How to make a pie shell, and make it good!

People are usually intimidated by the idea of making their own dough or pie shells, and they would just buy pre-made, frozen ones at the grocery store. That is totally fine. But it really isn't hard to do at all! Wanna bet? Makes 1 pie shell. Double up if you need more.

1 cup flour
1/8 tsp salt
1/4 cup shortening
1 egg, beaten
1 tsp vinegar
1 tbsp cold water

You can add certain extracts or flavorings, like lemon peel or vanilla extract, if you want it extra special.

Mix the flour and salt in a mixing bowl. Add your shortening and mix it up with the flour till they kind of resemble breadcrumbs. Like so.

Once it gets all crumby, add in the rest of your ingredients. Mix it up well and form a ball. Now it is time to roll your dough. Toss some flour on the surface you are going to roll your dough. This is done so your dough won't stick.

Now start rolling your dough. You can start out slow and flatten the dough out evenly.

It's looking good, so let's put it in your pie pan. You'd want to use a 9-inch pie pan, and grease it with oil or spray it with nonstick spray. A dash of flour would be good too, spreading it in the pan. Now lay your dough in the pan.

"Mold" it onto the corners of the pan carefully and tuck the edges in neatly.

For an extra nice touch you can press a fork all along the sides of the crust to make little decorative indentations.

Finished pie shell.

 You're ready to make your pie! That wasn't so hard, was it?