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Make Ahead Pie Crust

List of Ingredients




Makes enough pastry for three, two-crust
pies or six single-crust pies. They keep well in the
refrigerator for a week or can be frozen for later use.

6 cups of all-purpose flour,
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons of salt
1 1/2 cups each regular shortening and butter-flavored shortening
2 egg yolks,
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
about 1/4 to 1/3 cup ice water

Recipe




Sift together 6 cups of all-purpose flour, 2 tablespoons
sugar and 2 teaspoons of salt.

Cut in 1 1/2 cups each regular shortening and butter-flavored
shortening until the mixture looks like coarse meal.

Using a fork, lightly work in 2 egg yolks, 2 tablespoons
cider vinegar, and about 1/4 to 1/3 cup ice water. When
you lift the pastry up it should hold together in a ball
but not be crumbly. If it's still crumbly, slowly work
in small amounts of water but don't overwork it.

Let the pastry rest. Separate into six balls and wrap
tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate or freeze. Allow
at least 30 minutes for gluten to rest and making it
easier to roll out a tender crust before using.

Use a pastry cloth or a flat-weave kitchen towel. It makes
it easier to pick up the dough and move it to the pie tin,
rather than rolling directly on the counter.

Use as light a dusting of flour as possible. Excess flour
dries out the pastry, making it more brittle, heavy or dry.

Cutouts or gashes are essential to allow steam to escape
the filling and avoid misshapen or burst crusts.

As soon as you roll out the top crust about 1/8 inch thick,
immediately use the tip of a sharp knife or small hors
d'oeuvre cutter to cut in the air holes. Lay a sheet of
plastic wrap on the crust, and fold it in half. Then,
still using the pastry cloth, lift up the top pastry and
carefully lay it across the filled pie.

Unfold the crust. The plastic wrap not only helps keep
the dough from sticking together as you lift it, but if
your filling is oozy, it keeps it from seeping out onto
the top of the crust.

Fold over the top crust before fluting to keep the filling
from spilling out.

Start with pastry that's rolled neither too thick nor too
thin. Pastry rolled to about 1/8-inch thickness is ideal.
Moisten the edges of bottom crust with a little cold water.
The bottom crust should overlap the pan by 1 inch. Trim the
top crust to match.

Working carefully, gently draw the bottom pastry away from
the edge of the pan and simultaneously fold the edge of the
top crust over the bottom crust, tucking it under. Using your
thumb and forefinger or middle finger, pinch the edges to flute
decoratively.