Julia Child Pie Dough
Submitted by Sue Lowes on Nov 07, 2012

Pie dough

Servings:
8

Complexity:   
Very Easy

Total Time:
30 minutes

Ingredients:
1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup cake flour
1 teaspoon salt
1&1/2 sticks chilled unsalted butter, diced
4 tablespoons chilled shortening
1/2 cup ice water, plus droplets more if needed

Directions:
Drop the flour, salt and butter into the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade. Pulse 5 or 6 times in 1/2 second bursts to break up the butter. Then add the shortening, turn on the machine, and immediately pour in the ice water, pulsing 2 to 3 times. Remove cover and check dough. It should look like a mass of smallish lumps and just barely hold in a mass when a handful is pressed together. If too dry, pulse in droplets of water. Turn dough out onto your work surface and with the heel of your hand rapidly and roughly push egg-size blobs out in front of you in 6-inch smears. Gather the dough into a relatively smooth, flat round ; wrap in plastic and refrigerate at least 2 hours (or up to 2 days), or you may freeze for several months. For sweet dough cut the salt down to 1/4 teaspoon and include 2 tablespoons sugar.