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Dessert

Pie-Crust

A simple pie crust made with flour, shortening, salt, and cold water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Pie-Crust

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

Ingredients

Directions

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

Make the dough

  1. In a bowl, rub half of the shortening into two-thirds of the flour with the salt.

  2. Add cold water gradually until the mixture is moist enough to roll out.

  3. Divide the dough into two equal portions.

  4. Set one portion aside for the top crust.

Line and fill

  1. Roll out the other portion thinly on a floured surface.

  2. Line buttered pie plates with the rolled dough.

  3. Fill the lined plates with fruit.

Cover the pies

  1. Roll out the top crust thinly.

  2. Spread the reserved shortening over the rolled top crust.

  3. Sprinkle flour over the top crust.

  4. Cut the top crust into pieces for covering the pies.

  5. Roll each piece about ½ inch thick.

  6. Cover the pies with the rolled pieces.

  7. Trim the edges neatly.

  8. Press the edges down with a fork to seal and prevent juices from leaking during baking.

Bake

  1. Bake in a quick oven at 400°F (200°C) until golden.

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

All-purpose flour
Forms the structure of the crust as its proteins combine with water into gluten.
Shortening
Coats the flour particles to limit gluten and keep the crust tender and flaky.

The step that matters

Adding the cold water gradually. Too much water lets gluten develop, which makes the crust tough. Cold water keeps the fat solid, which helps create flaky layers during baking.

“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.

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