Recipes that are handed down through the generations are my favourite kind of recipes. They also come with a lot of “about this much” or “a little of this”. The ingredients below I have included the original recipe from my grandma and then the measurements I used beside it if different.

Ingredients:

5 cups flour (I used 5 cups but made sure the cups were not completely full to the top as whole wheat flour soaks up liquid faster)

1 lb shortening (crisco) cut up into small squares

1/4 tsp salt

About 1/4 cup ice cold water (I used just over 1/4 cup)

1 egg

A little vinegar (I used 1 TBS)

Directions:

1. Add flour and squares of shortening into a bowl and blend together with a pastry blender until it resembles a texture similar to oatmeal.

2. Mix together 1 egg, vinegar, and ice cold water. Add this mixture to the flour and shortening and mix together with your hands until it all comes together to form a soft dough.

3. You want to be careful not to add too much flour if the dough is a little bit sticky. Whole wheat flour (included our sifted versions) soak up liquid easier than regular all purpose or white flour so you don’t want to add too much too fast.

4. Chill in the fridge for about an hour. If the dough is still too sticky after it has been chilled, slowly add more flour until you are able to roll it.

5. Roll out your dough on a well floured surface and continue with your favourite pie recipe! This will make approximately 5-6 crusts (so around 2-3 pies if you have a top crust on them)

6. You can refrigerate or freeze any unused pastry dough!