thin on a piece of floured wax paper or a floured work surface. Roll the dough out into a circle that is big enough to fit across the bottom, up the sides and at least one inch over the edges of your pie dish. Place the dough in a pie dish. Flute or crimp the edges as desired. Bake as directed on your pie recipe.

HOW TO PRE-BAKE/PAR-BAKE AN EMPTY PIE SHELL

If you are baking an empty pie shell for a cream or refrigerator pie, follow these steps…

Roll out pie dough and transfer to a pie dish. Trim edges and crimp or flute as desired. Place the pie shell in a refrigerator for 30 minutes. Meantime, preheat an oven to 425 degrees. Once the pie shell is chilled, prick the bottom and sides of the pie shell with a fork. This is called docking the pie shell. This keeps the pie shell from puffing up in the oven. Place a piece of foil or crumpled up parchment paper in the bottom and up the sides of the pie shell. Fill the shell with dried beans or ceramic pie weights. Place the pie shell on the bottom rack of the preheated oven. Immediately turn oven temperature down to 400 degrees. Bake until the edges of the crust are starting to take on a golden hue, about 10 minutes. Remove the pie shell from the oven and remove the pie weights and foil or parchment paper. Return the pie shell to the oven and bake until the bottom of the pie shell has turned a golden brown. This will take about 20 more minutes. Allow the pie shell to cool before filling.

Notes

The shallow pie crust recipe is enough for two shallow 9″ pie shells or one deep dish 9″ pie shell, with some extra dough left over. I use about 2/3 of the dough for a deep dish pie.