Well I have some chilling in the fridge I made lastnight..

It's from Ann T...

I love it and is a great fruit pie crust. Very easy to work with too..

Maple Oatmeal Crust

2 c flour
1/2 t salt
1/2 t baking powder
2 T oats
1 c cubed butter, chilled
2 T sour cream
2 T maple syrup

Blend dry ingredients..cut in butter...stir in sour cream and maple syrup.

Form into a ball...cut in half...and chill each piece in plastic wrap. I think 15 minutes is a enough..but usually I do it over night..then set it out on the counter a bit while getting the filling stuff together..

Today it's for apple pie..

I also make one that came from a newspaper clipping on peaches..

Recipe comes from Greg Atkins, from his book "Recipes from the San Juan Islands"..at the time of the article was the Chef at Mariella Inn in Friday Harbor.

Perfect Butter Pastry
~double 9" pie crust
2 c flour
3/4 c very cold butter, cut into bits
1/3 c very cold water

1. In a food processor or bowl, combine flour and butter and process or work until mixture is uniformly crumbly.(I do it in a bowl with a pastry cutter, then pinch the butter particles a bit to "lengthen" some.)
2. Add water all at once and pulse the FP or press lightly with your fingers to form a dough. Do not over mix; dough must remain cold.
3. on a well-floured surface, divide dough in half and roll each piece into a 10" circle. Use one pastry round to line pie plate. Fold overlapping dough back in around the edges of the pan. Chill the pastry lined pan and the second pastry circle while filling is prepared. (I've never chilled it after I've rolled it, because I have the filling ready.)

This is one that I call the best!

I searched for years for my perfect pie crust recipe - then one day I found it.
Here it is:

NATHAN'S NEVER FAIL PASTRY
********************************
These quantities make enough pastry for 3 double-crust pies or 3 1/2 dozen tart shells - muffin size.

5 cups flour
1 teasp salt
2 teasp baking powder
1 lb (454 grams) Tenderflake lard
2 teasp white vinegar
1 egg - slightly beaten. Add water to vinegar and egg to make 1 cup

1) Mix together flour, salt and baking powder. Cut in lard until crumbly (using two knives.)

2) Add liquid and mix gently with hands. (I use a fork to help me here.) Roll into a ball.

3) Roll out amount needed on a floured board. Refrigerate or freeze remainder.

Source: 'I've GOT To Have That Recipe'
Doubleday Canada - Victoria, B.C. 1986

My tip: After step two I often put it in the fridge for an hour to make it firmer and easier to roll out.
And I brush the crust with a little milk and sprinkle it with sugar before putting the pie in the oven.

SharonCb

Karen, I use the "Never Fail Pastry" recipe that was posted here by Sharon CB. It's so easy to handle, I roll it out without even chilling it and it still handles beautifully, and it's nice and flake-y. I sometimes use half butter and half shortening, or even all shortening, although I really like lard the best. All ways work well...

NATHAN'S NEVER FAIL PASTRY
**********************************
These quantities make enough pastry for 3 double-crust pies or 3 1/2 dozen tart shells - muffin size.

5 cups flour
1 teasp salt
2 teasp baking powder
1 lb (454 grams) Tenderflake lard
2 teasp white vinegar
1 egg - slightly beaten. Add water to vinegar and egg to make 1 cup
1) Mix together flour, salt and baking powder. Cut in lard until crumbly (using two knives.)
2) Add liquid and mix gently with hands. (I use a fork to help me here.) Roll into a ball.
3) Roll out amount needed on a floured board. Refrigerate or freeze remainder.

Source: 'I've GOT To Have That Recipe'
Doubleday Canada - Victoria, B.C. 1986
sharoncb's tip: After step two I often put it in the fridge for an hour to make it firmer and easier to roll out.

Annie

Annie we were posting at the same time! (LOL)

S.

Great minds, Sharon. I think I've posted that pastry recipe nearly as many times as you have, it's great to handle, so thanks from me for posting it in the first place.

Annie

Here is my current favorite. I like a little butter in my pastry. You can double the recipe for a two crust pie.

Foolproof Pie Dough

Cook's Illustrated
Vodka is essential to the texture of the crust and imparts no flavorÂdo not substitute. This dough will be moister and more supple than most standard pie doughs and will require more flour to roll out (up to 1/4 cup).

