Pastry Pie Crust

Have you ever had those days when you wake up on a Sunday morning and have the urge to channel your Julia Child instincts -willing to spend half a day in the kitchen trying either a new or a good old recipe and actually feel relaxed while preparing it?  Although rare, I tend to enjoy those days because it usually means a calm day at home for me at last. So I often embrace that urge, put on some of my favorite tunes (Michael Buble this time) on low in the background, and have at it! This time I was in the mood to make my own homemade pie crust from scratch instead of buying a pre-made one from the store for an upcoming recipe that I’m going to post next week.

Ingredients

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour (I used unbleached flour)

1/4 tsp salt

1/3 cup shortening*

5 tbsp cold water

Directions

Stir together flour and salt. Using a pastry blender, cut in shortening until pieces are formed into pea-size. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of the cold water at a time over your flour and salt mixture; gently toss with a fork. Repeat, using 1 tablespoon water until all the dough is moistened.

Form dough into a ball. Lightly flour your countertop surface, flatten dough over the flour. Using a rolling pin, roll dough from center to edge into a circle of about 12 inches in diameter.

To transfer your pastry dough, wrap it around the rolling pin; unroll into a 9-inch pie dish. Cover the pie place with ease, being careful not to stretch pastry. Trim excess pastry dough around the pie dish. Press dough against pie edges as desired. Do not prick pastry. Bake at 450 degree oven for 10 minutes. Remove from the oven. Fill in your pie dough with a filling of choice. I used mine for the crab meat quiche mentioned above, but your imagination is your only limitation.

*Fun fact: the primary use of shortening is to “shorten” pie doughs, and other pastries, which makes them flaky. Shortening is also used for deep-frying because it has a high tolerance for heat without breaking down. But you can also substitute vegetable or peanut oil for the same job, but you’ll have to replace the oil more often for they break down more easily. Also, peanut oil is more expensive and runs the risk of aggravating those who are allergic to peanuts.