Mom’s Homemade Pie Crust Recipe

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Making pie crust has been a tradition in our family. We have pie with every big family meal. Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas. You can’t go home without a slice of a family member’s homemade pie. Mom made sure to teach me how to make her homemade pie crust recipe and now I am sharing it with you!

Items Needed:

• pastry cutter
• mixing bowl
• rolling pin
• pie pan
• Pastry mat (optional)

Directions for Making Pie Crust:

This pie crust recipe is for one crust. If you need a top and a bottom for your fruit pie, you will need to double the recipe.

Step 1: In a mixing bowl, combine flour, salt, and sugar.

Step 2: Cut in shortening using a pastry cutter until mixture is crumbly.

Step 3: Mix in water using a wooden spoon.

Step 4: Turn out the dough onto a floured surface. Kneed lightly into a ball. If multiplying the recipe, split dough into the number of crusts.

Step 5: Roll out the dough with flour on counter or a pastry mat using a rolling pin. Make it slightly larger than the pie pan you will be using so there is overhang.

Step 6: Roll pie crust onto rolling pin to lift it up onto the pie plate.

Step 7a: If putting a top crust on the pie, cut the bottom crust off even with the edge of the pie plate. Fill crust with pie filling. Place top crust over pie and follow step 7b to pinch top and bottom crust together.

Step 7b: Cut the crust to have about a half inch over hang. If there are any spots that fall short, paste in extra crust by dampening edges of the patch with water and connecting extra crust.

Step 8: Fold crust under along the end of the pie pan. Crimp the edge, be sure the points of the crimps go over the pie pan edge so the crust doesn’t shrink while baking.

Step 9: Prick bottom and sides of the crust with a fork.

Step 10: Bake at 400ºF for 12-16 minutes for a pre-baked single crust.

For Double Crust: Brush top of crust with butter and sprinkle on cinnamon sugar. Bake at 400ºF for 45 to 50 minutes until crust is golden brown. You can wrap aluminum foil around the crust edges while baking to prevent the edges from over browning.

In my video below I use this pie crust to make a vanilla cream pie topped with meringue. This recipe here tastes great and it tripled well when I made 3 pies. Or, use this pie crust to make apple pie when it is apple picking time, like I did here!