Pie Crust

This comes from my favorite cookbook, The Best Men are Cooks by Frank Shay. I got my copy of it at Mr. Santerre's store in West Townsend MA. That store had a lunch counter on one side and an antique store in the rest of the room. It was on the way to the 4-H camp in Ashby that my sisters went to (and I went to, one summer). My family would stop there for ice cream and to look around the antiques side. It's where we bought the most comfortable chair I've ever sat in, a rocking captain's chair that was in terrible condition, but was already comfortable, when we found it. My mother had it sandblasted to remove ugly dark old varnish and it became a family treasure after we put new clear finish on it. Meanwhile, my copy of the cookbook has pasted onto the flyleaf the author's obituary from the Provincetown newspaper of January 14, 1954.

• 2 C pastry flour
• 6 T ice water (I never bother with the ice, just cold tap water), that's halfway between 1/4 C and 1/2 C
• 1/2 C plus 2 T shortening (measure the above 6 T water into a glass 1 C measuring cup and add shortening until the water comes up to 1 C)
• 1/2 t salt
• 1/2 t baking powder

This will make upper and bottom crusts for one 9-inch pie.

Sift or whisk dry ingredients together.

Cut in shortening with a pastry blender.

Add water gradually, stirring constantly, until dry ingredients are bound together. Work lightly until smooth, the less handling the better.

Place half the dough on a well-floured board and roll out with a rolling pin.

Cover a pie plate with that dough, patting it in so that the paste touches all surfaces. Trim edges and fill.