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Pastry Dough

Two 9-11 inch crusts


INGREDIENTS

  • 3 cups of flour
  • 1/2 tsp of salt (mix with flour)
  • 1/4 tsp baking powder (mix with flour)
  • 16 tablespoons unsalted butter cut into 1/2 inch pieces
  • 2 tablespoons Crisco also cut into dabs.
    Both types of shortening (butter and Crisco) can be loosely enclosed in foil and chilled in frig for 1 to 4 hours.
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tablespoon cream
    Mix cream and egg and 5 tablespoons of water and hold to chill in frig.

DIRECTIONS

Place flour and salt in Cuisinart. Spin briefly to mix. Add the chilled butter and shortening. Use short pulses until the mix resembles coarse corn meal and no piece of butter is larger than a pea. 15 to 20 pulses should do it.

Sprinkle in liquid mix and pulse until liquid is mixed (5- 6 pulses). Dough should hold together but might need to add more cold water.

The dough might start to run up the sides but should not form a ball: too much mixing.

Split the “cut” dough into equal piles and form first a ball and then 6 to 8 inch discs.

Cover and refrigerate for one or more hours. Can keep for several days. I know of some who do not bother. Probably most important if its a hot summer day. You can ignore all of this and cut with fork the old way.

The dough is easer to deal with if you use pastry dough or if in Canada you can use their all purpose flour. I have more aggravating rolling out problems with domestic all purpose flower.