Perfect Pie Crust?

I have a recipe called "Never- fail" pie crust. It calls for:

3 cups flour
1 cup shortening
1 tsp salt
1 egg, beaten well
1 T. vinegar
5 T. cold water

Mix the dry ingredients. Cut in the shortening. Mix the wet ingredients and add all at once to the dry. Mix with a fork until just combined.

You can over mix pie crust and it just gets tough.

If you want really flaky, use half butter and half shortening. Cut back a scosh on the water and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before rolling.

I can make perfect pie crust: Here's how I do it:

2 cups flour
1 tsp. salt
2 tsps sugar
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup shortening
5 Tbsps. cold water

Cut the shortening & butter w/the dry ingredients until it looks like corn meal. Then sprinkle in the water and knead it into a ball, but not too long, think gently. Put flour out on wax paper, and take 1/2 the ball and roll it out evenly. That's one crust. Do the same thing w/the other half. That's 2, good for pumpkin pies, or a top and bottom crust. If ou want to make one lattice, put brown sugar or raw sugar on it before you roll it out. Roll it out thinly, and plan to lift it carefully.

Use ice water.

Use just enough patting to get things together. Less is more.

It's a half a teaspoon of vinegar, but never mind. PP recipe looks right.

My mom used to make the best pie crusts (she's gone now, doesn't make any pies at all...). About ten years ago she confessed she'd started using the refrigerated ones -- nobody guessed. Just a scratch pie is so impressive that the crust goes unnoticed, I guess.

Don't forget to grate a little nutmeg in your pie!

Don't forget to chill before rolling, to let the gluten relax. I've always used half butter, half shortenting. You can leave the fat a bit chunky when you cut it in, about the size of peas. I generally find that I never need more than 3-4 tbsp. ice water, except in the winter, when it is very dry.

Pie crust is one of the easiest doughs to overmix, so yes, think gentle.

think Pillsbury ready made pie crusts.
no mess , just beautiful flaky crust

The only time I buy frozen shells is when I have to do mini pies or tarts. It is such a pain in the arse to do those from scratch, the labour isn't worth it. For a single pie or two though, I make my own crust.

Pillsbury isnt frozen. Its a limp crust in the dairy case. We use em a lot. At Xmas time Mrs F makes lots of mince pies and she spends most of her time on the filling . They go very fast. Imstarting to get in a mince pie mood this week

Ahh. As for the mini shells, I buy 'em frozen, all formed and ready to bake, and they're not bad. They are made by Tenderflake, probably the only large pie crust company that still makes their crusts with lard, which some purists claim makes the flakiest crust.

If you get the refrigerated ones, they come folded in quarters. Let them warm up a bit before you try to unfold them or they'll crack on the fold lines and you'll have to patch 'em. And they really are good, nice and flaky.

Thanks everyone. I'm anxious to give this a try tomorrow. Rain has moved in, a little chilly over night, so the smell of apple pie baking will be heavenly.

I'll try the recipe Swimpy provided first (looks closest to Grandma's) and be careful with the water.

If all else fails, I may resort to store bought... Just don't tell anyone.

I've used the store bought for pecan (short e, emphasis on second syllable) pie, but where a top crust is needed I like the idea of homemade.

Sorry to get your mouth watering, Farmerman. Mrs. F will be wondering what is going on...