Perfect Pie Crust

This is Martha's recipe. "Martha who?" You know who! The Martha. I'm not always thrilled with everything I sample from her baking handbook. The recipes tend to have a superfluous number of steps; however, I am positively delighted with this pie crust. The filling for the apple pie shown definitely requires some work, and I'm sure I'll revisit it at a later date. In the meantime, enjoy this crust for sweet and savory dishes. I used the crust for a meat pie, and it was superb!

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

2 sticks unsalted butter, cold, cut into small pieces

1/4 cup ice water, plus more if needed

In the bowl of a food processor, combine flour and salt; pulse to combine. Add the butter, and pulse until mixture resembles course crumbs with some larger pieces remaining, about 10 seconds.

With the machine running, add the ice water through the feed tube in a slow, steady stream, just until the dough holds together without being wet or sticky. Do not process more than 30 seconds. Test by squeezing a small amount of the dough together; if it is still too crumbly, add a bit more water, 1 tablespoon at a time.

Turn our the dough onto a clean work surface. Divide in half, and place each half on a piece of plastic wrap. Shape into flattened disks. Wrap in plastic, and refrigerate at least 1 hour or overnight. The dough can be frozen for up to 1 month; thaw overnight in the refrigerator before using.

Makes enough dough for one double-crust or two single 9 inch pies.