Pies are a traditional dessert popular with kids and adults alike. Pies are especially popular around the holidays, such as Christmas or Thanksgiving, but are tasty and well received all year round.
This simple and delicious pie crust recipe is great for making all your favorite fruit pies from apple, blackberry, cherry, peach, pumpkin, and other family favorites. This recipe can be used in tasty pies such as lemon meringue, key lime, chocolate, or others that require baked pie shells.
Basic, Homemade Pie Crust Recipe
Preparation Time;
- 30 Minutes
Makes:
- 2 10 inch pie crusts, about 8 servings per crust
Oven Temperature:
- 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
Supplies Needed for this Tasty Dessert:
- Measuring cups
- Measuring spoons
- Medium sized mixing bowl
- Metal fork
- Butter knife
- 10 inch pie dish
- Small bowl for milk
- Basting brush
- Oven mitt
- Wire cooling rack
- Aluminum foil or pie crust sheild, to keep edges from burning.
Ingredients Needed to Make Traditional, Homemade Pie Pastry
- 2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
- A pinch of salt
- ½ cup butter or margarine
- ½ cup shortening
- 7 to 8 tablespoons water
- A tablespoon milk, to brush on pasty
How to Make Flakey, Pie Crusts
- Begin mixing flour and salt in stainless-steel mixing bowl. Cut butter and shortening into bowl. Using hands or metal form combine shortening and butter with flour until finely mixed. Add water, a tablespoon at a time, mixing with metal fork until pastry forms ball.
- Divide crust in half. Roll out on a flat, lightly floured surface. For less mess, consider rolling pie crust dough between two sheets of wax paper. Roll pie dough slightly bigger then edges of pie pan.
- When rolled, place dough in pie pan. If rolling on lightly floured surface consider folding dough, lifting it into pie dish, then unfolding. If using wax paper, merely peel onto pie dish. Press pie crust dough firming into pan.
- Add desired filling.
- Top with top crust or use a crisp or crumble recipe for some fruit pies. If using top crust, consider brushing a thin layer of milk on the edges of the first crust, before adding the top crust to ensure sides of pie are securely sealed. Make sure to pinch the two crusts securely together to prevent leakage. For a golden crust, consider lightly brushing the top of the pie with milk before baking. Make sure to add several slits in the top of pie curst.
- There are various creative ways to use your top crust. Using a cookie cutter, cut out various shapes and place them over your pie. You also can cut out a shape in the top pie crust pastry using a cookie cutter. Additionally, you could do a more traditional lattice top for your pie, interweaving thinly cut strips of pastry.
- Bake pie on the middle shelf in oven to ensure even baking. To prevent the edges of the pie from burning, consider using a pie crust shield or put strips of aluminum foil around the edges of the pie. Remove pie shield or aluminum foil the last 15 to 20 minutes of baking.
If making a baked pie shell only, cook for about 10 to 15 minutes with oven at 400.
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