Process 1 1/2 cups of flour, the sugar and the salt in the processor until it's combined. Add the butter and shortening, and process until uneven clumps start forming. It will look like cottage cheese curds when it's just right- whether you do it by hand or in the processor. Scrape the dough down, and add in the rest of the flour, processing it until it's evenly distributed and the clumps break up. Empty it into a medium size bowl, and sprinkle the vodka and water over it all. Use a rubber spatula and a folding motion to press dough into a slightly sticky clumped lump. Divide that into two balls, and flatten each into about a 4 inch disc. Wrap it in plastic wrap, and chill it for at least 45 minutes- even up to two days. It also freezes just fine, by the way.
This sounds crazy but the vodka is the secret. Actually, it's the alcohol that does it. Flour forms gluten when mixed with the water, but not with alcohol. Vodka being about 80percent alcohol lets you have a liquid to mix up with, but not form gluten- and tough pastry. The alcohol all evaporates in the baking, and at a lower temperature than water as well- and it helps puff up the pastry in the process. This particular dough rolls out like a dream, nice and smooth and slick. There also won't be the least bit of taste, since vodka doesn't have one to start with, and it disappears in the baking anyway.
This is my new favorite. I make it up in batches, and freeze what I don't need right then. If you don't want a big bottle of vodka around the house, you can do like I do and buy those small bottles instead
Originally Submitted
1/11/2011
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