Pie Crust

A lot of us have been making pie crusts for years and wouldn’t dream of changing our tried and true method. The filling is important, of course, but what really distinguishes the wonderful pies that Aunt Connie brings from (I hope she wasn’t asked to bring the pie) Aunt Barb’s is the crust.

The women in my family have been famous for pie crust as far back as my great grandmothers. I was carefully taught to bake pie crust as a child and even won a second place ribbon at the Minnesota State Fair when I was 20. It really is as easy as pie, but you just have to know the tricks and also have the right recipe.

I have come across many recipes for pie crust and always wondered how they would stack up against my tried-and-true family recipe. This week I decided to find out. I made 6 pie crusts from 6 different recipes; baked a small portion sprinkled with cinnamon sugar, carefully labeled them on the baking sheet, poured Zig and myself cups of hot fresh coffee and we set out to rate the crusts. Here are the results, followed by step-by-step instructions on technique and a great recipe for the sour cream raisin pie.

The six crusts were 1) Barley-flour butter crust 2) Oil pastry 3) Half butter, half Crisco 4) Vinegar-egg crust 5) Standard pastry using lard 6) Standard recipe using Crisco (my recipe). The technique I used was the same for all—using different techniques (i.e. food processor) could be a test for another day.


Standard Technique:

Whisk together flour and salt in large bowl. Add shortening and cut it in with a pastry blender. Add ice water, 1 Tbsp. at a time, tossing lightly with a fork after each addition. When mixture is barely starting to hold together, finish pulling it together with your hand, but very gently. Do not do any pressing or anything like kneading. Just gather gently. Form into a ball. Cut in two equal pieces. Form each half into a disc about 1 inch thick. Wrap in plastic wrap and put into refrigerator for at least 2 hours. When ready to roll, flour a board or use a cloth-covered board and roll carefully from the center out. Do not roll more than once. Using a large offset spatula, run it under crust to lift from board. Roll it around the pin or fold carefully into quarters. Lift to pie plate and trim. Fill; repeat with other disc and cover the filling. Flute edges and vent top crust. Bake according to directions in recipe.

1. Barley-flour butter crust

¾ cup whole barley flour
¼ cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp. confectioners’ sugar
Heaping ¼ tsp. salt
½ cup cold unsalted butter
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 to 2 tsp. cold cream or milk

Use standard technique, with egg and light cream as liquid.

2. Oil Pastry

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 ½ tsp. salt
½ cup salad oil
4 to 5 Tbsp. cold water

Use standard technique but instead of cutting in shortening, pour oil and cold water into flour-salt mixture all at once. Stir lightly with fork.

3. Standard Pastry (my old stand-by)

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2/3 cup plus 2 Tbsp. 0-transfat Crisco
1 tsp. salt
5-7 Tbsp. ice water

Use standard technique

4. Standard recipe using lard in place of Crisco

5. Standard recipe using half butter and half Crisco

6. Vinegar-egg pie crust

This crust recipe was given to me by an aunt who was famous in Moville, Iowa for her pie crust. Believe it or not, I have had the recipe for 30 years and this is the first time I have made it.

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. sugar

¾ cup Crisco
¼ cup water
2 tsp. vinegar
1/8 cup egg (half of standard large egg, mixed with fork; use remainder to brush on crust)


Use standard technique, adding water, vinegar and egg mixed together as liquid.

Now for the ratings: we tasted each one and when we had tasted all six, we went back and tried them each again. Amazingly, Zig and I agreed completely on the results.

Number 6 was the oil pastry. We both thought it was too salty and tough. It also had an oily texture. Not a great crust.
Number 5 was the barley flour-butter pastry. It was actually quite good, but as you might expect, very crunchy and sturdy. It would work well for a fruit tart crust such as a pear tart, where the crunch would add to the finished product but not useful for a standard pie crust.
Number 4 was the all lard standard pastry. It had the taste of lard which we moderns aren’t really used to and it was not as tender as the others.
Number 3 was the half-butter, half Crisco. Along with the barley flour crust, this had the advantage of a nice buttery flavor, but it wasn’t as flaky or quite as tender as the all Crisco crust.
Number 2 was the vinegar egg pastry. I now know why Aunt Virginia was famous for her crust—it was delicious—flaky, light, crisp and tender. Not quite as melty as number one, however.
Number 1—you guessed it—my standard recipe. All Crisco. Now that they have come out with a 0 transfat version, I feel better about using it; although it is a stretch to consider pie crust healthy—heck it’s Thanksgiving!

Sour Cream Raisin Pie

1 cup sour cream
1 cup raisins
1 egg
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. lemon juice
1 cup white sugar

Mix all ingredients together and bake in an 8” or 9” pie pan with 2 crusts at 400 degrees for 10 minutes and 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Delicious.