Prebaked Pie Shell Recipes

PREBAKED PIE SHELL

Steps:

• In a large bowl, combine the flour with the lard, butter, and salt. Mix lightly with your fingertips until the dough forms grape-sized pieces. You should still be able to see chunks of fat.
• Stir in the iced water. Lightly knead, handling the dough as little as possible, until the dough forms a ball. Add a little more iced water if necessary. Transfer to a plastic bag and shape into a log. Cut into 2 pieces and place each inside an airtight bag. Seal the bags, pressing out any air, and chill for 1 hour or as long as 3 days. The pie dough can be frozen for as long as a week. Roll out half of the dough to a 12 inch round about 1/8 inch thick and use it to line a buttered and floured 10 inch pie pan, pressing the dough well into the bottom and up the sides without stretching. Chill for 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Cut out a circle of aluminum foil or parchment paper and fit it into the chilled pie shell. Fill with rice, beans, or ceramic pie weights and bake the pie shell for about 15 minutes, or until the edges are just golden and beginning to pull away from the sides of the pan.
• Remove the paper and the weights and return the shell to the oven to finish cooking for 5 to 10 minutes more. Cool on a rack.

PERFECT PIE CRUST

Steps:

• Dice the butter and return it to the refrigerator while you prepare the flour mixture. Place the flour, salt, and sugar in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade and pulse a few times to mix. Add the butter and shortening. Pulse 8 to 12 times, until the butter is the size of peas. With the machine running, pour the ice water down the feed tube and pulse the machine until the dough begins to form a ball. Dump out on a floured board and roll into a ball. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
• Cut the dough in half. Roll each piece on a well-floured board into a circle, rolling from the center to the edge, turning and flouring the dough to make sure it doesn't stick to the board. Fold the dough in half, place in a pie pan, and unfold to fit the pan. Repeat with the top crust.

PREBAKED PIE CRUST

Steps:

• Place flour, salt, and sugar in the bowl of a food processor and process for a few seconds to combine. Add butter and process until the mixture resembles coarse meal, about 10 seconds. With the machine running, add ice water in a slow, steady stream through the feed tube, just until the dough holds together. Do not process for more than 30 seconds.
• Turn the dough out onto a work surface. Divide in two. Place each half on a sheet of plastic wrap. Flatten and form two discs. Wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour before using.
• On a lightly floured surface, roll one piece of dough into a 1/8-inch-thick round. Fit into desired pie plate (8 to 10 inches in diameter). Trim pastry using scissors or a sharp paring knife. Crimp or decorate the edges of the pastry as desired. Transfer to refrigerator to chill for 30 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Prick the bottom of pastry all over with a fork. Line the pastry with parchment paper; fill with pie weights or dried beans. Bake until pastry begins to color around the edges, about 30 minutes. Remove the parchment paper and weights and continue to bake just until the pastry dries out and turns a light golden color for a partially baked shell, and a deeper amber for a fully baked shell, 10 to 20 minutes more. Cool completely on a wire rack before filling.