1/2 cup of shortening
1/4 cup fat drippings
1-1/2 cups of flour (sifted pastry flour is best for pies)
pinch of salt
Preparation:
With pastry blender cut the
cold shortening into the sifted flour until the shortening is in pieces
as small as peas.
Then pour in six or eight
tablespoons of cold water (during summer use ice-water).
Work with the knife or pastry
blender until well mixed (never use the hands).
Flour a board, roll the dough
out thin, sprinkle with a
little flour and put dabs of soft fat drippings here and there, fold
the dough over and roll out thin again and spread with fat and sprinkle
with flour, repeat this and then roll out (not too thin) and line a
pie-plate with this dough.
Always cut dough for lower
crust a little larger than the upper dough and do not stretch the dough
when lining pie-pan or plate.
If fruit is to be used for the
filling, brush over top
of the dough with white of egg slightly beaten, or sprinkle with one
tablespoon of bread crumbs to prevent the dough from becoming soggy.
Put in the filling, brush over
the edge of pastry with
cold water, lay the second round of paste loosely over the filling;
press the edges together lightly, and trim, if needed.
Cut several slits in the top
crust or prick it with a fork before putting it in place.
Bake from thirty to thirty-five
minutes until crust is a nice brown.
The
recipe given above makes two pie crusts.
Tips:
Bake pies having a
cooked filling in a quick oven and
those with an uncooked filling in a moderate oven. Let pies cool upon
plates on which they were made because slipping them onto cold plates
develops moisture which always destroys the crispness of the lower
crust.
For homemade shortening you
can use drippings and mix with chicken, duck or goose
fat. In the fall and winter, when poultry is plentiful and fat, save
all drippings of poultry fat for pie-crust. If you have neither, use
beef fat.
