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Pictured: Coconut-Oatmeal Rum Pie (with Walnuts.
Nobody knows pie crust better than little old ladies at church. Especially little old ladies at a little tiny town country church. They were born to make pies and they live up to their potential with every flaky, mouthwatering bite. And sometimes they will even tell you their secrets. If you think you can’t make homemade pie crust, you need this recipe. If you think you don’t have time to make homemade pie crust, you need this recipe. If you think homemade pie crust isn’t important, you need this recipe.
You can make this pie crust in under 10 minutes. Probably in 5 if you are in pie crust making races. If not, you can relax and take an extra couple minutes. It is easy, fast, perfect and flaky, and you will feel like a little old church lady when you’re through. Wait, that didn’t come out right…. You will be excited and you will feel like a baking genius! Your friends and family will be amazed, and you will never have pie despair again! And so, with an homage to little old church ladies everywhere–
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How to make Foolproof Pie Crust:
4 cups all-purpose flour
1 3/4 cups shortening or lard
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon vinegar
1 egg
1/2 cup very cold water
Add flour, shortening or lard, sugar, and salt to a large bowl.
Mix flour and shortening or lard with a pastry cutter until it looks nice and crumbly. In a small bowl, whisk together the vinegar, egg, and water. Add to the flour mixture, stirring in till well-moistened. Knead lightly to mix in all the flour then shape it into a great, big, wonderful ball of pastry dough. (Don’t overhandle.)
Admire it for a moment and think about how proud the little old church ladies are going to be.
And about how wonderful it is to live in a world that includes pie.
Then divide the dough into four equal portions.
Shape each portion into a ball; wrap with plastic and refrigerate for at least 15 minutes before using. Or, if you want to use it faster, stick it in the freezer for 5 minutes. (You can keep this pie crust dough in the refrigerator for a week before using, or in the freezer for a couple of months. It freezes well–place dough balls in sealed freezer bags for storage.)
To use, sprinkle some flour on waxed paper. Sprinkle some more flour on top of the pastry dough then roll out, adding more flour if necessary to keep it from sticking to your rolling pin. Place in a greased pie pan. I like to just up-end the rolled crust right off the waxed paper on top of the pie pan. Peel off the paper then crimp the edges.
For double-crust pie, repeat the same procedure, venting the top.
This recipe makes two 9-inch double-crust pies or four single-crust pies. This is a great pastry for tarts and pot pies, etc, as well as standard dessert pies.
PIctured: Homemade PopTarts.
Don’t forget the scraps!
Place pie crust scraps on a lightly greased pan and drizzle with melted butter. Sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon. Bake scraps at 350-degrees for about 15 minutes then watch everyone fight over them.
Pie is a beautiful thing. Store-bought pie crust is no comparison to homemade, and this is the best pie pastry I’ve ever used. It’s so easy, it’s ridiculous, and it comes out perfect every time.
The little old church ladies have got your back.
See all my pie and pastry recipes here.
See this recipe at Farm Bell Recipes and save it to your recipe box.
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I never did figure out how to keep them from laying in the evening but wish it was as easy a fix as yours. Love the ingenuity.
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-Kim
P.S. Nice shot of Sugar!
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Maybe I will with this one.
Looks delicious! :clap:
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Amelia in Oklahoma
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Thanks for the piecrust recipe. I will try it this weekend. I love piecrust, and it is so easy to make.
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http://lifeislikechampagne.blogspot.com/
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Beth
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Beth, I’m definitely going to be doing a lot of pie recipes coming up! I love fruit pies, too, especially when I can get fresh, local fruit. This roast beef pie was a no-recipe true “leftovers” pie–roast beef, gravy, and potatoes, just dumped into the pie, baked for one hour!
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Actually, I think I’m gonna stick with my own ice-water recipe for today, since I’m cooking for 11. But there’s cherry pie upcoming over the weekend…
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..BUT, I have loved every recipe of yours I’ve tried so will have to try this just to see !!! It looks absolutely beautiful and delicious!
