Tried butter vs shortening in my pie crust and it wasn't even close

I spent last weekend making two apple pies side by side to settle this debate for myself. One crust used all butter, the other used vegetable shortening like my grandma's recipe calls for. The butter crust came out flaky and actually had flavor, while the shortening one was just pale and greasy tasting. My wife said the shortening pie felt like eating a spoonful of Crisco with apples on top. I measured both at exactly 2 1/2 cups flour to 1 cup fat so it was a fair test. Anyone else ditch shortening completely after trying an all butter crust?

3 comments

3 Comments

kevinw943d ago

I gotta push back on "pale and greasy tasting." I use butter for everything else but pie crust is the one place I still grab shortening. Your test sounds fair but you might have overworked the shortening dough, that's what makes it tough and greasy. I use half butter half shortening in mine and it comes out tender but still has that flaky bite butter alone sometimes misses. Grandma knew what she was doing with that Crisco, it's just tricky to handle right.

zarag173d ago

Glad to see someone else testing things side by side, that's the only way to really know... Might just be me but 1 cup of fat to 2.5 cups of flour sounds a bit heavy on the fat side for a standard pie dough. Most recipes call for closer to 3/4 cup or less, especially with butter since it's got water in it too.

brian_hart3d ago

Wait, isn't 1 cup of fat to 2.5 cups of flour actually a pretty standard ratio for a flaky crust (by weight, that is)? Most recipes I've seen aim for about 1 part fat to 2 parts flour, and 1 cup of butter is around 8 ounces while 2.5 cups of flour is about 11-12 ounces, so that's pretty close. I think a lot of the "too much" feeling comes from people measuring flour by volume (which can vary wildly) instead of by weight, you know?