Pie Crust

This Alton Brown recipe is what I've used for years any time I want to make a pot pie or most other sorts of pies or tarts.  I've also used it to make cheese and onion pasties (which are essentially hot pockets).  It's flaky and delicious and surprisingly easy to make (read: I cut a lot of corners with this recipe and it still turns out great).  I replace the lard in his recipe with vegetable shortening.

Ingredients

• 3 ounces (6 tablespoons) butter, chilled (use vegan butter such as Earth Balance to make it vegan)
  
• 1 ounce (2 tablespoons) vegetable shortening, chilled
• 6 ounces (approximately 1 cup) all-purpose flour, plus extra for rolling dough
• 1/2 teaspoon table salt
• 1/4 cup cold water
• Approximately 32 ounces of dried beans, for blind baking

Directions

1. Place butter and shortening in freezer for 15 minutes. When ready to use, remove and cut both into small pieces.

2. In the bowl of a food processor, combine flour and salt by pulsing 3 to 4 times. Add butter and pulse 5 to 6 times until texture looks mealy. Add shortening and pulse another 3 to 4 times.

3. Remove lid of food processor and add a small amount of water. Replace lid and pulse 5 times. Keep adding small amounts of water slowly and pulsing until mixture forms into a large ball of dough.

4. Place ball of dough in large zip-top bag, and then press into a rounded disk and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

5. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

6. Put pie pans in refrigerator to chill.  (I always skip this step and everything is still fine.)

7. Remove dough from refrigerator. Cut along 2 sides of the plastic bag, open bag to expose dough, and sprinkle both sides with flour. Cover again with plastic and roll out with a rolling pin to a 10 to 11-inch circle. Open plastic again and sprinkle top of dough with flour. Remove pie pans from refrigerator and set first pan on top of dough. Turn everything upside down and peel plastic from bottom of dough. Place second pan upside down on top of dough and flip again. (I don't do all this; I just use the rolling pin to move the dough into the pie pan. The main idea is just not to stretch the dough.) Remove first pan from atop dough. Trim edges if necessary, leaving an edge for meringue to adhere to. Poke holes in dough with a fork and place in refrigerator for 15 minutes.

8. Place a large piece of parchment paper on top of dough and fill with dry beans. Press beans into edges of dough and bake in the oven for 10 minutes. Remove parchment and beans and continue baking until golden in color, approximately 10 minutes longer. Remove from oven and place on cooling rack. Let cool completely before filling.