106 Reviews of Means' Classic Pie Crust

From: MizzNezz

On Jun 12, 2002

This is indeed a classic pie crust! Very flaky and it has a great buttery taste. Easy to follow recipe. I made 2 crusts and froze one since I was making a cream pie. I will use this recipe again! Thanks for posting.

From: Bev

On Nov 28, 2002

This had to be the flakiest pie crust I've ever made. Easy to prepare in the food processor with perfect results. I loved the lemon in crust! Thanks for sharing this recipe!

From: Elliemae Clampet

On Nov 25, 2006

Nice easy crust. I don't have a food processor so I mixed this by hand in a bowl. It was a big pile of mush but I wrapped it between plastic wrap and put it in the fridge to chill before I rolled it out. Also I doubled the recipe so for those who don't have a scale for the oz measurements for 2 pie crusts which is double the recipe it goes as follows (also I used all butter): 4 1/4 cups flour, 2T sugar, 1tsp NaCl, 1lb butter, 4tsp lemon juice and about 3/4 cup H2O. I then just put everything in a big bowl and just mixed together. Still came out great! Thanks for such an easy recipe

From: Toby Jermain

On Nov 20, 2003

Great Crust !!! It's amazing what a little lemon juice can do! I've been trying a lot of different, but always "almost" the same recipes, trying to find the perfect pie dough, and I think this is it. Thanks, Mean Chef. The only thing I did differently was to do it by hand, since I was feeling too lazy to clean up the processor afterward. I ran the cold butter and shortening through a coarse grater into the flour, rather than chopping it up, and then incorporated everything using a pastry blender. I've used this recpe now for a chicken pot pie and and apple pie, and it was great for both.

From: Che~Sara`

On Feb 15, 2005

After being frustrated to max trying different recipes of pie crusts ... this one is by far the "one you can count on" ... looks good and tastes even better! Very easy to work with... and after reading Mean Chef's pie making class... helped out a lot. I made one of pie crust dough the night before and refrigerated until the next day. Then I decided to make a lattice crust as well and only had an hour or so to regrigerate that one. Conclusion, both crusts rolled out the same... so you know you can make it way ahead of time, or last minute! Popping the vegetable shortning in the freezer for a couple minutes made it cold quickly. Also, I didn't have a food processor so I used my (clean) hands to mix/pinch the shortening/ butter/ flour as was taught to me by Mean Chef and it worked perfectly. THANK YOU MEAN CHEF! (even more thanks from Chad who loves pies!)

From: Joy1996

On Oct 2, 2003

Outstanding. This recipe should be called "Perfect Pie Crust". I've never had a crust roll out so easily. I loved making it in the food processor, and the butter and shortening combination is perfect -flaky and flavorful. The addition of lemon is unusual - I really liked it. I made a one-crust pie and froze the other half of the dough - can't wait to make another pie. I'll be using this recipe over and over - thanks for posting!

From: HeatherFeather

On Nov 30, 2002

Excellent! Everything about this recipe works very well- the preparation was a breeze, the measurements accurate, and the taste and texture was great. The dough was very easy to work with and cooked up very flaky. Thanks!

From: lemoncurd

On Jun 11, 2006

Super, super crust. Light, crispy, flaky and the best part is so very quicky and easy. I made it as is and for the shortning I used butter flavoured Crissco which made it very buttery tasting.

From: KathyRose

On Aug 8, 2003

I love you Mean Chef!! I have never been able to make a good pie crust before....it was always tough. I've made two great pies now using your crust recipe. I used a kitchen scale to get exactly the 11 1/4 ozs of flour, the only thing I didn't do in the recipe is add the lemon juice because I didn't have any, but will do that next time. The dough was so easy to work with--never tore, and was so nice and tender and flaky. Thank you so much for posting this recipe.

From: s'kat

On Nov 25, 2002

I'm new to the world of pastry, but this recipe was an easy to follow introduction to it. The crust was beautiful and flaky, and sooo easy! Thank you!