INGREDIENTS--For one 9-inch Single-Crust Pie

1 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (6 1/4 ounces)
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1 tablespoon sugar
6 tablespoons cold unsalted butter (3/4 stick), cut into 1/4-inch slices
1/4 cup chilled solid vegetable shortening , cut into 2 pieces
2 tablespoons vodka , cold
2 tablespoons cold water

1. Process 3/4 cups flour, salt, and sugar together in food processor until combined, about 2 one-second pulses. Add butter and shortening and process until homogeneous dough just starts to collect in uneven clumps, about 10 seconds (dough will resemble cottage cheese curds with some very small pieces of butter remaining, but there should be no uncoated flour). Scrape down sides and bottom of bowl with rubber spatula and redistribute dough evenly around processor blade. Add remaining 1/2 cup flour and pulse until mixture is evenly distributed around bowl and mass of dough has been broken up, 4 to 6 quick pulses. Empty mixture into medium bowl.
2. Sprinkle vodka and water over mixture. With rubber spatula, use folding motion to mix, pressing down on dough until dough is slightly tacky and sticks together. Flatten dough into 4-inch disk. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 45 minutes or up to 2 days.
3. Adjust oven rack to lowest position, place rimmed baking sheet on oven rack, and heat oven to 425 degrees. Remove dough from refrigerator and roll out on generously floured (up to ¼ cup) work surface to 12-inch circle about 1/8 inch thick. Roll dough loosely around rolling pin and unroll into pie plate, leaving at least 1-inch overhang on each side. Working around circumference, ease dough into plate by gently lifting edge of dough with one hand while pressing into plate bottom with other hand. Leave overhanging dough in place; refrigerate until dough is firm, about 30 minutes.
4. Trim overhang to ½ inch beyond lip of pie plate. Fold overhang under itself; folded edge should be flush with edge of pie plate. Flute dough or press the tines of a fork against dough to flatten it against rim of pie plate. Refrigerate dough-lined plate until firm, about 15 minutes.
5. Remove pie pan from refrigerator, line crust with foil, and fill with pie weights or pennies. Bake for 15 minutes. Remove foil and weights, rotate plate, and bake for 5 to 10 minutes additional minutes until crust is golden brown and crisp.

Nancy

You folks are the best. Thanks a million. Can you buy the Tenderflake lard in any grocery store??

I don't have any Vodka on hand but I might try that one also. I'm printing all these recipes off.

I'm going to the store right now. I love you people!!!!

Karen

Karen...
I know Tenderflake is sold in Canada, but I now live in Spain and use the lard they sell here.
The results are still wonderful!

SharonCb

Great Sharon, that's good to know as I went to two grocery stores in our local area and couldn't find that brand. I did buy another brand so it's good to know that it will work well. I'm going to make the Nathan's crust this time. I'll try the others if I'm successful at all. Ha

Annie, you live in White Cloud and that's not a big town is it? Where do you find it?

I'm making the crust tonight and will bake the pie in the morning to take to my daughters. Wish me luck! I'll report back tomorrow on the results.

Thanks again everyone.

Karen

And if it doesn't work....then I'll post my recipe....LOL!
Very VERY close to Nancy's...but I don't add sugar....and I may add a little more water if needed.

Karen, I don't care if it's tenderflake lard either, you'll note i9n my post I mentioned that I often use half butter and half shortening or all shortening. when I do get lard I buy it at a little local hispanic market, they have a quick turnover and so it's always pretty fresh.

Is White Cloud a big town? LOLOLOL I think we might have 800 residents, but that's probably pushing it. I can drive half an hour to Big Rapids, their population is about 10,000, but the only grocery stores there are Meijer and WalMart so I'm not optimistic about finding it there either!

Annie

I have another simpler and much easier recipe for pie crust that I love, but I don't think anyone else here has made it, and so I have stopped posting it. However, since you seem adventurous, I will post it again. I have made Nathan's No Fail recipe, but I prefer this one. The recipe is from Orowheat Bakery's Cooking With Gourmet Grains, published in the mid 1970s.

