Swapped butter for shortening in my pie crust and it actually worked

I always thought butter was the only way to get flaky crusts, but my aunt convinced me to try half shortening for a holiday pie last month. The crust came out way more tender and held its shape better for the lattice top. Has anyone else had luck mixing fats in their dough?

2 comments

2 Comments

michaeljones9d ago

Man, I feel that. I tried the whole butter-only thing for years and it drove me crazy how my crusts would just crumble when I tried to roll them out. Mixing in some shortening really does make a huge difference with the tenderness you mentioned. I started doing a 60/40 mix of butter to shortening after my grandma gave me the same advice she used for her church bake sales. It's wild how much easier the dough is to handle and it still gets those nice little flakes when you bake it. Good on you for giving it a shot.

troy_palmer769d ago

The lard vs shortening debate matters more for temperature control than anyone talks about.