Ingredients
- 12 tblsp (1 1/2 sticks) very cold unsalted butter
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tblsp sugar
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 1/3 cup very cold vegetable shortening, such as Crisco
- 1/2 cup ice water
Preparation
Step 1
Cut the butter in 1/2-inch dice and return it to the refrigerator while you prepare the flour mixture.
Place the flour, sugar, and salt in food processor fitted with steel blade and pulse for a few times to mix. Add the butter and shortening. Pulse 8-12 times, until butter is the size of peas. With the machine running, pour in the ice water down the feed tube and pulse the machine until the dough begins to form a ball. Dump out onto a floured board, roll into two discs. Wrap each in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Note: At this point, you can freeze the discs, wrapped in plastic, then place them in a tightly sealed freeze bag.
Roll each piece on a well-floured board (flour rolling pin too) into a circle at least 1 inch larger than the pie pan, rolling from the center to the edge (4 passes; north, south, east, west), turning and flouring dough so it doesn't stick to the board until dough is 14-15 inches across. (you should see bits of butter in the dough).
Spray the pie pan with nonstick spray (this will help you get nice, sharp pieces of pie out of the pan).
Fold the dough in half, gently ease it into the pie pan without stretching at all, and unfold to fit the pan; a bit of looseness to account for any shrinking during baking.
With a small sharp paring knife, cut the dough 1-2 inches larger around than the pan. Fold the edge under and crimp the edge with either your fingers or the tines of a fork.