Pie Crust

An old standby.

• Ready In: 35 mins
• Yields: 1 pie

Ingredients

• 1⁄2 cup shortening
• 1 1⁄3 cups flour
• 3⁄4 teaspoon salt
• 2 -3  tablespoons cold water

Directions

1. Cut shortening into flour and salt until it has pea sized lumps. Sprinkle in cold water 1 tb at a time, tossing with a fork until flour is moistened and pastry almost clears side of bowl.
2. Gather pastry into a ball, shape into flattened round on lightly floured board. Roll out evenly with floured rolling pin to two inches larger than inverted pie pan. Trim if necessary.
3. Fold pastry into quarters, align point with center of pie pan and unfold. Press into corners and crimp the edges.
4. For one crust pie, fill and bake as directed. For blind baked pie shell, prick bottom with fork and bake at 475 degrees F for 8-10 minutes, until lightly brown and cool before filling. For two crust pie, make a double batch, fill pie and lay other crust over top, crimping edges of two crusts together (be sure to cut slits in top for steam).
5. Tip: to keep crimped edges from excessive browning, cover with strips of foil until the last 15 minutes of baking.