Ernie's Flaky Twisted Pie Crust
This is a man's pie crust made by a man. It underlines the greatest cherry pie you may ever have. See Ernie's Twisted Cherry Pie.
Crust for the Amazing American Cherry Pie.
Yield 1 9-inch pie, top and bottom crust
Ingredients
3 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1-1/2 teaspoons salt
1 cup and 2 tablespoons shortening
6 tablespoons cold water
| 1 | In a stainless steel or ceramic bowl, combine flour and salt. |
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| 2 | Cut-in shortening until fine, using a pastry blender, two knives cross-cutting, or fingers. Do not overwork. (A food processor on short pulses does a fair job.) |
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| 3 | Sprinkle water over mix and toss with a fork. Add more water until dough can become a firm ball, neither crumbly dry (too little water) nor smooth and round (too much water). |
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| 4 | Divide 60/40 into two balls, the larger for the bottom crust and smaller for the top crust. |
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| 5 | With a rolling pin on a clean and dry surface (marble or stone is ideal), roll out larger ball of dough on lightly floured surface or between sheets of waxed paper until it is 1-inch larger than your inverted pie pan. Place dough into pie pan and keep cool while resting. |
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| 6 | For top crust, roll out until it is large enough to fit over pie with at least a half-inch overhang on all sides, keep cool and rest for 5 minutes. |
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| 7 | Bake pie according to Cherry Pie recipe's directions. (If you are only making a single crust shell for pre-baking, after shaping crust, prick all over with a fork and bake at 450 degrees for 15 minutes, using pie weights to keep crust from shrinking.) |
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notes
NOTE Shortening produces a very flaky crust, but a combination of butter and lard produce a more flavorful one. Put just enough water to absorb all loose flour, so the shortening/flour particulates are small and pea-sized. Do not overwork dough, or you will lose your flakiness.
