Half and Half and Half Pie Crust and Apple Pie
When I was newly married, a long time ago, I met a wonderful older lady in Colorado who taught me how to bake bread and pies. She was a judge at the local county fair in the pastry area. She would turn over a slice of pie and check to see if the underside was flaky.
She taught me the, “ Half and Half and Half” pie dough recipe. It is a great one because you can make pie crust for one pie or a dozen all at once. Basically, for every two cups of flour add 1 teaspoon of salt. However much flour, add ½ that amount of shortening and however much shortening, add ½ that amount of water.
Ingredients for One Apple Pie:
Crust
2 cups flour plus 1 teaspoon salt
1 Cup shortening at room temperature
½ Cup very cold tap water
(Notice that the water amount is half of the shortening and the shortening is half the amount of flour.)
Method: Mix flour with salt, either sifting or using a whisk to blend. Take out about 1/3 of the flour and put aside in a small bowl. Add the shortening to the original bowl and cut with a pastry cutter until the mixture is broken into pieces the size of peas. In the small bowl that was set aside, add water and quickly blend using a flexible spatula. Add this to the flour, salt and shortening and lightly mix together and form into two equal balls. Refrigerate for 30 minutes. Sprinkle a generous amount of flour unto a pastry board or rolling surface. Use one ball of the dough to roll out a twelve-inch circle to line your pie plate.
Filling
4-6 Granny Smith Apples, peeled and sliced
1 pinch of salt
¾ Cup granulated sugar
¾ Cup firmly packed brown sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon
½ teaspoon nutmeg (optional)
2 tablespoons flour.
Toss all ingredients together and place inside pie crust lined pie plate and dot with 2 tablespoons of butter.
Roll out second crust and place over pie, seal edges.
Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes, then reduce heat to 350 and bake for 45 minutes. You can let it cool and serve warm with vanilla ice cream.
Great formula and easy to remember! Do you have a favorite “shortening”? I usually use butter but would like to know what you use!
Hi Susan,
Great Question! I also use butter when I am making two pies (because it has a more cookie-like taste) or fewer and refrigerate the dough for 30 min. before rolling it out. But if I make more than two pies, I use vegetable shortening ( I like the butter flavored). If you have any tips, please share. Thank you for asking. Does anyone else have suggestions?