Pie Crusts from scratch

[Tink3815]

For those of you who still make your pie crusts from scratch, what do you use as your shorting ingredient?

 

[tvguy]

My wife says half butter half Crisco per the King Arthur Flour company recipe.

 

[barkley]

flour, salt, oil, milk are the ingredients in my mom's old recipe that we use.

 

[LoveDaisy]

I’ve done all butter and butter and crisco. I use butter and crisco most often.

 

[LoveToDisney]

Butter flavored Crisco

 

[alohamom]

I am alos a half butter/half crisco person. I've done full butter and while it tastes really goos it can be a little tough.

 

[Tuffcookie]

Crisco shortening. The key is to not overwork your dough.

 

[irlandaise]

I highly recommend that you consider the pie crust recipe developed by food scientist J. Kenji Lopez-Alt when he was working for America's Test Kitchen. It uses a combination of butter and vegetable shortening:

https://www.americastestkitchen.com/recipes/3919-foolproof-pie-dough-for-double-crust-pie

But the really important ingredient is vodka, which adds moisture without triggering the development of too much gluten in the crust. Here's a detailed explanation of why he chose a combination of fats, and why he used vodka in place of some of the water:

https://www.americastestkitchen.com/articles/37-foolproof-pie-dough

 

[gmi3804]

I’ll use butter and shortening or lard.

 

[Wood Nymph]

For those of you who still make your pie crusts from scratch, what do you use as your shorting ingredient?

I use 3/4 butter and 1/4 butter flavored Crisco.

 

[bobbiwoz]

flour, salt, oil, milk are the ingredients in my mom's old recipe that we use.

I use these too!

 

[WDWEPCOT]

Crisco and ice cold water literally have a bowl with ice cubes in it with a little bit of water to use to mix my dough - the less you handle the dough the better

I have tried the vodka that works pretty well too !

 

[ronandannette]

Good old-fashioned lard. I've never used anything else for pie crust.

 

[Tink3815]

Thank you for all the responses, I tried butter but is was not flaky at all.

 

[easyas123]

butter & ice water

 

[dizneegirl]

Lard.

 

[John VN]

The following video is how I made my crust and apple pies for DW and her mom (very good cook) + family. Got lovingly chastised when I stopped, too much effort for beginning arthritic hands.

BTW, that was after our 1973 marriage when I began making Holiday Dinners AND dessert

https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/all-butter-pie-crust/

 

[Jojo Cat Lady]

This recipe never fails and I get compliments every time I make it:

Sift together:
4 Cups flour
2 teaspoons salt
1 Tablespoon sugar

Cut in 1 3/4 Cup butter-flavored Crisco

Mix together:
1/2 Cup water
1 Tablespoon vinegar
1 slightly beaten egg

Combine with dry ingredients and roll out. I use an adjustable rolling pin purchased on Amazon to choose the thickness and keep it consistent.

 

[disneyseniors]

For those of you who still make your pie crusts from scratch, what do you use as your shorting ingredient?

Butter Crisco - always works great!

 

[irlandaise]

Thank you for all the responses, I tried butter but is was not flaky at all.

The section called "Fat and Flour" in the second article I cited goes into that exact issue. It isn't just a matter of the type of fat you use, but also how you mix it with the flour. Here's an excerpt (but the whole section is informative):

It’s not just the chunks of fat that create flakiness. It’s also the uncoated flour that mixes with water and forms gluten that guarantees a flaky crust. This explained the failure of the test in which I combined all the flour with some of the butter, then added grated butter to the dough. You need at least some flour that hasn’t been coated with butter in the dough in order to create the gluten layers that form flakes.