French-y Vinegar Crust

Looking back over my sad amount of posts for November, I realized I haven't done an actual recipe post for awhile. I accidentally used bread flour in my Thanksgiving pie crust and they turned out disappointingly tough even with the high fat to carb ratio. But don't worry - there were six of them. Anyway, here's an alternate, French style pastry that doesn't use any lard or butter but still turns out flaky. It's much lighter than a traditional crust but still very flavorful. This is enough for two 9 inch crusts.

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
3 tablespoons white sugar (I use baker's sugar because it's really fine)
1 cup Crisco
1 whole egg
1 teaspoon white vinegar
5 tablespoons ice water


In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, salt, and sugar. Mix well, then cut in shortening.

In a small bowl, combine egg, vinegar, and 3 to 4 tablespoons of water. (The amount of water you use will depend on the amount of moisture that's already in your flour. You can always add a little more ice water if things don't seem to be sticking properly.) Whisk together, then add gradually to flour mixture, stirring with a fork.

Mix until dough forms a ball. If at this point the dough is still crumbly, add one more tablespoon of water.

Wrap dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 10 minutes.