Tender Flaky Butter and Shortening Pie Crust

Step 1

Combine the water, apple cider vinegar and ice cubes in a glass or spouted measuring cup. Mix and set aside.

Step 2

In a large mixing bowl, mix the flour, salt and sugar with a whisk.

Step 3

Grate the frozen butter and chilled shortening and add it to the dry mixture. Use a pastry cutter to cut the fat into the flour. The butter and shortening will become dry and crumbly.

Step 4

Adding a few tablespoons of ice-water at a time, start to work the dough into a ball using your hands.The dough should be moist enough where it sticks together but it shouldn’t be wet. Make sure to work quickly and not handle the dough for too long (you don’t want the butter to melt).

Step 5

Once the dough is formed into a ball, split it into halves and shape each half into a round disc (you will end up with 2 discs in total). Wrap each disc in plastic wrap. Refrigerate the dough for 2 hours.

Step 6

Once the dough has chilled, unwrap one or both discs (depending on your pie-recipe) and place on a generously floured surface. Flour your rolling pin and roll your dough out into a 12 or 13 inch circle (if you’re using 2 pie crusts, then keep the other one in the refrigerator and roll it out  right before you top your pie). If your recipe only calls for 1 pie crust, you can keep the other half in the refrigerator for up to 5 days or freeze it for later use.

Step 7

Drape your rolled-out dough over your rolling pin and lay it over your pie plate.  Ease the dough into the pie plate, trim any excess dough so that it extends about a 1/2-inch beyond the rim of the pie plate. Tuck the excess under and let the pie shell chill for 45 minutes in the refrigerator or 15-20 minutes in the freezer before filling it.

Step 8

dock and flute your pie shell (see definitions in the notes below), and either fill it or blind-bake per your pie recipe’s instructions. For a double-crust pie: fill the pie shell with filling, then roll out and top the pie with the other crust. Flute the edges and bake the pie according to the pie recipe.