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Piecrust for Everyone — Easy, I Promise
A perfect piecrust is not that difficult, really. This technique, using your food processor can turn your pies into delicious works of art.
I have been baking pies for as long as I can remember. The crusts used in these culinary experiments have ranged from those awful preformed frozen messes I used as a novice, to what is now my standard go to recipe. There is nothing, and I mean nothing, as wonderful for dessert (or breakfast) than a slice of a deliciously filled, flaky-crusted pie.
To make this most masterful of culinary delights, you will need 3 ingredients and ice water. For a double crust, (and you should always make a double crust even if only using one crust. You can freeze the other) they are: Two and one-half cups of all purpose flour, King Arthur flour if you can get it; One cup of very cold butter, or a mixture of half a cup of butter and half a cup of lard, very cold; and, a teaspoon of salt. FYI a stick of butter is a half of a cup.
You will also need approximately one-quarter to one-half a cup of ice water. I mean it when I say ICE WATER. Put actual ice cubes into the water and let it sit while you are processing the other ingredients. It makes a difference.
