Tender And Flaky Pie Crust
The combination of butter and bacon fat creates the perfect texture everyone strives for in their pie dough. This crust doesn’t taste bacony so it can be used for both sweet and savory recipes.
Equipment
Ingredients
- Makes 2 9-inch pie crusts
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- ¾ cup 1½ sticks unsalted butter, chilled and cut into ½-inch cubes
- 4 tablespoons Clarified Bacon Fat softened
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
- 3-5 tablespoons ice cold water
Instructions
- In a food processor or in a large bowl using a pastry cutter, blend the flour and salt together until combined.
- Add the butter and fat and blend until the flour resembles a coarse meal.
- Stir in the vinegar.
- Add the water, one tablespoon at a time, until the the dough comes together and holds its shape without crumbling.
- Form dough into 2 disks, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
- Use as needed.
- The pie dough keeps for up to two days when refrigerated and up to one month when frozen.
To prebake the crust:
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Line a 9-inch pie plate with pastry.
- Trim off the excess and decoratively crimp the edges.
- Pierce the bottom of pie all over with a fork.
- Chill pie shell for 30 minutes.
- Line the shell with parchment paper and fill with pie weights or dried beans.
- Bake for 15-20 minutes.
- Carefully remove the weights and parchment paper and bake for an additional 10 minutes until the edges have started to brown.
- Cool completely.