Mamma's Pie Crust
List of Ingredients
After her death, we found Dick's mother's personal recipe books. Mamma had been an avid recipe collector and had amassed hundreds of clippings. Like the rest of us, though, she tried only a small percentage of those she'd collected. Her favorites were re-written in her personal books. This recipe for a pie crust and its variations were in a book she had started compiling for her granddaughters. I've copied her directions more or less verbatim, changing only her shortcuts that need translation.
Plain Pastry for 9-inch Pie
This makes 1 crust.
Mix together: 1 cup sifted flour and 1/2 teaspoon salt.
Cut in with pastry blender: 1/3 cup shortening
Sprinkle with 2 tablespoons water.
Gather (dough) together and press into a firm ball. Roll out into a circle 1 inch larger all around than the pan. For temperature and times, see each recipe.Recipe
To make a pastry shell for a pie in which filling is piled into a baked shell, flakey pastry or orange or nut pastry are special [sic]. For pie shells, roll plain pastry 1/8-inch thick. Dot with bits of firm butter (allowing) 1 tablespoon per crust. [Too hard or too soft breaks through.] Fold so the two sides meet in center and seal by pressing side edges together. Fold ends together and seal. Roll out to fit in pan. Prick pastry to keep from puffing during baking.
Simplified puff pastry to make shells or to hold creamed chicken, etc.: Make plain pastry. Roll out; dot with 1/3 cup butter. Roll up like jelly roll. Roll out into rectangle; fold and seal. Wrap in waxed paper and chill.
English pastry: Easy, unusually tender, wonderful for meat pies. Sift together 2 cups plain flour, 2 teaspoons baking powder, 1 teaspoon salt. Mix well and stir into flour mixture: 2/3 cup shortening, 1/2 cup hot water, 1 tablespoon lemon juice and 1 unbeaten egg yolk. Chill. Pat out 3/4 of pastry as lining for a 2-quart casserole. Fill and cover with rest of pastry. Bake at 425 degrees (hot oven) for 25 minutes.
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