All-Shortening Pie Dough

Crisco has a higher melting point than butter, so all-shortening crusts hold their shape a little better than butter crusts. They're also extremely flaky but less rich than butter crusts.

All Shortening Pie Dough

2 1/2 cups flour

2 tablespoons granulated sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup of chilled Crisco

ice water

Fill a 2 cup liquid measure with about a cup of water, drop a few ice cubes in and put the whole thing in the freezer. It will chill while you prepare the rest of your crust.

Mix flour, sugar, and salt in a medium bowl. Drop the Crisco into the flour and use your fingers to rub it into the flour. I do this by scooping the mixture into my cupped hands and rubbing it firmly between my thumb and fingers, letting the mixture fall back into the bowl. It will be much softer than butter, so it will mix faster--be careful not to over mix! Continue until the mixture resembles coarse sand and the Crisco is in smallish chunks.

Pour ice water onto the dough in a thin stream. Use a circular motion so that the water hits different parts of the dough. I pour for three or four seconds, for probably 1/4 cup of liquid, but I don't measure anymore so it's hard to say. Go by feel. Mix the dough with your hands by lightly tossing it around the bowl (don't squish, mash, or crush it). Then firmly press a handful of it together. If it sticks together easily and is slightly moist, you've added enough water. If it falls apart or feels dry, add more water and re-toss.

Gather the dough into two balls, wrap them in plastic, flatten them into thick discs and refrigerate for an hour.

Flour a sheet of wax paper and roll the dough out on it.

For bakers with a pastry scraper: after the first roll, scrape the dough off the paper, turn it 45 degrees, and roll again. Scrape it up again, turn it 45 degrees, and roll again. Continue to do this until the dough is too large to move easily. This trick unsticks the center of the dough from the wax paper.

When the dough is large enough to cover the pie plate plus one or two inches extra, roll the dough over your rolling pin and roll it onto the pie plate. You could also flip the crust (on its wax paper) over the pie plate, center it, and pull the wax paper off at a sharp angle so that it doesn't tear the dough. Tuck the dough into the plate, taking care not to stretch it.

Form an upstanding ridge if you're making a single-crust pie. Leave the edges rough if you're making a double-crust pie. After you've poured the filling into the bottom crust, add the top crust. Trim the edges of the dough so they extend about an inch and a half over the edge of the plate, then crimp an upstanding ridge. Cut vents in the top crust before baking according to the instructions in your pie recipe.