About 20 9″ crusts OR 16 10″ crusts OR 10 9″x13″ pans
Make this simple recipe to freeze or to use if you need a lot of crust at once. It is much less expensive than frozen store crusts and allows you to serve tender, flaky, homemade pie crust all year.
1 3-pound can shortening
1 pound butter or margarine (melted)
20 cups flour OR 14 cups whole wheat pastry flour and 6 cups oat flour (ground from regular oatmeal)
4 cups very cold water
1 tablespoon salt
3 tablespoons sugar
Using a large mixing bowl, crumb shortening, butter or margarine and flour until well blended. Add 3-3/4 cups ice water, salt and sugar. Using your hands blend ingredients together, adding the rest of the water if needed. Do not overmix, and don’t knead. Under-mixing may cause the crust to shrink when baked, become hard and look crackled. But over-mixing causes the dough to more crumbly and less tender. Dough will be sticky.
Divide dough into 20 equal patties. Wrap each with wax paper, then wrap with foil. Place any unused pie crust into your freezer. These pie crusts will hold in your freezer for up to one year. To thaw, remove foil and place in refrigerator or on counter top. Piecrust may be used for pies, homemade chicken pot pie, cinnamon coated crisps, cobblers and fruit dumplings. Thaw overnight in refrigerator. When pie crust has thawed, roll it out on a floured board or cloth, or between two sheets of wax paper as well. Fold crust in half and then into quarters. Lift gently, placing in pan. Do not stretch the pastry in the pan, or it will shrink and thicken while cooking. Edges may be crimped for a more attractive appearance. Prebake if necessary at 325 degrees until lightly browned.