2000s Recipes + Menus
Pastry Dough
Makesenough for 1 (9-inch) single-crust pie
- Active time:15 min
- Start to finish:1 1/4 hr
January 2008
There is nothing like a homemade piecrust. It’s hard to say exactly why it’s so amazing—it just is. This classic recipe calls for butter, for flavor, and shortening, for flakiness. Once you get the hang of it, you'll find that people will walk over hot coals for a piece of your pie.
- 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 3/4 stick cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
- 2 tablespoons cold vegetable shortening (preferably trans-fat-free)
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 4 to 5 tablespoons ice water
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Blend together flour, butter, shortening, and salt in a bowl with your fingertips or a pastry blender (or pulse in a food processor) just until mixture resembles coarse meal with some roughly pea-size butter lumps. Drizzle 4 tablespoons ice water evenly over mixture (in a bowl) and gently stir with a fork until incorporated.
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Squeeze a small handful: If dough doesn't hold together, add more ice water, 1/2 tablespoon at a time, stirring until incorporated. Do not overwork dough or pastry will be tough.
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Turn out dough onto a work surface and divide into 4 portions. With heel of your hand, smear each portion once or twice in a forward motion to help distribute fat. Gather all dough together, with a pastry scraper if you have one, and press into a 5-inch disk. If dough is sticky, dust lightly with additional flour. Chill, wrapped in plastic wrap, until firm, at least 1 hour.
Cooks' note: Dough can be chilled up to 2 days or frozen, wrapped well, up to 3 months.
- Keywords
- lillian chou,
- pastry,
- dessert,
- pie
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