Pie Crust

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I am going to post my pie crust recipe. It's nothing fancy, but it works for me. There are tons of little tricks that people use to make their pie crust, but I pretty much ignore all of that stuff. Freezing the bowl, using vodka, chilling for hours, etc. My sister literally takes an hour to make pie crust. This recipe is simple and easy.

2 cups white pastry flour (or regular)
1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1 teaspoon salt
12 tablespoons unsalted butter
4 tablespoons vegetable shortening
water (chilled is better)

In a large bowl, mix the flours and salt. Using a pastry blender, cut in the butter. When the butter is mostly mixed in, cut in the shortening. Continue until you have pea-sized lumps. Slowly add the water and mix until you can form a ball. Too much water or mixing with make the crust hard and too crunchy. Too little water makes it hard to work with. It may take you a while to realize just how much water is right. I guess that is the hardest part. When you are rolling out the dough, be sure to generously flour the surface. Using parchment/wax paper helps.

For Thanksgiving, I made an apple sour cream pie. It was yummy. Check it out at http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Silver-Palate-Sour-Cream-Apple-Pie-106665