One of the many benefits of living in Texas my entire life is the AMAZING pies! It seems that at every small town convenience store there is a fresh pie ready to be bought and eaten. This, of course, is not too good for your weight but… who cares when it is so good for your soul.
Now, I may be biased in saying this, but I truly believe my family’s pie crust recipe is the best you can find on the web. This pie crust is so perfectly flakey and crumbly that there is really no other way to go. The recipe has been a family favorite for 4 generations and it definitely will be for the years ahead. On top of the amazing flavor, the recipe is super easy!
Pastry dough is one of the more intimidating/difficult parts of the bakery world. I feel like that is kinda silly. Fear of messing up a pie crust shouldn’t stop someone from making a super yummy pie. It will take less than 5 ingredients and 15 minutes to make the dough. I don’t see why not to go for it!
Flour mixture with added water 
Completed Dough
The recipe card says that the recipe makes 2 single shells but I usually end up about 1 and a half this crusts. But honestly, I can’t complain! The extra cut off edges of the crust are a great snack while baking (especially for your kiddos). All you do, is lay the extra crust onto a non-stick baking sheet, sprinkle cinnamon and sugar on top, and bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit until it turns a golden brown color, about 7-10 minutes. This was always my favorite part of the baking process as a kid!
In my opinion, the biggest component of a good looking pie is the edges! An interesting edge makes the presentation of a pie at least ten times better. My favorite edge is the one shown above. It is very simple to do but it looks fantastic! After you have evenly cut off the extra edge, all you do is pinch the dough from the outside onto your index finger. Do this around the entire pie and then you have a gorgeous pie to share with friends and family!
Perfect Pie Crust
Author:
Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- pinch of salt
- 1/2 cup shortening
- 5-6 tbls water
Instructions:
- Combine salt and flour in large bowl
- With a potato masher, cut the shortening into the flour mixture*
- Once the is mixture very crumbly add the water and mix with a spoon. The dough should begin coming together. (Refer to the photos about to see how the dough should look.)
- Put the crumbly dough onto a floured surface* and work just until it comes together to form a ball of dough. Make sure to not work the dough for TOO LONG or it will become too stiff! As soon as the dough joins into one piece, roll it out and put it into your pie pan.
- Bake on 450 degrees Fahrenheit for 10 to 12 minutes.
- Now put your filling in, bake some more, and ENJOY!
Notes:
- If you do not have a potato masher, a fork will work as well. Just make sure that most bits of the shortening
are finely mixed with the flour - For the floured surface, I recommend a very thin, floured towel. That will let you easily move the dough without working it too much.
- If your dough is not really coming together, go ahead and add one more tablespoon of water.
Did you make this recipe? If you did I would love to hear what you thought! Tag me on Instagram and leave a comment below letting me know!