Decided between butter and shortening for my pie crusts last weekend

I had a real dilemma on Saturday morning before making three apple pies for a church potluck. My old recipe calls for all shortening because it makes the crust easier to work with and gives it that flaky texture. But my neighbor swears by all butter for the flavor, and I can see her point. After going back and forth for about 15 minutes, I decided to go half and half with both. The dough was a little trickier to roll out compared to straight shortening, and I had to add an extra tablespoon of ice water to keep it from cracking. The pies came out of the oven looking great, but the crust was somewhere in the middle - not as flaky as I wanted and not as buttery tasting as I hoped. Has anyone else found a good ratio that gives you both the handling and the taste?

2 comments

2 Comments

jamiew531mo ago

Try 3 parts butter to 1 part shortening next time.

emmawood1mo ago

Does anyone else feel like pastry ratios are basically a test of how many times you can wash butter off your hands before giving up? @jamiew53 I’ve been using a straight 50/50 mix because I’m too cheap to buy more butter, but now I’m wondering if my shortbread is secretly judging me. Maybe I’ll try your tip and just hope my kitchen doesn’t turn into a slippery slip-and-slide again.