Best. Pie. Crust. Ever.

So, as any culinary artist will tell you, THE most important part of any pie is the crust. Most busy folks nowadays go the easy route and buy a crust at the local market, but there are still a few of us diehard, make-it-yourself-every-time pie crust chefs out there. So here’s my recipe. It really is the best one if you like incredibly flaky, buttery, sweet crusts.

This recipe makes one single crust. Simply double the ingredients for a double-crust pie.

1 1/4 cups flour
1 tsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 cup butter (must be cold!)
1/4 cup shortening (must be cold!)
1 large egg
1 tbsp. apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup ice water

Mix flour, sugar, and salt. Cut the shortening and butter into the flour until the flour-fat mixture is in crumbly, pea-sized chunks. NOTE: Because of the cold, solid nature of the butter and shortening this may be difficult. Power through! Do it as quickly as possible to avoid heating up the fats. Or better yet: use a food processor to cut the fat into the flour.

In a separate bowl, beat together egg, vinegar, and water. Add the liquids SLOWLY to the flour-fat mixture until it just forms a ball. NOTE: You should not use all of the liquids. If you use too much of the liquid mixture, add a bit more flour to dry out the dough.

Pat the crust into a one-inch-thick disc and wrap in plastic wrap. Put in the refrigerator for at least an hour. NOTE: DO NOT SKIP THIS STEP. Working with cold ingredients is key to a flaky crust!

After an hour or more, lightly dust a countertop, the dough, and a rolling pin with flour. Roll out the crust, working from the center of the disc and rolling outward. DO NOT OVERWORK THE DOUGH. This will also take away from its flakiness.

Once it’s rolled out, transfer the crust to a pie pan. Do this without stretching the dough. Depending on what kind of pie you’re making, you may want to prick the crust with a fork and bake it for 12 to 15 minutes at 350 degrees. Most pies don’t require a pre-baked crust, however, so feel free to skip this step.

If you’re making a top crust for a sweet pie, once the crust is in place lightly brush it with the remaining egg-water-vinegar mixture and sprinkle with sugar, cinnamon, or whatever the pie recipe calls for.