Mother’s Pie Crust
Alice's infamous pie crust recipe. Makes four crusts.
Servings: 4 yield(s)
Prep Time: 15 mins
Ingredients
  • 4 cup flour
  • 2 tsp salt
  • 1 1/3 cup shortening
  • ice water (just enough to form dough into a ball)
Instructions
  1. Mix flour and salt together.
  2. Cut in shortening with a pastry cutter, or two knives, until the clumps are about pea sized.
  3. Add just enough ice water slowly to form dough into ball. Use as little water as possible. Handle as little as possible as handling makes the dough tough.
Recipe Notes

Dorothy's note: to minimize handling, I mix and roll one crust at a time: take about 1/4 of flour-shortening mixture and add enough ice water to form into a ball, roll out and fit into pie plate, repeat if top crust is needed. Unused flour-shortening mixture can be stored tightly covered in the refrigerator to be on hand when needed. Do not add water until ready to use. I always re-rolled scraps and sprinkled with a little cinnamon and sugar to bake for snacks. Kathy's note: She discovered, after years of wishing her pie crusts were as flaky as her mother's, that her mother's secret was lard rather than Crisco! Sounds bad for the arteries, but it does make wonderful crusts!