Fundamental Double Pie Crust Recipe

Weigh your flour, or measure it by gently spooning it proper right into a cup, then sweeping off any further.

In a medium-sized mixing bowl, whisk collectively the flour and salt.

Add the shortening, working it in until the mix is evenly crumbly, like coarse seaside sand; you want each half completely blended.

Decrease the butter into small (about 1/2″) cubes.

Add the butter to the flour mixture, and work it in roughly collectively along with your fingers, a pastry cutter, or a mixer. Don’t be too thorough; the mix should be pretty uneven, with massive chunks of butter in among the many many smaller ones. People get nervous about pie crust, and of their nervousness they’ve an inclination to work the dough an extreme quantity of. Working the butter in completely makes a mealy crust fairly than a flaky one.

Drizzle 4 tablespoons of water over the flour mixture, tossing gently to combine.

Add ample further water to make a chunky, fairly cohesive mixture. It ought to take care of collectively when you gather a bit up and squeeze it in your hand. Be careful for kneading the pastry an extreme quantity of and/or together with an extreme quantity of water, as this may occasionally toughen the crust.

Gently kind the pastry proper right into a cohesive mass. Or sooner than shaping, take it a step further: Change the shaggy mixture to a little bit of parchment paper. Press it proper into a troublesome rectangle and fold the dough into thirds, like a enterprise letter. If compulsory, spritz any dry areas with chilly water and flatten and fold as soon as extra, repeating the strategy until all errant bits of dough have been included. Folding the dough on this vogue will create further flaky layers in your final crust.

Divide the dough in half. Acquire every bit proper into a troublesome disk. Clear the disks; it’s OK in the event that they’ve only a few cracks throughout the flooring. Clear their edges by working the disks alongside a floured flooring like a wheel.

Wrap the crusts in plastic or your favorite reusable storage wrap. Chill for half-hour, or as a lot as in a single day. Or wrap in aluminum foil over the plastic, and freeze for as a lot as two months.

For full particulars on ending your pie (along with rolling the pastry, transferring it to the pan, together with filling and prime crust, and baking), please see our Pie Baking Data.