My famous pie crust
I have a lengthy discussion of the subtleties of pie crust making on this page.
Makes two 9-inch crusts with extra material for perimeter crust build-up (two single-crust pies, or one top-and-bottom crust for a fruit pie). Estimated preparation time: 2 hours. Estimated cost: $4
2 3/4 cups Arrowhead Mills organic pastry flour, sifted into a mixing bowl
1 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp white sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) *chilled* unsalted sweet cream butter (lard may be substituted for part or all of this amount), cut into slices or cubes, or small pieces
10-12 Tbsp very cold water
Toss everything in the mixing bowl, then get to blending with your pastry blender (or food processor). Don't blend too much; you want pea-sized nodules of cold fat to be evenly distributed amongst the flour, so that the crust will become flaky during baking. These micro-reservoirs of fat are what create the flakiness in the crust. You don't want a homogeneous mixture at all!
Once you get to this point, add 4-5 Tbsp cold water, and blend again until incorporated. Then, add 4-5 more Tbsp cold water, and blend again. The whole thing should start acting more like dough. Do not think of this like bread dough, or cake dough, which want to be fully blended. This pie-crust dough will be clumpy with sheaves and globules and bits of fat. This is not only okay, it is imperative. Knead just enough to form the whole thing into one coherent ball (don't let there be a lot of loose flour hanging around unclaimed). Once in a ball, cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour. This allows the water to cross-link the gluten in the wheat, which will make it behave like a coherent dough.
Cut in half, and use some extra flour to roll each half out into a circle. The edges will split and fray. Roll tangentially around the circumference, sometimes using your fingers to heal broken parts. This will re-form an even circle with no breaks. Once or twice, use a sharp, long, metal spatula to go under the crust, to separate it from the countertop or cutting board. When the crust is large enough and thin enough, fold it in half, bring the pie pan next to the folded edge, and lift it into half of the pan. Unfold it, press it into the pan with fingers, and shape the outside of the crust to your design. I like to use the excess to build up a nice thick outer ridge that will be crispy and delicious. Refrigerate until you're ready to fill it and bake it. No need to grease the pan; in fact, this may cause your pie crust to sag down into the pan and ruin everything. There's plenty of fat in the crust to lubricate it on its way out of the pan.
Fill it, and bake it.