Pie Crust inspired by bocca and pie crust tips
Submitted by glory on June 23, 2004 at 4:32 am

First, this is a great recipe:
Pie Crust for 4

4 cups King Arthur mellow pastry blend
1 1/4 cup cake flour
1 Tbs. salt
2 sticks butter
6 oz. shortening
1 cup ice cold water

Mix flour and salt, cut in butter, then shortening. Stir in water just until holds together. Divide into four sections, flatten them into round discs, wrap in plastic wrap and put in fridge until chilled about thirty minutes.

Now, when rolling it out ignore the convention that you should not flour the board too much. Use plenty of flour on a large enough surface. Use a long rolling pin to prevent creases in the crust.

I am going to assume you can roll out a circle, but if you find it sticking at all it is ok to pick it up and even turn it over to add more flour to the board and continue rolling. Make your piecrust larger than your plate. Even making more piecrust dough than you actually need is fine because it leaves room for errors.

In transferring the crust to the pie pan, roll the pie crust up around your rolling pin. Carry that over to the pie pan and unroll. Gently lift the edges of the pie crust and let it fall into the corners of the pan. Never pull and do not push either. Doing it this way prevents shrinkage.

If you are doing a double crust pie do not trim the pie at this point, but rather fill it and top it with the second crust. Then what you do is to cut a vent in the center of the top crust with a cookie cutter or a knife in whatever shape you wish.

Now, crimp together the top and bottom crust together and gently but firmly press the "excess" off using the edge of the pan to cut the excess. This is easier and neater than using a knife or scissors.
Finally, brush your piecrust with water, milk or even cream. It does not matter which one; what matters is that it is wet. If you end up with tears anyway, there are always pastry cutouts of leaves. You can adhere them to the pastry with water brushed on the undersides of the leaves. You can score little veins on them too. You want to brush and paste as you go because they would dry out along the way otherwise. Also, a tear in the right place can be turned into a more decorative vent.

Another tip: if you are making a pumpkin pie and have to blind bake a piecrust first, when that is done and you are ready for the filling, don't take the piecrust out of the oven. Rather walk the filling on over to the oven and pour it right into the crust from a large measuring cup right there in the oven. What this will do is reduce the chances of the filling splashing over the edges of the crust as you carry it back to the oven. I hope this helps.