classic pie crust idiot proof step by step photo tutorial

🥘 Ingredients

• • all-purpose flour
• • sugar
• • salt
• • unsalted butter
• • vegetable shortening
• • fresh lemon juice
• • cold water

📝 Instructions

1. 1 preheat oven to 220c
2. 2 put the flour , sugar , and salt in a food processor
3. 3 pulse briefly to combine
4. 4 add the butter and shortening
5. 5 pulse just until coarse crumbs form , about 30 seconds
6. 6 add the lemon juice and water
7. 7 pulse just until moist crumbs form
8. 8 turn the dough onto a work surface and gently shape it into two equal disks about 4 or 5 inches in diameter
9. 9 wrap in plastic and refrigerate at least 1 hour or up to 1 day
10. 10 elaborating on the original recipe i adopted -- take one of the two disks and roll it out
11. 11 place into a lightly greased pie dish , i also carefully roll the pastry around the rolling pin and then "unroll" it into the dish , it's less likely to break this way
12. 12 i take an egg and separate the yolk from the white -- and using a pastry brush , i "paint"the pastry base with some of the egg yolk
13. 13 don't use it all because you will need some of it to paint the lid of the pie too
14. 14 this will make a seal and help prevent the bottom of the pie from becoming soggy when the wet filling is added
15. 15 then add your pie filling -- mine in the photo demo is meat , yours could be vegetable or fruit etc --
16. 16 now roll out your second disk of dough and carefully place this on top of your pie
17. 17 and then i use a fork to push the edges together
18. 18 after trimming the excess pastry from around the edges , i gather up the pastry scraps and roll them out -- cutting some "leaves" to decorate the top
19. 19 i wet the bottom of these decorations with a tiny amount of water and then place them on top of the pie
20. 20 then i add a tablespoon of water to the last of the egg yolk and gently "paint" the whole top of the pie
21. 21 lastly , use the fork to poke some holes around the pastry to let the steam out
22. 22 put into the oven and bake according to the instructions for the recipe you are making
23. 23 in the demonstration photo series i made australian meat pie and there is a precooked filling , so that recipe called for the first 15 minutes on 220c and then 180c for 25 minutes or until golden brown -- do be aware that different fillings require different cooking times and temperatures and adjust accordingly
24. 24 et voila ! and so easy !