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Jo's Pie Crust




Source of Recipe


My Mother-in-Law, Jo


Recipe Introduction


Jo makes the best pie crust - flaky and tender, but robust enough to hold on to all the gooey goodness inside. Here is the recipe in her own words.


List of Ingredients




1 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon salt (about)
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/3 cup Crisco shortening
3 to 4 T. ice water (about) (can you tell that I don't measure)



Recipe



Making pie crust is more about technique than about ingredients, but here goes:

Combine flour, baking powder and salt. Using a pastry cutter (I like the one with the wider blades), cut shortening into the flour mixture until it resembles size of petite peas in texture. Add just enough ice water to hold dough together in a ball. Squeeze the dough together, handling as little as possible. My rule is a maximum of 10 times. The more you handle it, the tougher your crust will be. Now walk away and clean up your mess or prepare your filling. Let the dough rest for about 20 or 30 minutes.

Place pastry sheet on a slightly wet surface to keep it from moving. Lightly flour pastry sheet and rolling pin. Place dough ball in center and flatten with your hand. dust lightly with flour. Roll out dough as thinly as possible. Always lift your rolling pin after rolling in each direction. If you roll back and forth without lifting it, you will probably tear your crust. Flip crust over in pie pan and tease it gently off of pastry sheet. Fit snugly into pan. Trim edges to about one inch. For 1 crust pies, turn edge under and crimp. If filling is to be added into crust after it's cooked, prick vent holes in crust with a fork. Bake empty pie crust in hot oven (450) for about 8 to 10 minutes or until golden. For filled crust, just follow your directions.

For 2 crust pies ( like apple), After placing top crust, I like to give it a slightly beaten egg white wash and sprinkle with granulated sugar. This gives it a really flaky, crispy crust. ( you can use warm milk in place of the egg white, but will not be as shiny and will be a little less crispy). I put foil around the edges during the first half of baking to prevent them from being overdone. Sometimes I place a little of the foil on the pie top near the end of baking, if I see that it is getting too dark.

For one crust pie (obviously, double for 2 crusts!).