This easy Crisco pie crust recipe is my family's flaky pie crust recipe that is always requested when we make our famous award-winning apple pies.
This perfect pie crust recipe is great for fruit pies, savory pies, pumpkin pie, and meringue pies. It is my go-to pie crust for all recipes sweet and savory.
This recipe will make a singular double-crust pie in a 9" pie plate or two single crusts. If you like your crust very thin you could make two double crusts (4 singles).
A double crust pie has a bottom crust and a top crust. An apple pie is an example of a double-crust pie whereas a pumpkin pie is an example of a single-crust pie.
🥧 Ingredients
- All-Purpose Flour
- Shortening
- Sugar
- Salt
- water
- White Vinegar
- egg
Scroll down to the recipe at the bottom for quantities.
📝 Notes on the ingredients
While butter is delicious in pie crusts I find that the use of Crisco in this recipe makes the dough easier to handle, is more forgiving when you mess up and it still has the flakiness of a butter crust.
Instructions:
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar and salt.
- Measure out the Crisco and add to the flour mixture.
- Using a pastry blender, cut the fat into the flour until the flour and fat has formed pea-sized, coarse crumbs.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the water, egg and vinegar.
- Pour the wet ingredients over the flour mixture.
- Using a rubber spatula, fold the wet ingredients into the flour and fat until a loose ball forms.
- Coat your hands with flour and squeeze the dough together to form a tighter ball of dough.
- Cover the ball of dough in plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes or even over night.
- When rolling out the pie dough, be sure to roll the dough on a lightly floured surface and add flour sparingly if the dough is sticky.
Rolling Instructions:
- Lightly dust a clean work surface with flour.
- Rub flour over the surface of your rolling pin.
- Divide the larger ball of dough into smaller portions. Two balls of dough for a thick crust, four balls for a thinner crust.
- Work the dough into a thick round disk and start rolling out the dough with steady, even pressure with your rolling pin.
- Roll the dough in alternating left to right and up to down motions dusting with additional flour on top and under the dough as needed.
- Place an inverted 9-inch pie plate over the flattened dough to measure that the dough is large enough.
- There should be about a 4-inch overhang around the edge of the pie plate to ensure your crust is large enough to fill the pie pan.
- Gently fold the crust in half, careful not to crease it, and then gently lift it into the pie pan.
Blind baking instructions
Blind baking refers to the baking technique where a pie shell is pre-baked in a pie pan, cooled, and then used for cream pies, custard pies and pudding pies often will call for a blind-baked or pre-baked pie crust. The crust is baked filled with parchment and weights thus not letting you see how it is baking. So you are 'baking blind'.
- Using a rolling pin, roll a ball of dough slightly larger around than a 9" pie plate.
- Using a dough docker or the tines of a fork, make perforated holes on the entire surface of the dough.
- Gently fold the dough in half and transfer dough in to the pie plate. Unfold to fit the plate.
- Remove the air from between the dough and the pie plate by shaking the pan to release any air that is trapped. Trim edges of the dough so they are even with the edge of the plate.
- Place a clean piece of parchement paper in the pie plate and fill with pie weights or dried beans.
- Place the unbaked pie crust on a baking sheet pan and bake in a preheated 400 degree oven for 10 minutes.
- Carefully remove the crust from the oven and turn out the beans or pie weights into a heat safe bowl.
- Continue baking the crust until it reaches your desired color and doneness.
- Remove from the oven and cool completely before filling with your desired pie filling.
🔄 Substitutions:
Can lard or store brand shortening be used in this recipe?
I have found that using Crisco will yield the best results for this recipe. I have tried other brands but Crisco is king for this one.
❄️ Storage Tips
Freezing this pie dough for future use is a great family debate. My mom has good luck with it when is frozen and then thawed but my sister and I don't have much luck. So the answer is, it is up to you!
📝 Frequently asked questions, answers and tips:
I have made this dough in a food processor and it was not as successful as when it was made by hand. I found that the food processor creams the Crisco and the flour too much. This dough is best when the fat is cut into the flour, instead of being creamed. A creamed dough will result in a dense crust where a crust that has been cut in properly will result in a flaky crust.
👩🍳 Chef Tip
I found that a marble rolling pin will give you the best results when rolling out pie dough. The weight of the marble pin easily rolls out the dough to an even thickness with minimal effort. Just be sure to work on a floured surface.
Some people like to roll dough between two pieces of parchment paper but I have never had the need for the extra step with this homemade pie crust
Crisco® Pie Crust Recipe
Ingredients
- 4 cups All Purpose Flour
- 1 ¾ cups Crisco® Shortening
- 1 Tablespoon Sugar
- 1 Teaspoon Salt
- ½ cup water
- 1 Tablespoon White Vinegar
- 1 egg beaten
Instructions
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar and salt.
- Measure out the crisco and add to the flour mixture.
- Using a pastry cutter, cut the fat into the flour until the flour and fat has formed pea sized balls
- In a small bowl, whisk together the water, egg and vinegar.
- Pour the wet ingredients over the flour mixture.
- Using a rubber spatula, fold the wet ingredients into the flour and fat until a loose ball forms.
- Coat your hands with flour and squeeze the dough together to form a tighter ball of dough.
- Cover the ball of dough in plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes or even over night.
- When rolling out the pie dough, be sure to roll the dough on a lightly floured surface and add flour sparingly if the dough is sticky.
Notes
- Using a rolling pin, roll a ball of dough slightly larger around than a 9" pie plate.
- Using a dough docker or the tines of a fork, make perforated holes on the entire surface of the dough.
- Gently fold the dough in half and transfer dough into the pie plate. Unfold to fit the plate.
- Remove the air from between the dough and the pie plate by shaking the pan to release any air that is traped. Trim the edges of the dough so they are even with the edge of the plate.
- Place a clean piece of parchment paper in the pie plate and fill with pie weights or dried beans.
- Place the unbaked pie crust on a baking sheet pan and bake in a preheated 400 degree oven for 10 minutes.
- Carefully remove the crust from the oven and turn out the beans or pie weights into a heat-safe bowl.
- Continue baking the crust until it reaches your desired color and doneness.
- Remove from the oven and cool completely before filling with your desired pie filling.
Nutrition
Nutrition Disclosure
Nutritional facts are estimates and are provided as a courtesy to the reader. Please utilize your own brand nutritional values to double check against our estimates. Nutritional values are calculated via a third party. Changing ingredients, amounts or cooking technique will alter the estimated nutritional calculations.
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originally published Jan 18, 2014
Sarah Mock
Janet,
My caution with the food processor is that the food processor has a tendency to cream the fat and the flour together making ball without incorporating all the dry ingredients. If you are able to pulse ON button quickly to cut in the fat and then dump the dough out on the counter to press it together you probably would have success. I just don't want people to turn on the food processor, walk away and then dough be a mess. Let me know how it works out!
Sarah
Janet Bullock
Sarah, I want to make this piecrust but need to ask a question. In the recipe it says you can make by hand or food processor. In the questions and tips you say it is best not to make it in the food processor. Do you favor the hand method? I would really like to make it in the processor. Thank you