Pie Crust & Crusties

My sister and I decided that we would make the Thanksgiving pies this year.

We wanted to better ourselves.
We wanted to learn how to do things that all people used to know how to do.
We wanted to banish the convenience of store-bought crust and have the satisfaction of making something from scratch.  With sweat and tears.  Like the good old days.

Making pies is a talent we need to master.
We must make pies.
It is our destiny.

I had mucho success with this recipe (I got it from www.handletheheat.com), so this is my new pie crust recipe... and that's that.

Pie Crust
2 1/2 cups flour (I used whole wheat pastry flour)
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 sticks unsalted butter, very cold (I use organic because that's how I roll)

Step One:  Take roughly one cup of water and add a few ice cubes, set aside.
Step Two:  Mix flour, sugar, and salt together. 
Step Three:  Slice the butter into 1/2 inch slices and then add to the flour.

Step Four:  Use your pastry blender to slowly work the butter into the flour mixture.  Continue mixing until the butter is all roughly to the size of beans.  Tip:  Don't over mix! 

Step Five:  Drizzle 1/2 cup of ice water into the flour mixture.  Roughly work the water into the flour mixture.  I used about another 1/4 of a cup of the ice water to completely combine the dough.  Then, using my hands, I gathered all the dough together, gently kneading until it was all combined to a nice big glob of dough.

Step Six:  Divide the dough in half, roughly shape like a disk, and wrap in plastic (I used a towel).  Chill for one to two hours in the refrigerator.

Step Seven:  Roll the dough on a lightly floured surface into roughly an eleven inch round. 

Step Eight:  Move to a pie pan, finish the edge as your wish, and pierce the crust all over with a fork.  Then chill pie crust for 30 minutes.

Step Nine:  Then, make the rest of your pie.  Whatever that may be.  The particular pie recipe that I used required that I bake the shell at 375 degrees on a baking sheet for 25 minutes with a pie weight (I used beans on a piece of parchment paper) and then 15 more minutes without the pie weight to brown the whole crust.

Note:  The dough will last in the fridge for a week and in the freezer until you decide to clean your freezer out and use all the hodge-podge goodies inside.

Whoop Whoop! Check it out!

So my crust ain't fancy, but it works.  I haven't mastered it, but eventually, I will.  It's a personal goal.  I must master the crust.  Because Grandmas can make pie crust from scratch and Grandmas know how to homestead.  How can we possibly have a homestead without homemade pies.  It's not possible.  So make pies we must.  This is a journey people, remember?

Super Duper Tip:  You know my favorite part about making pies?  Take the extra crust that you piece off the edges, sprinkle it with cinnamon and sugar and bake it while your crust is chilling.  Pie crusties.

And then eat them.  All.  Fight your husband for them.  Wrestle.  Punch.  Claw.  Do what you have to.  Because it's like little cinnamony sugary pie pieces.  I love butter and sugar and cinnamon and all things related to these ingredients. 

I hope this recipe works for all homesteaders out there like me who have baking disabilities.  May we grow together in our baking skills for many years together.