The Best Pastry Crust
This is hands-down the best pastry crust you will ever make. Forget the shortening; this recipe calls for 14 tablespoons of butter for a light, flaky, buttery taste. This pastry crust is perfect for all your fruit and custard tarts and pies. I also use it for empanadas and pot pies.
sifted all-purpose flour, or more as needed
2 ¼
cups
salt
¼
teaspoon
butter
14
tablespoons
chilled water, or more as needed
¼
cup
 Mix flour and salt together in a large bowl. Cut in butter using a pastry blender until the mixture resembles fine cornmeal. Pour in water slowly; knead dough into a firm ball.
  Pour in additional water as needed if dough is too dry or additional flour if too moist. Divide batter into equal halves. Roll out dough halves into rounds on a lightly floured work surface using a lightly floured rolling pin to desired thickness.
  Press one round into the bottom of a 9-inch pie pan. Use the other round as a top crust or for a separate bottom crust. Bake according to desired filling instructions.
