Sometimes I feel like "homemade" is a dying art. Yes, I know that there has been a resurgence lately, led by the online blog community, of making things from scratch, but there are still too many "convenience foods" available at the grocery stores today in my opinion.
Now, please don't think that I am not knocking convenience foods...I have been known to buy the occasional frozen lasagna...I believe that they have their place. Let's face it...we have busier lives than did our mothers and grandmothers. Between spouses, and kids, and work, and dance recitals, and baseball practice, and vacuuming, and laundry, and so on, we don't always have the time or the energy to prepare a homemade dinner every single night. That's when convenience foods shine!
However, there are some things that are so simple to make at home that it amazes me that people buy them instead of taking the time to make them instead. Gravy comes to mind. Give me five minutes and a few ingredients, and I'll have a gravy for you better than anything you'll ever find in a jar or a mix packet.
I also don't want to feed my family an abundance of processed foods. I don't have to make my gravy shelf-stable, so I can pronounce everything that goes into it...butter, flour, salt, pepper, and chicken stock. See nothing hard there, right?
I am also reminded of recipes like this pie crust. It's simple, fast, convenient, and delicious. It's also very adaptable. You can make both pot pies and apple pies with this recipe. You can make tarts with this recipe. You can make mini quiche. The possibilities are limited only by your imagination. Best of all, I know what's in it.
You probably have all of the ingredients already in your kitchen, and it doesn't take much time...from measuring to clean up takes really no more than 10 minutes or so. The only tricky part is knowing when to stop mixing it. This takes practice, but that's not a problem either. That just means that you get to make more pies...what could be wrong with that?
This recipe makes two crusts. If you're not making a pie with a crust on both the top and the bottom, you'll want to resist the temptation to make only half of the recipe. It won't turn out right.
What does work, however, is to double, or even triple, the recipe. That's exactly what I usually do, because this crust also freezes beautifully. This is where the convenience part comes in. Keep it in the freezer and thaw it before you roll it out...or...buy some disposable pie plates and roll out the crust, place in the pie pan, and freeze. Then you have an unbaked pie shell ready whenever you want to bake something.
Let's gather the ingredients...
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1 T sugar
6 T cold butter
2 T vegetable shortening
Ice water (Just fill a measuring cup with ice water. I can't tell you how much you'll need.)
In addition to these ingredients, you'll need a big bowl, some plastic wrap, and a rolling pin. You'll also need something to cut the fat into the flour. I use a pastry blender to start, and then switch to my fingers toward the end. I just like to feel the dough in my hands...it's a personal thing. You can use your fingers, two knives, a fork or whatever. The point is to just mix the fat into the flour evenly.
In your bowl, mix together the flour, salt, and sugar. I just use my fingers for this, but you could use a whisk or a spoon. Add the butter and the shortening. Using a pastry blender, begin cutting the butter and shortening into the flour. You'll do this until you have chunks of butter the size of peas. I begin using my fingers about halfway through.
Then, add a few tablespoons of the water and mix lightly with your fingers. Deciding how much water to use and how long to mix the dough are really the only tricky parts to making pie dough. You want the dough to come together, but you still want it a little crumbly.
Here's what I do...I take some in my hand and make a fist. If it keeps it shape when I open my hand, it's ready. If it falls apart easily, add a little more water. If it's wet and sticky, add a little more flour.
Dump everything onto a couple of pieces of plastic wrap and then sprinkle another tablespoon of water over the top. I do this because I do not want the dough to dry out. It's easier to work with a dough that's a little wet than one that is a little dry. Gather everything up in the plastic wrap and shape it into a ball. Press it into a disk, and refrigerate for at least one hour. It will keep in the fridge for a couple of days if you want to make it ahead of time.
That's all there is to it. The dough is finished. Enjoy it!!!!! Let me know what kind of pies you make!
Thanks, and welcome to my world!
