Kitchen Aid Food Processor Pie Crust Recipe 395

Steps:

• Place flour and salt in the bowl of the food processor and pulse to combine. Add the cold butter cubes and pulse a few times until the mixture starts to become mealy and forms plainly visible pea-sized nuggets. Slowly add the wet ingredients. To ensure a tender crust, first pulse in the white vinegar, adding a little every couple of pulses. Next, pulse in the ice water - a little water , 3-4 pulses; a little more water, 4-5 pulses. Try not to over wet the dough. Pulse until the dough just starts clumping together, then pull some dough out and squeeze test it to see if it is holding together. Be careful not to over-mix the dough. If it appears dry and is not holding, add a few additional tablespoons of water. Dump the dough onto a floured surface and gather into two balls. Flatten each, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to use. Often you will find this "rest" period helps even out the moisture in a slightly dry dough. One last hint: be sure to roll out the dough to at least 1 inch wider than your pie pan. Then you'll have plenty left over to drape. Be careful not to stretch the dough loosely in the pan. The pie crust shrinks if it is not stretched to just fit the pan.

Steps:

• Measure the flour into the processor with the regular blade attached. Add the unsalted butter, cut into cubes, and shortening, cut into cubes. (Your fat should be frozen or very cold. You may vary the proportions, or use some lard, but the total should be 9 tablespoons.) Add salt. Pulse three times with three counts per pulse to lightly mix the ingredients.
• With the motor running, pour ice water into the workbowl just until the dough just starts to get noticeably crumbly. Don't wait until it is a big clump or it will be way too wet and will turn out tough.
• Stop the machine, dump the crumbly dough into a bowl, and gather the dough into a ball with your hand. you can squeeze it a bit to make it stick together. If it just won't form a ball, add a tiny bit more water. (Note that if you are making crust in the food processor, you will use less water than most recipes call for.)
• Wrap your dough ball in wax paper or plastic wrap and chill it about 30 minutes in the refrigerator. Roll it out on a cool surface if you can. Then follow your pie recipe for baking.