I used to be challenged by pie crusts. After 27 plus years of experimenting, this is the MOST successful recipe that I have developed. If using salted butter, reduce salt to 1/4 teaspoon.
Ingredients
- cake flour: 0.75 cup
- all-purpose flour: 0.75 cup
- white sugar: 1 tsp
- salt: 0.5 tsp
- baking powder: 0.125 tsp
- unsalted butter: 4 Tbsp
- shortening: 5 Tbsp
- egg yolk: 1 piece
- distilled white vinegar: 2 tsp
- cubes ice: 3 piece
- water: 0.5 cup (cold)
Metric Conversion
Stages of cooking
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Measure butter & shortening onto a plate, put into freezer for about 20 minutes.
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Measure cake flour, all-purpose flour, sugar, salt and baking powder into the bowl of a food processor. Pulse for a few seconds to mix.
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Take 1/2 of the cold butter and 1/2 of the cold shortening, put into processor with dry ingredients and pulse off and on for about 1 minute. Scrape down twice while doing this.
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Take remainder of the cold butter & cold shortening and cut in very briefly with the processor, leaving visible pea-sized chunks. Do not over process at this stage!
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In a measuring cup, mix egg yolk and vinegar together, add ice cubes and water. Let this get chilled, about 3 to 4 minutes.
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Remove mixed flours and shortening from processor, put into a large mixing bowl. Sprinkle approximately 4 to 5 tablespoons of this egg, water, vinegar mixture, a little at a time, mixing gently with a fork. The key to this is, you do not want a wet dough, and you do not want to overmix.
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Place this dough into plastic wrap or plastic bag, chill in refrigerator for a few minutes. (May also be frozen for a few weeks at this stage for future use).
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Remove from refrigerator and roll out. This makes absolutely the BEST pie crusts. I have won County Fair competitions with this pie crust. Double for making a 2-crust pie.
