Flaky Pie Crust
About This Recipe
“Good & easy enough for a beginner like me. It came from Bon Appetit June 2000 at Epicurious.com. This is my first posting on Recipezaar, but this turned out so beautifully that I had to share it. We don’t have a have a food processor, so I used a whisk, (takes some elbow grease) and I didn’t freeze the vegetable shortening, or chill the dough first, and I used regular margarine cold straight out of the frig., as we don’t like butter. I put foil around the edges of the crust so that it wouldn’t get too brown, and took them off at near the end of the baking time to a get a golden brown crust, and I did freeze the crusts in the pan before putting the pumpkin mixture in, as suggested in the Spiced Pumpkin Pie recipe I used. I also did as others suggested in rolling it out between 2 sheets of waxed paper, and dusting lightly with flour so it wouldn’t stick & it was a dream to work with. It turned out great. I’ll post the Spiced Pumpkin Pie also in case anyone wants to try it. This recipe makes enough dough for two crusts.”
Ingredients
Directions
Reviews
“This was great!!I used very cold (but not frozen) shortening, and in between working on parts of this I stuck everything in the freezer to keep it workable.I will add that when I went to roll it out, the dough stuck horribly to my work surface.I scraped it off, floured everything very well (including the top of the dough), and it went smoothly. The dough came out wonderfully… I froze one for later baking, and used the other in Teresa M’s Spiced Pumpkin Pie (# 21047)… the crust was flaky and delicious, and that said, I don’t think I will ever buy another pie crust again!!Don’t be intimidated by pie crust, folks, its easier than you think!”
“I liked this recipe. I used it for a meat pie which I will post later. I also used not frozen but very cold shortening and very cold unsalted butter. I have a micro food processor…the key word being micro and couldn’t use it for this recipe but I do have a pastry knife and it really wasn’t that much work. It came together nicely and I didn’t roll it out in between waxed paper…but maybe I’ll try that in the future. Thanks!! I’ll use this recipe again.”
“This was my very first pie crust and it came out perfectly. I made this for Libby’s Famous Pumpkin Pie (Recipe #101104), and I got a lot of compliments.Next time I make this, I’m going to bake the pie crust on its own for a few minutes before I put the pie filling in. I don’t know if this is something you’re supposed to do, because obviously I’m new at this… I’m going to bake the crust though because I noticed in the center of my pumkin pies (i made two at a time) the crust was just a little soft. It was fine that way, I don’t think anyone really took notice, but to bring the pie to perfection, I would have liked a dryer crust.Thanks for the recipe, it was so easy!———–Christmas 2006 Update:Hi again Teresa! Hope you had a great holiday. I re-visited your pie crust, and this time I “toasted” it in my oven for about 10 minutes at 350, before putting the pie filling in. At first I thought this was a mistake because the crust got soft and moist, sliding down the sides of my pie pan. But I let it cool and refrigerated it, and then baked my pies the next day. The crust was PERFECT! No soggy middles! Thanks again, and have a great New Years!”
“Best tasting, flaky pie crust ever!! Thanks for posting!”
“Excellent flaky pie crust here that worked out great for me!”
“Excellent! Very easy! Even got a compliment from my mother-in-law on this one! Thanks for a great recipe!”
“i made this today using a mixture of whole wheat flour & regular white flour (halved the recipe) and only using crisco (no butter).the end result was superb (and i am no baker!). it was definitely very well advised to roll the dough out between two sheets of wax paper … when i was finished rolling, i simply inverted the pie plate onto the wax paper, fit the dough in that way, and then gently pulled the wax paper off.i baked at 400’F for about 10 minutes (pricked it all over with a fork before baking).many thanks!!”
“I have yet to make the perfect pie. This is a super easy recipe and made a delicious pie. Thanks for sharing”
“I am terrible at making pies, but this recipe just worked for me! The only difference is the amount of liquid, i usually only end up using around 4 tablespoons of liquid instead of everything. I received a lot of compliments and request to make it EVERY weekend. 🙂 This is coming from a family that doesnt really fancy pies too. I used it for Yummy Crunchy CaramelApple Pie #31128 and Kittencal’s Easy Caramel Sauce #78088. Someone comment that i use to have a lot of trouble with pie crusts, but not any more. 🙂 Thanks Teresa!”
