Pie Crust
Ingredients:
For 9-inch pie (single crust only)
- 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons flour
- ½ cup vegetable oil (Wesson or Crisco oil)
- 1/3 teaspoon salt
- 2 to 3 tablespoons cold water
Directions:
1. Mix flour, oil and salt until particles are the size of small peas. Sprinkle in water, 1 tablespoon at a time, mixing until all flour is moistened and pastry almost cleans side of bowl. (If pastry seems dry, 1 to 2 tablespoons oil can be added. Do not add more water.) Gather pastry into a ball.
2. Wipe counter with a damp cloth and place of piece of waxed paper on it about 12 to 14 inches long. Place the dough in the middle and flatten it with your hand. Then place another piece of waxed paper on top of dough and roll out dough between the two sheets of waxed paper so that it extends approximately 2 inches beyond the size of the pie pan.
3. Gently remove the top piece of waxed paper. Lift the dough up using the bottom piece of waxed paper to support it and carefully place it dough-side down onto the pie plate. Gradually remove the waxed paper from the dough being careful not to tear the dough. Fit the dough into the pan and trim and flute as desired.
For baked pie shells, heat oven to 475° and prick bottom and sides of pastry thoroughly with fork. Bake until golden brown, 8 to 10 minutes; cool before filling. For pie baked in shell, follow directions given with pie recipe. Do not prick the bottom, but brush with oil instead.
Note: The more you handle the dough, the tougher will be your pie crust. Rolling out the dough using the waxed paper technique also avoids adding extra flour which will also make the dough tougher. This recipe gives a light, flakey crust.
