Someone's Pastry For A Double-crust Pie (or Two Pie Crusts)

Total Time: 15 mins Preparation Time: 15 mins

Ingredients

• 1 cup butter flavor shortening (plain would work fine)
• 2 cups flour, stirred and spooned into the measuring cup
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 10 tablespoons cold water (may need more or less, depending on weather)

Recipe

• 1 prepare to have the ice water handy by filling a pyrex measuring cup with water and ice cubes. set it by your work area, and let it get icy cold.
• 2 combine flour and salt in a medium bowl.
• 3 with a pastry cutter (or two knives), cut the shortening in until the mixture resembles pea-sized crumbs.
• 4 take out the pastry cutter and, while stirring with a fork, add 1 tablespoon ice cold water at a time until the dough is sticky and comes together. if the weather (or your kitchen) is warm/humid, less water will be needed. be sure you have the consistency you want, because it's very difficult to add more water.
• 5 form half the dough into a ball with your hands, and flatten the ball into a 1/2" thickness, rounding the edges.
• 6 place the dough onto a lightly floured surface (you can place between sheets of wax or parchment paper, if that is easier), and roll into a 10" circle (roll with your wrists doing the work, not your shoulders. i saw that on a bobby flay - pie throwdown episode).
• 7 gently transfer to a 9" pie plate. gently press the pastry down into the plate, being sure not to stretch or tear the dough. if it does tear a little, just take some off the edge, and "patch" it.
• 8 create a decorative edge around the top, and cut any extra crust off of the edge.
• 9 repeat for a second single-crust pie, or fill the bottom crust and top with the second half of this recipe for a double-crust pie.
• 10 blind bake the crusts or fill and bake as directed in your recipe.