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Part 1 of the Pie Series: The Crust

11/12/2016

12 Comments

 
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      I have always loved to make pie.  It confuses me when people say that pies are hard to make.  After all, the saying is, "Easy as Pie"!  I guess because I was taught to bake pie by my mother, who was always the world's best pie maker, I just thought that pie baking was supposed to be easy.  My mother's pie crust recipe is the one I always use.  It is simple and straightforward. No tricks or secret ingredients.  It won my mom so many pie contests that they eventually just made her the judge to give someone else a chance.  
        Thanksgiving is obviously the time of year that most pies are baked.  When I was growing up, my mom would make an array of about 8-10 pies for the holiday.  With my own family over the years, it has been about the same.  We usually meet with extended family, so there has to be lots of pie.  Since we are getting so close to Thanksgiving, I have decided to do a Pie Series. I will share recipes for some of our most loved pies.  We have to start with the basics, so today we are starting with the crust. 
I always use Crisco! I have tried many kinds, but this gives the best results by far. Shop around for the best price. I find that usually Walmart or Winco will have the lowest prices on it, by $2.00!
Put your flour, salt and shortening in the bowl.
I use a fork to cut the shortening in until it is crumbly like this.
You end up with a ball of dough that will make one double crust pie.
Flour your board and rolling pin. I have a big center tile on my counter that I use to roll things our on.
First roll the ball out about four rolls into a circle. Then lift, rub the flour under it again, and flip it on to the other side. This will help it not to stick so much in the long run.
Then, continue to roll the dough out to the size you need to fit your pie dish.
Next, fold it in half loosely and center it in your dish.
The dough should hang over the edges of the pie plate.
You can crimp or decorate the edges how ever you would like. Here is one method where I place my thumb and forefinger inside of the dish and then push the dough from the outside between them to make a scallop.
Here it is, ready to go into a 450 degree oven.
This pie crust was crimped a different way, simply by pinching around the edges. It is all baked!
        Here are a few more tips:
  • I never make a double batch of dough.  It just doesn't seem to work.  But, you will learn to save the left over dough to put with the next batch so that two batches can make 3 single crust pies.  If you are organized, you will end up having to make fewer batches of dough when you need a lot of pies.
  • I do all of the pie baking the day before Thanksgiving because the oven is going to be busy with the turkey on Thanksgiving day.
  • My kids always loved to eat scraps of pie dough.  There are no eggs in it, so I thought it was pretty safe.  We never had any problems.  But, recently I have read that even raw flour can be dangerous to eat.  Use your best judgement. 
      Here are a couple of alternative to eating raw dough when you have leftovers:
Turn a cupcake tin upside down to use as a mold for tarts.
Use a bowl or large glass to cut out a circle and then form the shell over the tin. Bake about 18 min. at 450 degrees F.
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When they are cooled, you can fill them with whatever you would like! (I was out of whipped cream, sorry.)
This is my husbands favorite! Put the last of the dough in a small pie pan.
Sprinkle the dough with sugar and cinnamon. Bake at 450 degrees about 20 min.
When it comes out, everyone will just want to break pieces off and munch on it.
Here is your chance to see the flakiness of this crust.
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Nice and flaky, just like crust is supposed to be.
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More from the Pie Series: 
​Part 2-Blackberry Pie
Part 3-Upside Down Pecan Apple Pie
Part 8-Apple Pie

​

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12 Comments
Erica Schmidt link
11/14/2016 08:01:12 am

Thank you for sharing this! Pie crust is still scary to me so the gallery of photos will be super helpful! Pinning for later!

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Helen link
11/14/2016 10:42:28 am

You can do it Erica! Look how simple the ingredients are!

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shelley link
11/15/2016 10:14:34 am

I have to admit that I'm not good at making pies - it's the crust that always scares me. Going to have to work up some nerve and get over my fear. Your crust is beautiful.

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Helen Reynolds
11/15/2016 03:55:43 pm

You can do it!

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Christine link
11/16/2016 08:23:21 am

The photos are so helpful for the recipe! Thanks for sharing. Stopping by from Let's Be Friends.

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Lindsey Reynolds
11/16/2016 10:25:50 am

Oh good! I'm glad they help. Thanks for stopping by!

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Helen at the Lazy Gastronome link
11/17/2016 07:29:39 am

Great crust instructions!! Thanks for sharing on the What's for Dinner link up!

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Marilyn link
11/18/2016 05:02:26 pm

Thank you for sharing at #OverTheMoon. See you next week! Pinned and tweeted,

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Helen Reynolds
11/18/2016 05:04:53 pm

Thanks for the pin and tweet! See you next week. Thank you for hosting.

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Patty Gordon link
11/19/2016 09:34:33 am

Thank you so much for this tutorial. With thanksgiving coming up this is one of my worries. Not the turkey or stuffing, but the pies! I usually make crust homemade but I found a box version that I basically add water to that has come in handy, but now I'm second guessing my choice!

Thanks so much for posting this to the #fandayfriday link party!

Reply
April J Harris link
11/23/2016 11:05:57 am

There's nothing like homemade pie with scratch pastry crust! Thank you for sharing your Mom's recipe - and for the great ideas to make with the leftovers too! Hope to see you again this week at Hearth and Soul. Happy Thanksgiving!

Reply
Helen Reynolds
11/23/2016 02:19:49 pm

So glad you liked it! Happy Thanksgiving!

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    Helen Reynolds: Mother of six children , grandmother to fifteen!  I love to cook, craft and create things and I especially love doing that with my family, So, when my lawyer daughter, Lindsey, my artist daughter, Madalynn, and I came up with the idea of Hot Cocoa Bombs, this blog was born.  Then, one more daughter, with her technical and science skills, plus creativity has joined in to round us out!  Read more about us here!
        

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