Traditional Pastry Piecrust

Total Time: 1 hr 5 mins Preparation Time: 45 mins Cook Time: 20 mins

Ingredients

• 2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup crisco shortening, cold
• 2 tablespoons crisco shortening, cold
• 5 tablespoons ice-cold water
• 1/2 cup heavy cream

Recipe

• 1 in a medium bowl, mix together the flour and the salt.
• 2 add the crisco to the flour mixture.
• 3 use a pastry blender and mix the ingredients together with an up-and-down chopping motion until the dough forms coarse, pea-size crumbs.
• 4 add the ice-cold water, 1 tablespoon at a time, delicately incorporating each tablespoon into the flour mixture before you add the next.
• 5 you may have to use 1 more or 1 less tablespoon of water than the amount recommended, depending upon the humidity in your kitchen at the time of baking.
• 6 you will know you have added just the right amount of water when the dough forms a ball that easily holds together.
• 7 wrap the ball of dough with plastic and place it in the refrigerator to chill for at least 30 minutes.
• 8 once the dough has chilled, divide the ball in half.
• 9 roll out dough on a lightly floured surface, place dough in pie pan; crimp edges; brush heavy cream over the crimped edges to create a perfect, golden brown finish.
• 10 line the bottom of the crust with parchment paper and place pie weights on top to ensure the edges do not fall into the shell while the crust is baking.
• 11 prebaked pie shells—bake the crust at 425 degrees on the middle rack of the oven for 15-20 minutes, or until a golden brown color is achieved.
• 12 before removing the shell from the oven, make sure that the crust under the parchment paper has turned a golden brown.
• 13 partially baked pie shells—bake the pie shell for only 10 minutes so the crust only begins to bake.