Baked Pie Shell
- 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 3/4 stick (6 tablespoons) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
- 2 tablespoons cold vegetable shortening
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 3 to 4 tablespoons ice water
- Special equipment: a 9-inch glass or ceramic pie plate; pie weights or raw rice
- Blend together flour, butter, shortening, and salt in a bowl with your fingertips or a pastry blender (or pulse in a food processor) just until most of mixture resembles coarse meal with small (roughly pea-size) butter lumps.
- Drizzle evenly with 2 tablespoons ice water and gently stir with a fork (or pulse in food processor) until incorporated.
- Squeeze a small handful: If it doesn't hold together, add more ice water, 1/2 tablespoon at a time, stirring (or pulsing) until just incorporated, then test again.
- (If you overwork mixture, pastry will be tough.)
- Turn out mixture onto a lightly floured surface and divide into 4 portions.
- With heel of your hand, smear each portion once or twice in a forward motion.
- Gather dough together with a pastry scraper and press into a ball, then flatten into a 5-inch disk.
- Chill, wrapped in plastic wrap, until firm, at least 1 hour.
- Roll out dough with a floured rolling pin into a 12-inch round on a lightly floured surface and fit into pie plate.
- Trim excess dough, leaving a 1/2-inch overhang, then fold overhang under pastry and press against rim to reinforce edge.
- Decoratively crimp edge and lightly prick bottom and side with a fork.
- Chill until firm, about 30 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 375F.
- Line chilled shell with foil and fill with pie weights.
- Bake in middle of oven until pastry is pale golden along rim and set underneath weights, about 20 minutes.
- Carefully remove foil and weights and bake shell until pale golden all over, about 10 minutes more.
- Cool completely in plate on a rack.
flour, cold unsalted butter, cold vegetable shortening, salt, water, glass
Taken from www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/baked-pie-shell-106391 (may not work)