I never buy pie crust--if you really don't want to fuss with it, I vote for
making an impromptu strudel out of frozen puff pastry sheets or phyllo, which
are really quite decent. Sadly, the same cannot be said of store bought pie
crust. If you're afraid to make one, the important thing to remember is this:
your first pie crust is going to be awful. It will fail to hold together, be too
thick or too thin, and almost certainly not resemble anything like the perfect
circle so lovingly pictured in your cookbook. That's all right. It will still
taste better than your store bought pie crust. And four or five crusts later,
you'll have gotten the knack of it, and friends will be swooning over your
homemade pies.
This is a little thing, but I don't understand why she doesn't explain pie crust, if she goes to so much trouble to say how hard it is. It's a recipe, give instructions dammit. If you want pie crust that holds together and is easy to roll, use cold shortening and enough ice water to hold it together to make the dough. Then let it rest for at least half an hour in the refrigerator so the flour can absorb the liquid. Rolling out isn't difficult, just use even pressure, start in the middle, and work your way outwards in a circle. Sprinkle with flour as needed to keep the surfaces from sticking.
Was that so hard?/crabby
