Pie crust

Pie Crust
Makes 2 large crusts.  It is also possible to divide this recipe into 3 parts for smaller/very thin crusts. 

There are so many pie crust recipes - and so many opinions.  Someday I will try to perfect an all-butter crust, but for now, this is by far the best and easiest pie crust recipe.  It is very similar to the one from Karen Sasine's Mom that I used for years, but the proportions are different and I like that it makes enough pastry for two good big crusts.  For example, it's enough to make a skillet pie and actually have a good bit of dough to fold over. 

3 C flour
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 C Crisco
1 egg, beaten
5 T ice cold water
1 T vinegar

In a large bowl, combine the flour and salt.  Cut in the Crisco with a pastry blender until the mixture resembles course crumbs.  Add the egg, water, vinegar, and stir gently with a fork until just combined.  Briefly use your hands to combine and form into a ball.  Separate ball in half.  Put each half between two sheets of waxed paper, or into a quart sized ziploc, and pat down into a thick disk shape.  Freeze for about 15 minutes to chill.  (You can also freeze the dough in this state for weeks - which is very helpful to do, because making pie crust is a huge pain!).   

Allow crust to thaw about 15 minutes, and then roll out in the usual way, with plenty of flour.  Using that plastic pie dough case thing is a great idea!