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Making pie crust with one hand and taking pics with the other.
Can’t wait to try the crust recipe at our upcoming “grounds service”. I too will classify as one of “The little old church ladies”
They have never tasted what they’re about to receive.
Left-overs….ideas rushing through my mind.
Thanks
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Kara, if you freeze it, just sit it out on the counter and let it come down to pretty much what the temperature would be if you took it out of the fridge instead. Chilled, but not frozen anymore.
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Okay, with that too much information. She LIVES to make pies. I made the comment once that my late mother uses storebought piecrust because they are just as good. WRONG THING TO SAY!!! Ha, ohhhh no…my youngest brother in law can tell the difference right off, she says. She thinks no one can live with her pie OR piecrust.
It is kind of fun to watch her roll them out…she’ll make five in one day, no problem..or more, if that youngest brother in law wants another one or one all to himself. She has antique rolling pins – and certainly the one her mother gave her, that is antique.
She recipe is very simple – lard, salt and water and flour. I have LITTLE patience at rolling dough out, esp. with my LARGE MARBLE rolling pin (I plan to get a lightweight one). Last Thanksgiving, my back hurt and my crust looked like my back felt and my husband commented “that sure doesn’t look like my mom’s”…he eagerly jumped in to re roll…before I beat him with the rolling pin (just kidding)…and his looked good. He’s a perfectionist. When he made the above comment, I said “well your mom’s back doesn’t hurt!”.
I can make mile high merangue (meringue?)…but she just makes a sound like “hmm”…no interest to learn, from her thin, crappy little meringue…she has to know it all and be the best. Let me stop. LOL But, each Christmas or any occasion we are up there…there is PIE. I do love pie, thankfully. She would die if there was no pie!
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I love pie.
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My MOM WAS ONE OF THE BEST PIE PEOPLE IN THE WORLD, but she failed to teach me. Biscuits were a necessity, so I learned that when I was about 10.
Your blogs are always fun, and usually bring back a fond memory or two.
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Thanks for a great recipe!
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Like Stacy, I love this crust! I used it over Thanksgiving and my pies were wonderful. I have been baking pies for over 55 years, and this is the best recipe I have found, and it keeps so well. I try to keep enough for one pie in the fridge at all times. It is really nice if you leave it a bit thicker than you do for a pie and top a cobbler or a chicken pie with it, they turn put fabulous as well. Good stuff!!
JO
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I look forward to exploring more of your blog! Really enjoy the writing and photos. Thank you so much.
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We didn’t have a lot of money when I was growing up and it was “waste not, want not” so that excess pie crust was used.
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I will try it again, probably after we render our lard this year. This will be my first year trying that…I imagine that it isn’t that hard to do.
Anyway, I will post the recipe that I use over in Farm Bell Recipes. It is so totally fluffy and flaky! It is called “Puffy Pastry”, and has only 3 easy ingredients…white flour, butter and sour cream. It ALWAYS turns out for me.
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I’m not great with pie dough ~ maybe your recipe is the one that was created for people like me ~ it looks great!
Thanks so much for the tip on using the ‘scraps’ ~ what a great idea!
Thank you for sharing!
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I used this crust recipe tonight to make butter tarts for a bake sale (what was she thinking, assigning me TARTS?). Was the dough easy? Yes. Did it roll out like a dream? Heck Yes. Was it flakey? HOLY CRAP! We are talking so flakey and delicate that it is difficult to pick up the tarts to eat them….in a good way of course LOL!
Even after re-rolling the scraps several times, the last tarts are as tender as the ones from the first rolling. I did use a food processor rather than a pastry blender, and I did not use waxed paper to roll out (just flour).
Thank you thank you thank you! Next, can you teach me to make jell-o from a box? Apparently I don’t take direction well and mine never turns out……..tee hee!
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