Homemade pastry doesn’t have to be a chore. This recipe is so simple, and simply delicious, that I often deliberately look for recipes to use throughout the week that require a crust. Since developing this version, my husband has begun insisting that the crust is now the best part, and that he’d be happy to eat it on its own. No longer the forgotten edible wrapping for the filling, this crust steals the show. While this version can be tedious to roll out, due to its extremely tender quality, it can be done with care and patience (and frequent dustings of flour on the board and rolling pin while working). Most of the time, I simply pat the dough into the pan… a nostalgic reminder of a childhood spend molding clay and mock “dough”, and only roll out if I need to make an upper crust that can’t be patted into place with my finger tips. I recommend trying this recipe with my Mini Pumpkin Pies!
This recipe makes one pie crust. For pies requiring a bottom and a top layer, please double.
1 cup all purpose flour
¼ cup whole wheat pastry flour
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1 stick cold butter, diced
¼ cup cold water
Whisk together the flours, salt, and sugar in a bowl.
Add the cold butter cubes, and with clean fingers, break the bits of butter up and mix well into the dough. Continue breaking and mixing until the fragments of butter are quite small, and the whole mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
Pour in the cold water, and mix with a spoon. Briefly knead with your had once or twice to ensure all the loose crumbs have been combined into the dough.
On a lightly floured board (you may want to consider lightly flouring your hands as well as you work), pat the dough out into a disk.
From here the dough may be wrapped in plastic wrap then sealed in a plastic bag for storage in the freezer, rolled out further for a pie crust, or patted by hand into your preferred baking container.
Bake according to the directions for the pie you are making.
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