I am so happy its Friday, but like whoa, this week has flown by so fast. I think I need to make a pie to slow things down a bit..
What Kind of pie am I making? We will get to that, but first we must make a killer pie crust, one to hold of the goodness to come.
Crusty Stuff. Flour, a stick of frozen butter (or a stick of frozen Earth Balance, which I have used and it turns out much the same) a bit of sugar, some salt, ice water, and apple cider vinegar*.
Whats with the vinegar you ask? Well first off, don't worry about tasting it, you won't. Secondly, I add it because it helps keep gluten from forming in the flour, which in turns makes the pie crust more flakey and less doughy. If the though of vinegar really bothers you, you can use lemon juice or even leave it out. 
The flour, salt, ans sugar are mixed together into a bowl. Then with a box grater or hand grater with big hole, grate the frozen butter directly into the flour, stopping every few tablespoons to toss around in the flour. (DO this or you will end up with a big pile of shredded butter that is starting to melt back together) Also, hold the butter with the wrapper to keep from warming the butter with your hand.
Once the whole stick is shredded, take a fork and just toss the chunks around a bit more just to evenly distribute. Now add in vinegar and water. Toss with fork until the mixture starts to come together. If you think that dough seems way to dry, add in one more tablespoon of ice water.
Dump the dough onto a lightly flour surface and kind of squish, smoosh dough into a pile. The dough is all clumpy and weird looking, Well thats what it is support to look like, so your good. 
Once the dough is gathered into a ball, place onto a piece of wax paper and wrap. Now is the most satisfying part..Smoosh the wrapped dough into a disk but applying pressure. Aaahh, kind of looked like pie crust. Now Stick it in the fridge for a least a hour (Don't skip this or your crust will be blah)
Out of the fridge and awaiting a roll and a filling.
Weekend plans for a pie are set!
Have lots of good times!
-C
Pie Crust
Notes... You can for sure make this pie crust vegan by replacing the butter for a stick of Earth Balance. Also, this is the stuff for a single pie crust but I usually habra bit left over to make a few little cutouts for the top of the pie or pie scrap cookies.
To make this a double pie crust, just double everything up.
- 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter (or Earth Balace), cold or frozen
- 1/4 cup ice water
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
In a large bow, whisk together the flour, salt, and sugar. Place grater in bowl and with the biggest grate hole, grate the frozen or cold butter directly into the flour mixture, stopping ever few tablespoons to toss around in the flour so you don't end up with a big pile of grated butter. With a fork, toss around a bit until the butter is evenly disrupted in the flour being careful NOT to work the butter into the flour. Add in the vinegar and water and mix as little as possible with a fork until the mixture starts to come together. The mixture will seem kind of dry and almost like it is falling apart, but thats what you want. If dough is really too dry, add in another tablespoon of ice water. Dump mixture onto a lightly floured surface and squish together to form a ball, handling as little as possible. Place on a piece of wax paper and wrap. Give it a good squish to flatten out a bit and place back into fridgerater for a least one hour, if not longer.
And then you have crust
Crust can be frozen.. just wrap in plastic wrap and place into a freezer bag.