Classic Crisco Pie Crust Recipe + Deep Dish Adaptation - Unsophisticook (2024)

FAQs

Has Crisco shortening changed? ›

In order to compete, Crisco had to change its recipe. Since 2007, the brand has eliminated nearly all of the trans fats in its Crisco products. The new Crisco recipe has removed cottonseed oil from the equation, and the easily recognizable tubs of Crisco are now filled with a mixture of soy and palm oils.

Butter pie crust has the most flavor out of the three fats. This pie crust bakes up nice and golden brown, with plenty of flaky layers.

Choosing between shortening and lard comes down to personal preference. Both create a flaky, tender crust, are semi-solid, and are 100% fat. Swap one for the other in recipes. If you want to add additional flavor to the dish, lard is the right choice.

To maintain its shape during baking, pastry needs liquid to activate the flour's gluten. For flaky, tender texture, it also requires fat. The balance of those two ingredients is critical. Too much fat and the crust loses its structure and shrinks; too much liquid, it's hard and leathery.

From January 24, 2007, all Crisco shortening products were reformulated to contain less than one gram of trans fat per serving; the separately marketed trans fat-free version introduced in 2004 was consequently discontinued.

The pros: Butter has the best flavor. A butter pie crust forms light, lofty, flaky layers while it bakes. The flakiness comes partially from the water content of butter, which evaporates as the pie bakes and turns to steam, separating and puffing up the layers in dough.

Lard and vegetable shortening have almost the same amount of fat. You can generally get away with substituting 1 cup of shortening for 1 cup lard, though you may want to add 2 extra tablespoons to your recipe. Oils are another possible lard substitute.

Blind Baked pie crusts: Blind baked pie crusts are a fully baked crust and are used for recipes which have a no-bake pie filling, such as a lemon meringue pie, chocolate cream pie, banoffee pie, or a french silk pie. You want to fully bake the crust, as it will not get another chance to crisp up.

The pie dough is too dry!

Wondering why can't you use a spoon? The trick here is to hydrate the flour with just enough water to get the dough to stick together. Tossing with a fork is a gentle way to incorporate the water without mashing it all together.

Should you chill pie crust before baking? ›

Once the dough is shaped and crimped, the last thing you want to do bake it right away. Chilling the shaped pie allows the aforementioned gluten to relax and the butter to get nice and cold again, both of which help your pie hold its shape better once it's in the oven.

Soybean Oil, Fully Hydrogenated Palm Oil, Palm Oil, Mono And Diglycerides, TBHQ And Citric Acid (Antioxidants). 50% Less Saturated Fat than Butter*Crisco Shortening: 3.5g saturated fat per tablespoon.

Crisco, you may recall, was made from partially hydrogenated vegetable oil, a process that turned cottonseed oil (and later, soybean oil) from a liquid into a solid, like lard, that was perfect for baking and frying.

Shortening is a type of fat used in cooking and baking. It's typically made from hydrogenated vegetable oil and has a long history of use in American kitchens that dates back to the early 1900s. However, shortening has fallen out of favor in the past few decades because of its high trans fat content.

If you notice any change in color or appearance, or if your Crisco product develops an off odor or taste, it's probably past its shelf life and shouldn't be used.