The Best Pastry Crust Recipes

Steps:

• Mix flour and salt together in a large bowl. Cut in butter using a pastry blender until the mixture resembles fine cornmeal. Pour in water slowly; knead dough into a firm ball.
• Pour in additional water as needed if dough is too dry or additional flour if too moist. Divide batter into equal halves. Roll out dough halves into rounds on a lightly floured work surface using a lightly floured rolling pin to desired thickness.
• Press one round into the bottom of a 9-inch pie pan. Use the other round as a top crust or for a separate bottom crust. Bake according to desired filling instructions.

Steps:

• In a food processor, pulse flour and salt to combine. Add cold butter and pulse until mixture resembles coarse meal, with a few pea-size pieces of butter remaining. Sprinkle with ice water. Pulse until dough is crumbly but holds together when squeezed (if necessary, add up to 3 tablespoons more water, 1 tablespoon at a time). Do not overmix. Form dough into a 1-inch-thick disk, wrap tightly in plastic, and refrigerate until firm, at least 1 hour (or up to 3 days).

Steps:

• Keep 1 cup of the flour out to use this flour to roll out dough with.
• Combine lard,flour,baking powder,salt.
• In a cup with fork slightly beat egg, vinegar and cold water to make up 1 cup of ingredients
• Add egg, water and vinegar to flour mixture form a ball.
• Do not overwork dough.
• Please, refrigerate dough for at least 1 hour or 24 hrs {this freezes very well} before using for the best result.
• Bake at 400 Degrees in a preheated oven for 10 minutes then reduce oven temperature to 350 until pastry is golden brown!

Steps:

• Dice the butter and return it to the refrigerator while you prepare the flour mixture. Place the flour, salt, and sugar in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade and pulse a few times to mix. Add the butter and shortening. Pulse 8 to 12 times, until the butter is the size of peas. With the machine running, pour the ice water down the feed tube and pulse the machine until the dough begins to form a ball. Dump out on a floured board and roll into a ball. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
• Cut the dough in half. Roll each piece on a well-floured board into a circle, rolling from the center to the edge, turning and flouring the dough to make sure it doesn't stick to the board. Fold the dough in half, place in a pie pan, and unfold to fit the pan. Repeat with the top crust.

Steps:

• Add the flour and salt to a large bowl and stir to combine. Add the butter and toss to combine. With your fingers, begin to "smush" the butter into flat pieces. Continue smushing until all the butter is flattened but none of the pieces are larger than a quarter. The flour will look like coarse cornmeal.
• Add the water, quickly folding it in with a wooden spoon to distribute the moisture. (Do not stir vigorously--the dough should appear shaggy.) Use your hands to break up any large clumps of moisture. Then use your knuckles or a palm to smear the dough up the sides of the bowl (a technique known as fraisage). This distributes the butter over a larger surface to achieve larger flakes and compact the dough. Once you've gone around the bowl one time, fold the dough over itself a few times to pick up any dry bits from the bottom. Gently press the dough into a disk. (Note: The dough should remain very cool to the touch throughout the process. If it approaches room temperature, refrigerate it for 5 to 10 minutes to chill.)
• Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface and roll out to a 10-by-12-inch rectangle. Perform a letter fold by folding one of the short ends towards the middle and the other short end over the first, like folding a business letter.
• Turn the dough 90 degrees, so the long side faces you, and perform a second letter fold. Turn the dough 90 degrees again; perform a third letter fold.
• If the dough still feels cool, it can be used immediately. Otherwise, wrap it in plastic wrap and chill for at least 20 minutes. The dough can be refrigerated for up to 1 week or frozen for up to 1 month.

Steps:

• In a food processor, pulse flour, salt, and sugar several times to combine. Add butter. Pulse until mixture resembles coarse meal, with just a few pea-size pieces remaining.
• Sprinkle with 2 tablespoons ice water. Pulse until dough is crumbly but holds together when squeezed with fingers (if needed, add up to 2 tablespoons more ice water, 1 tablespoon at a time). Do not overprocess.
• Turn dough out onto a work surface; form dough into a 3/4-inch-thick disk. Wrap tightly in plastic, and refrigerate until firm, at least 1 hour.
• Before baking, unwrap dough; place on a large piece of floured waxed paper. Roll dough to a 14-inch round. Using paper, lift and wrap dough around rolling pin (discarding paper); carefully unroll over a 9-inch pie plate. Gently fit into bottom and up sides of plate.
• Trim overhang to 1 inch; fold overhang under itself. Pinch between thumb and forefinger to make a uniform edge around the rim. Crimp edge; refrigerate until chilled, about 1 hour.

Steps:

• Mix dry ingredients in mixing bowl.
• Cut in shortening with a pastry blender until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
• Add ice water a little at a time, tossing with a fork to make a pastry-like dough.
• Add a bit more water if it seems dry and won't hold together when squeezed lightly.
• Gather into a ball, press firmly now, then wrap with plastic wrap and chill while preparing the pasty ingredients (see Recipe # ).
• Roll dough out on a lightly floured surface (or on top of a piece of plastic wrap which can easily be folded over and then peeled off once the pasty ingredients are loaded).
• Edges of pasty should be brushed with a smidgen of water and then crimped VERY firmly with a fork (and I fold them and crimp again -- so none of the liquid seeps out).
• Brush tops of finished pasties with milk to enhance the crust (it will bake to a beautiful golden brown).
• NOTE: Like pastry dough, pasty dough should be handled as LITTLE as possible to ensure flakiness. So, *handle with care* !

Steps:

• Sift 225g plain flour into a large bowl, add 100g diced butter and rub in with your fingertips until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.
• Stir in a pinch of salt, then add 2-3 tbsp water and mix to a firm dough.
• Knead the dough briefly and gently on a floured surface.
• Wrap in cling film and chill while preparing the filling.

Steps:

• Whisk sugar, salt, and 1 1/3 cups flour in a medium bowl. Cut butter into 6 rectangular pieces (if using 1/2-cup sticks, cut them in half crosswise, then in half again lengthwise). Toss butter in dry ingredients to coat, then dump mixture out onto a work surface. Roll butter into flour until it is in long flexible strips, using a bench scraper to scrape butter off rolling pin or surface as needed.
• Use bench scraper to gather mixture into a loose pile, then drizzle 4 Tbsp. ice water over. Using your hands and the bench scraper, toss mixture until water is distributed, then gather into a rectangular pile. Roll out dough to a long rectangle with short ends about 8" wide, then use bench scraper to fold dough into thirds, like folding a letter. It will be very crumbly and loose; don't panic. Using bench scraper to help, turn rectangle 90° and repeat rolling and folding, gathering loose bits of dough from outer edges into the center and flouring surface as needed. Repeat rolling and folding a third time. Dough should be somewhat homogenous and creamy-looking with some dry bits around edges. Squeeze a bit in your palm; it should loosely hold together. If not, repeat rolling and folding. Wrap folded dough in plastic, then press it into a compact disk about 1" thick. Chill 30 minutes.
• Roll out dough on a lightly floured surface to a 12"-14" round or oval about 1/8" thick (don't worry about cracks around perimeter). Dust surface and rolling pin with flour as needed and rotate dough often to prevent wider cracks. If dough sticks to surface, lift on one side and scatter flour underneath before continuing. Roll dough onto your pin, then unfurl it on a sheet of parchment paper. Slide onto a rimmed baking sheet and chill while you prep the filling.
• Do Ahead: Dough can be made 3 days ahead. Keep chilled, or transfer to a resealable plastic bag and freeze up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator before rolling out.