Short Crust
Add 2 cups (262 grams) all purpose flour to a mixing bowl.
Stir in ½ teaspoon (2 grams) of salt.
Stir in ¼ cup (55 grams) of sugar.
Mix the dry ingredients thoroughly before adding butter or shortening.
Put 8 tablespoons (131 grams)(1 stick) of cold unsalted butter on a cutting board.
Try not to let the butter get too warm.
Use a chef knife to cut the butter into small pieces.
Be careful with the knife, because the butter is both slippery and tough.
You don't want to be a butterfingers with a sharp object.
Use a pastry blender⇗ to press the butter into the flour, occasionally stirring.
Or hold two butter knives in one hand, and press the small pieces of butter into the flour.
This requires the least effort if the butter is already in small pieces.
Or you can use a food processor, if you have it.
Add ⅓ cup water very slowly, while working the pastry blender.
The flour should start to stick together just a bit.
Keep adding water, a little at a time, until the flour starts to pile up toward your knuckles.
Stop adding water before the flour becomes a single ball attached to the pastry blender.
If your dough is a bit wet, don't worry. You can dry it out by adding flour, when you roll your dough.
It is easier to just avoid getting the dough too wet.
The weight of the dough should be around 542 grams.
Lay out a pastry mat, a sheet of plastic wrap, an airtight container, or a laminated fabric.
Use a butter knife to scrape off the pastry blender and to form a loose ball of dough in your mixing bowl.
The butter knife has several advantages: it starts your cleanup on the pastry blender; it keeps your warm hands off of the dough; it lets you divide the dough into two equal portions.
Cut your ball of dough down the middle.
Deposit one hemisphere of your dough, and press it down into a thick pancake shape.
The laminated fabric has several advantages: it doesn't stick to itself; it allows you to flatten your dough while keeping your hands clean; it forms an airtight wrapping; it is washable and reusable. The pastry mat has most of these advantages, but it is too stiff to be used as an airtight wrapping.
Cover or wrap your dough, and put it in the refrigerator.
Do the same with your other hemisphere.
Refrigerate for 30 minutes, or up to 2 days, and then roll out your dough.
Sprinkle some flour on a flat surface, and use a rolling pin to roll out the dough.
If you don't have a rolling pin, you can use a large plastic water bottle, or the base of a metal mixing bowl. A glass bottle or jar may be risky.
Keep flipping the dough, sprinkling flour, and rolling out.
To pick up the dough as it gets wider, spool it onto the rolling pin.
Roll the dough until it is a few milimeters thick, or until it is wider than the pie tin.
Stir in ½ teaspoon (2 grams) of salt.
Stir in ¼ cup (55 grams) of sugar.
Mix the dry ingredients thoroughly before adding butter or shortening.
Put 8 tablespoons (131 grams)(1 stick) of cold unsalted butter on a cutting board.
Try not to let the butter get too warm.
Use a chef knife to cut the butter into small pieces.
Be careful with the knife, because the butter is both slippery and tough.
You don't want to be a butterfingers with a sharp object.
Use a pastry blender⇗ to press the butter into the flour, occasionally stirring.
Or hold two butter knives in one hand, and press the small pieces of butter into the flour.
This requires the least effort if the butter is already in small pieces.
Or you can use a food processor, if you have it.
Add ⅓ cup water very slowly, while working the pastry blender.
The flour should start to stick together just a bit.
Keep adding water, a little at a time, until the flour starts to pile up toward your knuckles.
Stop adding water before the flour becomes a single ball attached to the pastry blender.
If your dough is a bit wet, don't worry. You can dry it out by adding flour, when you roll your dough.
It is easier to just avoid getting the dough too wet.
The weight of the dough should be around 542 grams.
Lay out a pastry mat, a sheet of plastic wrap, an airtight container, or a laminated fabric.
Use a butter knife to scrape off the pastry blender and to form a loose ball of dough in your mixing bowl.
The butter knife has several advantages: it starts your cleanup on the pastry blender; it keeps your warm hands off of the dough; it lets you divide the dough into two equal portions.
Cut your ball of dough down the middle.
Deposit one hemisphere of your dough, and press it down into a thick pancake shape.
The laminated fabric has several advantages: it doesn't stick to itself; it allows you to flatten your dough while keeping your hands clean; it forms an airtight wrapping; it is washable and reusable. The pastry mat has most of these advantages, but it is too stiff to be used as an airtight wrapping.
Cover or wrap your dough, and put it in the refrigerator.
Do the same with your other hemisphere.
Refrigerate for 30 minutes, or up to 2 days, and then roll out your dough.
Sprinkle some flour on a flat surface, and use a rolling pin to roll out the dough.
If you don't have a rolling pin, you can use a large plastic water bottle, or the base of a metal mixing bowl. A glass bottle or jar may be risky.
Keep flipping the dough, sprinkling flour, and rolling out.
To pick up the dough as it gets wider, spool it onto the rolling pin.
Roll the dough until it is a few milimeters thick, or until it is wider than the pie tin.