Ingredients:

1 cup butter
1 cup cottage cheese
2 cups flour

Combine butter and cottage cheese with a mixer until well combined. Stir in flour until just mixed and divide in half. Press each half into a disc, wrap with plastic wrap, and chill for an hour or so (or keep in the fridge for a couple of days, if necessary).

Roll each disc on a floured board. I frequently make several small discs and form them over the bottom of a muffin pan to make tarts, but you can bake this crust as you normally would for a single or double crust pie, starting in a 450ð oven for 10 minutes and then in a 375ð oven until lightly brown.

The cottage cheese makes the crust puff up and become flaky, somewhat like an Austrian pastry. This is the easiest fool-proof recipe for pie crust that I have made.

Lars

I have a few T & T recipes on Our KT Website, take a look.

Here is a link that might be useful: Our Recipes

Lars, I am going to have to try that one... too interesting not to, lol.. I buy cottage cheese to have on hand for a childhood comfort food of spaghetti and cottage cheese, so next time I'll buy a large container and try it. I'll report back.

I like the Nathans crust, and that perfect butter crust that Terri posted is about what I usually do. I don't usually use a recipe since I've made so many pies, often in large numbers. That crust that uses 5#'s of flour is a good one too. I love oatmeal so I'm going to have to try Ann's Maple Oat one too. We picked up a bunch of apples today at the heritage farm, and I think that would be good with them. Thanks for posting it Terri.

The only one I don't care for is the one that uses vodka. I've tried it a couple times and just didn't care for it. Didn't care for the taste and texture could have been better. I drink vodka, so the taste shouldn't have been a problem, lol. I do better winging it.. smiles. Those pie crust pinwheels were made with the last of that crust I had frozen. I didn't even like it used as that but luckily Christy liked them. Wasn't my technique, since I have no trouble with a light hand anyplace else, plus I made it twice, had to give it a good chance. But, hey, that's what this place is about. Not everyone will like every recipe.

I don't bake, so all this talk of making pie crust reads like science fiction. Might as well have Scotty beam down a pie crust, as far as I am concerned.

However, I have noticed that Cooks Illustrated uses this vodka trick quite a bit. I gather that substituting vodka for water is intended to reduce gluten formation.

My question is, does it work? Does it leave a taste? Is the texture of the crust improved? Is alcohol-for-water a technique that you use in othe baking - breads, pastries, and so on?

(Use small words please. Non-baker here.)

Answers from a fellow non-baker:

Gluten - yup, that's what they say. The dough is extremely easy to work with. I don't bake enough to compare it with other recipes in terms of texture. I would describe my results as crispy, airy and flaky. It puffs up kind of thick.

No, I don't taste the vodka and I'd be very surprised if anyone could.

I'm also told that the alcohol in the vodka evaporates in the oven, leaving layers that make a flaky crust.

Since I never have vodka on hand and I'm not going to buy vodka to make pie crust, I just use the Nathan's recipe.

Lars, I'm definitely going to have to try that cottage cheese pastry, though, and I'm trying to think through that Maple Oatmeal crust with some pears, maybe Nancy's pear mincemeat...

Annie

Sharon :
Could you send me a piece of that Pie.
I'd like to test it.
LOU

I love the vodka crust results but that cottage cheese crust is calling my name. Soon.

I agree with the Ann T. maple oatmeal crust. I tried to make a fruit pie, unsuccessfully, but ended up eating the crust by itself!!! And I thought to myself, man, that is is a keeper! It's really good. Now if I could just get the fruit part right.

Lars, I have a similar one I really like. Cream cheese, flour, and something else (I'm drawing a blank). I'm really rotten at regular pastry crusts, but that one does well for me too.

I don't keep Vodka around either, but Lars recipe with the cottage cheese sounds like something fun to give a try...

I have been using the regular pie crust recipe from a Betty Crocker cookbook dating back to my old home ec days in high school... in the late 50's.. I baste the top with cream or milk and sprinkle sugar over the top too.... sometimes with a bit of cinnamon sugar for apple or pear pies..

Carolyn

I would just like to add that you might want to use a cooler oven than 450ð because that's what I used when I was in Venice and my oven did not bake properly. I think baking at 375ð the full time would be sufficient. Also, the butter should softened before you mix it with the cottage cheese, to make it easier.

Lars