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My Favorite Pie Dough

You Need to Know: How to Make Pie Dough. This is a step by step tutorial with photos and videos of how to make, bake, and work with homemade butter pie dough. Learn what fat to use in pie crust, how to make an egg wash, how to crimp a pie crust, how to braid a pie crust lattice, and more tips that make homemade desserts easy. Find all the tips and tricks for great pie crust here on thewoodandspoon.com

A pie crust equal parts buttery and flaky, lightly golden, and perfectly baked- this is the only recipe for a double pie crust that you’ll ever need.

Ingredients

  • 3 ½ cups (420 gm) all purpose flour
  • 3 teaspoons (12 gm) sugar
  • 3/4 teaspoon (4 gm) salt
  • 2/3 cup (135 gm) chilled solid vegetable shortening, cut into pieces
  • 3/4 cup (11/2 sticks, 170 gm) chilled unsalted butter, cut into pieces
  • 10 tablespoons (approximately) ice water

Instructions

  1. Give the dry ingredients a whiz in the food processor to combine.
  2. Pulse in the shortening and butter, just until barely evenly dispersed.
  3. Begin adding ice water, 2 tablespoons at a time until moist clumps begin to form.
  4. Remove dough from food processor and separate in two round disks. Wrap in Saran wrap and chill for at least two hours prior to use.
  5. When ready to use, roll out to 1/4″ thickness and line the bottom of a 9″ pie pan. This is enough dough to fill a deep dish pan as well. Prior to baking, brush with an egg wash, if desired. This is done by whisking 1 egg with 1 tablespoon of water and lightly brushing crust prior to use.

Notes

  • This recipe makes a double crust. If you want extra dough for decorating the top, I recommend doubling the recipe and saving leftover crust for a future pie! The dough freezes nicely when wrapped well.
  • Chilling the dough is essential. If your dough gets too warm while you are rolling it out or decorating the top, you may not get as flakey of a crust as you might desire. So work swiftly!
  • Patch up holes or tears in the crust with leftover dough. Even small holes on the bottom of the pie plate can make a burned and sticky mess of your pie and you’re not going to want to waste a drop of this deliciousness!
  • You can easily substitute the shortening for butter and visa versa, however I cannot vouch for any other substitutions. Unless you’re super anti-shortening or anti-butter, I strongly recommend this combination for a buttery, flaky crust.

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