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Making Pastry Dough
To make basic pastry dough, combine the flour and salt in a large bowl. Add chilled shortening, and cut the shortening into the flour mixture using a pastry blender until the mixture is crumbly and the crumbles resemble the size of peas. Sprinkle ice water, one tablespoon at a time, evenly over the surface of the dough. The amount of water that you need to add may vary depending on the humidity in the kitchen. Add enough to moisten all of the dry mixture, but not so much that the dough is sticky. Stir with a fork just until the dry ingredients are moistened. Don't overwork the dough because the more you stir, the more the gluten in the flour will develop, and you'll end up with a tough crust. Gather the dough and shape into a ball or flat disk. Again, don't overwork the dough. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and chill it for about 30 minutes.
Rolling Pastry Dough
To roll the pastry dough, place a large sheet of wax paper onto a large cutting board or directly on the countertop if you prefer. Overlap two sheets of wax paper if necessary to get a large enough surface area. Sprinkle flour on the wax paper, and place the ball of dough onto the center of the paper. Roll out the dough using a rolling pin, rolling from the center of the dough outward in a smooth, even motion. Roll the dough into a circle approximately 13 inches in diameter and about a 1/8-inch thickness. To make sure you've rolled the dough into a large enough circle, you can hold the pie plate over the dough and see if your circle is about 2 to 3 inches larger than the pie plate.
Placing Dough in Pie Plate
To place the dough into the pie plate, first fold the circle of dough in half. Lift the dough carefully and place the folded dough into one half of the pie plate. Unfold to cover the entire pie plate, pressing gently to fit into the plate. Fold the overhanging edges of the dough under, creating a thick edge even with the rim of the pie plate. Be careful not to stretch the pastry dough. You can make a decorative edge by pressing the pastry dough against the rim of the pie plate with two fingers.
Baking/Making a Pie Crust (contd)
Preparing Pastry Dough for Baking
If your recipe calls for prebaking the crust before the filling is added, prick the bottom of the pastry crust with a fork to keep the crust from puffing up or blistering during baking. This is called blind baking, and it's done to keep the crust from getting too soggy when it's baked with the filling.
You can also use pie weights in the crust if you are pre-baking the crust. You can purchase pie weights in a kitchen store, or you can use uncooked dried beans, as we have. (Save the beans for this use only because they can't be cooked afterward.) Line the bottom of the dough with foil, and add beans or pie weights to cover the foil. Bake the crust as directed by the recipe. Remove the pie weights and the foil, and let the crust cool in the pie plate on a wire rack.
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