[Sca-cooks] Best bulk pie crust recipe?

[Pixel, Goddess and Queen]

On Thu, 22 Jan 2009, jimandandi at cox.net wrote:

> I am embarrassed to admit I have never made pie crusts from scratch for a feast.
>
> I am making chard and ricotta pies for a feast coming up, and I'd like to do covered coffin-style pies but I'm afraid a period hard crust would be seen as just "bad pie crust" around here.
>
> I would prefer not to use vegetable shortening (yuck), but butter would be too expensive and lard means even fewer vegetarian dishes. Oil pastry doesn't have enough stability for a coffin-style pie.
>
> What is your favorite bulk pastry recipe? Have you made hard pastry cases for feasts? How were they received?
>
> Madhavi

I use the recipe from here for pie crusts: 
http://www.diynetwork.com/diy/lc_desserts/article/0,2041,DIY_14000_2273785,00.html

With the fibro and the tendinitis my hands aren't up to cutting fat into 
flour anymore so it gets made in the KitchenAid. For feasts, a double 
batch will make five generous 9" single crusts easily. I've found that 
you can play with the proportions of fat without too much trouble, 
although I've not tried an entirely butter or an entirely shortening crust 
yet, nor have I tried using lard instead of the shortening.

This crust is pretty durable, easy to roll, pretty forgiving, and it's 
tasty. It's also hella easy, which my hands appreciate.

YIS,

Margaret FitzWilliam