Piecrust

Piecrust. 1/3 ratio fat to flour I mostly use crisco and flour. Can use butter or lard. Crisco should be cold. 1 cup of crisco to 3 cups of flour. One of the shortcuts is to measure the crisco THEN PUT IT IN THE FRIDGE for 3 plus hours. Sometimes I take a whole tin of crisco, portion it out and wrap each cup full in plastic and just keep them in the fridge. Why? Cold fat makes better pastry. 1 cup of ice water 1 teaspoon kosher or pickling salt. Put the flour in a large bowl. Stir in the salt. Put the fat on top of it. Using either a pastry cutter or a sturdy fork, cut and cut again until all the fat has been turned into pea sized bits. Stir constantly so you’re blending the flour with the fat. Next, add about 1/2 cup of ice cold water. Using a large spoon stir a few times. Add more water as needed to mix all the flour peas. Mix as little as possible. Add more water as needed. Using your hands, start squishing the mixture together. Need more water? Add a little at a time. As you squish, begin to divide into 4 balls. If you plan on 2 large pies, make 2 of three balls slightly larger. Those will be the bottom crusts. You can make smaller balls for anything else. I do a lot of muffin tin pies or eggs n veggies. Slightly larger balls for bottom crusts, smaller for tops. Once in balls, put back in fridge. Will keep for several days. Or freeze. If frozen, thaw on counter top and then chill in fridge. Do not microwave to thaw. Do not immerse in hot water to thaw. Ok to thaw in fridge expect it to take 1 days or more. Ok now you have your pastry!! But wait there’s more. Set up a space to roll out your pastry. Put down a layer of flour and have a cup of flour ready next to you. With your floured hands, squish each ball into a disk. Dust that disk with flour. Roll, starting at the center and going to the edges. Usually to start I do 2-4 rolls, then dust with flour, flip, dust again, repeat. Keep doing that as you expand your circle. Be sure to keep your edges thin. Flip and flour. If you don’t have a rolling pin, any glass bottle will work. Even a spaghetti sauce jar (with label removed). When big enough to put in pie plate, pick up by rolling around the pin. Place over and center. Edges beyond are fine. Fill. Make a slightly smaller circle for the top. Before placing the smaller circle, wet your fingers (multiple times) and wet the piecrust on the edge of the plate. Then place the top. Next, using a small knife, trim the overlap so that anything beyond the edge of the plate is about 1/2-3/4 inches. Save that material. Using the top crust, fold over and under the bottom. As you turn the pie plate, flute the edges using both hands to form a triangular wave. You can also use a fork to make a fork pattern. Cut a few steam vents in the top crust and bake at 400 F until done. You can also “paint” the top crust with milk or cream, or beaten eggs. And add cinnamon sugar or salt, depending on what sort of contents are in your pie. Pie crust scraps? Squish them together, roll out, paint with milk, add cinnamon sugar, and bake for Pie Crust Cookies. Best eaten warm.