"The" pie crust recipe

My Grandma Wolf (my mother’s mother) was a little short German woman who raised a family of 7 children during the Great Depression. She and my grandfather Henry were “workers”, and she lived to be 96 years old. She was a quiet thoughtful woman who loved her family and gave us a work ethic that has not been diluted in the current generations. During those years when harvest time would roll around, Grandpa always hired extra men to help in the fields to bring in the harvest. Grandma, of course, with help from her girls, was expected to cook and feed the “crew”, along with the 9 regular members of the family. It was nothing for Grandma Wolf to make 3 or 4 pies a day and several loaves of bread too. This was all done on a wood stove that Grandma knew was the correct temperature by simply putting her hand in the oven to check it. As my mother said “I’m sure that your Grandma Wolf, in her lifetime, came pretty close to feeding an entire army.”
When Roger and I were dating, he had never met anyone who made pie crusts ahead and froze them; my mother did. We are pie people. My sister Anita considers pie to be its own separate food group; I am inclined to agree with her. My mother would make up pie crust dough, and freeze actual pies, or just make crust and put it in the pans and freeze it. That way it wasn’t unusual for my mom to have 4 or 5 frozen pie crusts at the ready in the freezer at any given time. We girls do this too, so the following won’t surprise anyone in my family: I have found a recipe that makes 20 pie crusts at one time. I made it yesterday and my mother and Grandma would have LOVED this! I warn you though, this is not a recipe for a novice pie maker, you are quite literally up to your elbows in pie dough, which could prove to be somewhat overwhelming, but it is great crust (Rog will attest). I can’t take credit for this, as I found it on one of the many blogs I follow.

20 Pie Crusts For the Freezer

3 lb can Crisco vegetable shortening (I use Butter-Flavored Crisco)
5 lb all-purpose flour
3 cups ice water
2 Tbsp. salt

Mix in a very large bowl or pan
Blend flour, salt, and Crisco together (by hand)
Add ice water and mix all together just until blended.
Form into patties weighing approx. 7.6 oz. each (if you have a scale and want to get 20 out of the recipe).
Makes about 18 to 20.

Flash freeze on wax-papered cookie sheets, then pop into Ziploc bags.
When you want to make a pie crust, defrost desired number of crust "patties" on the counter 30 minutes or so ahead of time, or in the fridge overnight.
Roll between 2 sheets of waxed paper or put a thin sock with the toe cut out over your rolling pin and roll out on a thin towel with a little flour to prevent sticking.
These will keep for about 1 year in the freezer.


By the way, my new apron featured on an earlier post, now has flour on the belly :) !