This recipe made a successful flaky and light pie crust this Thanksgiving. I think the secret might have been that the cube of butter was fresh from the freezer and I chopped the frozen cube up and used it right away. This recipe is a combination of several other recipes.
Flaky Pie Crust
Makes single, 9-inch pie crust
Ingredients
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1-1/2 teaspoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (8 Tbs, 1 cube) butter, almost frozen
2 tablespoons shortening, very cold (I used butter flavored Crisco)
3-1/2 tablespoons ice water (water with ice chips in it)
1. Mix flour, salt and sugar in food processor fitted with steel blade. Scatter almost frozen butter in 1/4 inch pieces over flour mixture. Cut butter into flour with about 5 or 10 2-second pulses. Add shortening and continue pulsing food processor in until flour is pale yellow and resembles coarse cornmeal with butter and shortening bits no larger than small peas, about five more 2-second pulses. Turn mixture into mixing bowl.
2. Sprinkle 3-tablespoons of ice water over mixture. With a fork, press down on dough and stir until dough sticks together, adding up to 1/2 tablespoon more ice water if dough will not come together. Shape dough into a ball with your hands. Flatten into 4-inch-wide
disk. Dust lightly with flour, wrap in plastic, and refrigerate for 60 minutes before rolling.
3. I rolled out the dough on a smooth pyrex glass cutting board with a standard wooden rolling pin. I tried a marble rolling pin, but is was just too heavy and hard to control. Use plenty of flour and also a steel spatula to slide under dough if it starts to stick. Roll the dough from the center out and rotate it a 1/4 turn after each pass of the rolling pin. I think the cold glass is better for the dough than a wood surface.