“I made this remembering that my mom used to make a pie crust with vinegar in it.I was a little worriedbecause the smell was really “vinegary”, in fact I really thought it would be a flop.I was wrong…the crust turned out beautifully and tastes fantastic.There is no vinegar smell or taste at all after it is baked. I didn’t need as much water as called for in the recipe, I think I used about half.This is going to be my new “go to” for pie crust.Thanks Teresa M for a great recipe!”
“Thanks for an easy to make pastry recipe, its flaky and tasty. I’m not much of a pastry maker, that was my mum speciality.”
“This is my go-to pie crust recipe. Been using it since I first came to Zaar. I have been remiss in writing this review – flaky, crispy but tender. Never a leaky or mushy bottom with this recipe. Nevr tough. Ok to leave out sugar for savory pies too. Love it, love it, love it! Thank you Teresa M. for great recipe!”
“This was so easy and delicious.I havelooked for flaky crusts for a long time and defiantely found ‘the one’.I doubled it and make enough for 5 crusts.I used Strawberry Rhubarb pie in the shell (#83789) What a pefect match!”
“The first words out of my mouth were “Honey, WE made a flaky pie crust- check it out!” This was my first time making pie crust from scratch, and it was a success!I followed the directions exactly except that I substituted 2t lemon juice for the apple cider vinegar because I forgot to buy the vinegar and have seen lemon juice used in another recipie- the acidity aparantly does something great with the flour- it works is all I know!Made it for Thanksgiving pumpkin pies using the recipie on the can of pumpkin, and then my husband made some cookie cutouts with the leftover dough- sprinkled them with cinnamon sugar- YUM.Thanks, Teresa!”
“Absolutly beautiful! Made this and it turned out wonderful! Very easy! I did not freeze the shortening and did not bake before I filled it. Used it to make apple pie with a lattice top. Posted picture!”
“This was a really easy pie crust to make.I followed the recipe as it was written with the exception of freezing the shortening.After mixing in the blender, it wasn’t crumbly, but I went ahead and added the water and vinegar as directed and the crust came out great!I did split the dough and placed each half in a ziploc sandwich bag and threw them in the fridge overnight.I worked it and it came out awesome.I did bake it for 10 minutes at 350 prior to adding my filling.I don’t think that I had to do that though, but hey, I am average guy that tries different things and this was my first time ever making a pie!If I can do it, anyone can do it!”
“I am not exactly known for my pie dough, so when I tried this one for the first time, I noticed that it just seemed to be easier to work with. I did use all of the water, and followed the instructions to a T. I didn’t tell my hubby that it was a different crust. He, maybe like many others, tends to be very critical if he knows I made something different. He took one bite and said that the crust was delicious. When I told him thatit was a new recipe, he told me to use this one from nowon. Easy,delicious, thanks for sharing.”
“Ok…I’m the odd one out in this case. I froze the shortening and chilled the butter as directed. I also took no chances by chilling my mixed dry ingredients in the fridge. I don’t have a food processor so I used a fork. The shortening was cut into the flour mixture until it resembled course meal. I then cut the cold butter in until there were pea-sized chunks. I only needed about 3 tbs. of the water/vinegar because I noticed right away how moist the dough was due to the proportion of fat! The dough was easily rolled into the pan and chilled before blind baking. The result- the dough was a tad too salty, did not hold its shape well (the star accents I glued with egg onto the rim melted or fell off), and the crust was too heavy-tasting yet weak in structure. I also failed to notice that most vinegar pie crusts call for an egg, but I’m an amateur whose trying to learn. Sorry, this one failed me. :'(“
“Good recipe!My only suggestion would be NOT to pour all the liquid in at one time.Mine was a little too soft and could’ve used a bit less moisture.I’ll definitely make this again!Thank you…”