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1
Sift together flour and salt.
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2
Cut shortening into flour with a pastry cutter until it has the texture of coarse crumbs.
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3
Combine egg, water, and vinegar (start with 3 tablespoons of water, and add the rest only if you need it to make the dough hold together).
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4
Pour into flour mixture all at once.
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5
Blend with a spoon just until flour is all moistened.
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6
Refrigerate at least 30 minutes.
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7
Gather into a ball and roll out on waxed paper.
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8
To place in pie plate, lift waxed paper and peel off when crust is in place.
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9
Refrigerate at least 30 minutes before baking.
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10
To pre-bake, prick shell at 1/2-inch intervals before refrigerating.
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11
Press a doubled 12-inch square of aluminum foil into pie shell.
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12
Adjust oven rack to lowest position, heat oven to 400 degrees.
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13
Weight crust with pie weights.
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14
Bake, until crust is firmly set, about 15 minutes.
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15
Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees, remove weights and foil, and continue to bake until crust is crisp and rich brown in color, about 8-10 minutes longer.
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16
Makes one double (top and bottom) crust or two single (bottom) crusts.
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17
Some of the secrets to light, flaky, tender pie crusts are: 1) Have the ingredients cool or chilled when you start; chill the dough when you aren't working with it (before you roll it out, after it's in the pie plate and before baking).
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18
2) Handle the dough as little as possible; avoid over-blending or re-rolling it.
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19
You want to have unblended bits of shortening in the mixture, to create the flakey texture.
