Want the flakiness of shortening, but the richness of butter in your pie crusts? Well now you can have both in this Combination Butter and Shortening Flaky Pie Crust!
I’ve heard the complaints.
“Oh, I love butter crusts, but the texture just doesn’t turn out right.”
“Well, I can make shortening turn out better as far as looking good, but the flavor is just so….blah.”
“The butter crust is just so hard to shape and then I have a hard time preventing it from shrinking down and looking like my two-year old made it.”
And then there’s the people that outright just eat the filling out of the pie without saying anything, and you’re like, dude, seriously. I didn’t know my pie crust sucked THAT bad.
I know, it’s baffling. How could something with so few ingredients really cause that many problems. It just shouldn’t be THAT hard, right?
Well, if you haven’t browsed around already, we do have a couple of solutions.
Tammy has an All Butter Flaky Pie Crust on the blog that, you heard it….it’s FLAKY! She adds the secret ingredient of sour cream to help out with this. However, the crust is still a little softer to work with, and you still need to be careful and use the proper tools to avoid a shrunken crust.
Christina has an All Shortening Flaky Pie Crust on the blog that, duh duh duh…..it actually has a good flavor! She swears by using Butter Flavored Crisco (and only that brand) to help the pie in the flavor department. It’s not butter, but it’s a close second.
Well, we thought it was about time to get a Combination Butter and Shortening Crust out here for you guys so that you can have yet another choice – butter adding a beautiful rich flavor again, and the shortening helping to stabilize the shape and flakiness of the crust. We still tend to go a little bit more butter versus shortening in the ratio. However, we’ve seen recipes up to equal of each, so it’s something you can play around with. Just realize as you change this, it may affect the amount of water that you add to the dough.
(By the way, we have SOOOOOOO many other ideas for pie crust modifications, but no time to share this year. But make sure you are following us because we will be sharing more in the future including a gluten-free and a dairy-free pie crust.)
So now, which pie crust is going to be your signature crust? You’d better just try them all out! More pie, more fun!
Combination Butter and Shortening Flaky Pie Crust (Double Crust Recipe)
Ingredients
- 2 cups and 1/2 all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 10 tablespoons butter 1 stick + 2 tablespoons, chilled and cut into 1/2 inch cubes
- 6 tablespoons vegetable shortening we prefer butter-flavored Crisco, chilled
- 6-8 tablespoons ice cold water
Instructions
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Combine flour and salt in a medium-sized bowl or a food processor.
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Give it a quick mix/pulse to combine the two ingredients.
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Add butter and shortening to flour mixture.
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Use a pastry blender, your fingers, or a food processor to break down the butter and shortening into pieces about the size of a pea.
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Add water to flour-butter mixture and mix until combined. (Start out with about half and then add by tablespoon as you go as different altitude and humidity can alter the exact amount needed.)
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Split into two balls, flatten into 2 inch thick disks, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate or freeze for about 45 minutes. (In a pinch, about 15-20 minutes in the freezer will suffice.)
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Unwrap the dough.
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Lightly flour a flat surface (we love using a mat or you can even use parchment paper) and your rolling pin.
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Roll your dough until it is large enough you can tip your pie pan upside down on top of it and there is about an inch of pie dough sticking out all around it.
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To transfer the dough into the pan: fold in half one way and then the other, so that it's a quarter-fold.
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Lift the dough into pan and unfold.
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Fold under edges.
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Pinch the dough with two fingers on the outside and one on the inside for the fluted look.
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Poke a few holes in the bottom to decrease risk of bubbles forming.
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Wrap tightly, place in freezer and freeze for at least 1 hour or up to one month.
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Bake according to specific pie directions.
Directions for a pre-baked (blind-baked) shell:
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Follow rolling and pricking instructions, listed above.
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Return shaped crust to freezer for an additional 15-20 minutes (if you have time). This helps pie maintain its shape during cooking. (You can skip if in a time crunch and just go with the pie weights, as listed below. But we always find that we can get better results if there's time to do this.)
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Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
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Line your pie shell with either parchment or aluminum foil (may need a couple of pieces).
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Fill pie shell with pie weights or dried beans of any type (you will need about a pound - enough to cover the bottom and push up around the edges. Remember, the whole point of this is to help the pie crust maintain its shape while initially setting in the oven.)
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Cook in oven for about 10 minutes.
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Remove pie weights and lining, and cook until golden brown, an estimated additional 10-15 minutes. (This can vary a lot depending on whether you put the crust back in the freezer, and just according to your oven. So just keep an eye on it.)
Directions for a Double-Crust Pie:
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Place bottom pastry in pie pan (do not flute edges yet)
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Put in desired filling.
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Roll out remaining dough for top.
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Cut slits or a design in top pastry to allow steam to escape while baking.
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Fold bottom and top pastry edges together and flute edges.
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If desired, apply egg wash to top and edge of pie, being careful not to break the delicate edges.
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Bake as directed in individual recipe.
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I’ve made this crust at least five times now and while it tastes quite good I cannot get the texture good consistently. The top crust always comes out flaky, but the bottom is frequently chewy. It concerns me also that there is always boiling butter in the bottom of the crust when I blind bake it. It looks like there might be as much as a couple of tablespoons. Has anyone tried to make this with less butter? I’m making it again today and I think I will try it with just a stick of butter. I do agree that butter-flavored shortening is the way to go as it does add to the flavor.