Skip to main content
Dessert

Plain Pie Crust

A simple dough for a pie crust made with shortening, flour, salt, baking powder, and cold water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Plain Pie Crust

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the dough

  1. Sift together the flour, salt, and baking powder (if using).

  2. Reserve 1 tablespoon of shortening.

  3. Cut the rest of the shortening into the flour until it resembles meal.

  4. Mix with cold water until a stiff dough forms.

  5. Divide the dough into two parts.

Shape the crust

  1. Roll the second part into a long sheet.

  2. Spread the reserved shortening over the sheet.

  3. Dust with flour.

  4. Fold into thirds.

  5. Roll out again.

  6. Fold the dough in half and make several slashes at the fold. Open it.

  7. Fold crosswise.

  8. Slash again.

Fill and bake

  1. Roll out the first part and fit it into a greased or floured pie tin without stretching.

  2. Place the rolled dough on the pie.

  3. Trim the edges.

  4. Press the top and bottom crusts together.

  5. Chill the dough before rolling for flakiness.

  6. If the filling is moist, pre-bake the lower crust for 5 minutes before adding the filling.

  7. Bake in a hot oven at 400°F (200°C).

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

What each ingredient does

Shortening
Coats the flour particles and melts during baking, creating flaky layers and a tender texture.
Flour
Forms the structure of the crust once mixed with water and baked.
Baking powder
Releases gas during baking, helping the crust rise and lighten.
Cold water
Binds the flour and fat into a dough; keeping it cold limits gluten development and keeps the crust tender.

The step that matters

Cut the shortening into the flour until it resembles meal. Leaving the fat in small, separate pieces creates flakiness, while overmixing or melting it into the flour makes the crust dense and tough.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

More pie crust recipes

Plain 21Dough 15Flaky 14Raised 13Potato 10Chicken 5 See all 223 →

You might also like

White CakeWhite Cake431 recipesPound CakePound Cake373 recipesOrange Bundt CakeOrange Bundt Cake349 recipesSpice CakeSpice Cake344 recipes