Wham Bam Pie Crust

I will be the first person to tell you that I am not great or anywhere near awesome at baking.

I mean, I manage, and with practice, I've gotten better over the years.

I've developed a lot of shortcuts and helpful tricks to make it easier on me.

And, I'll also admit, I don't have a lot of patience for baking.

Don't get me wrong. I love the outcome of all those efforts.

But if you've ever seen my kitchen after I'm done baking, it is like there were 10 people in

 there whipping up massive amounts of baked goods rather than one simple Momma just trying to bake a cake.

It is a disaster.

Flour and egg shells, measuring spoons, bowls and vanilla extract are all over my counters.

Why do I feel the need to use 3 sets of measuring spoons and 7 different measuring cups?

I have no idea. 

I never said I was efficient.

Anyhow, I often use shortcuts.

I like frozen pie crusts. 

Many of them are really good these days since many companies have really stepped up the quality of ingredients.  But sometimes I want to use my own pie pans instead of the one that comes with the frozen crusts.   And sometimes, that rustic look of a totally homemade pie just does something to me.  I love the look of an imperfect, golden, flaky crust that has been crimped by my fingers (ok, my slightly arthritic fingers).

But I need that crust to be easy to make.

This crust is perfect for any one-crust pie.

Like my Brown Sugar Pumpkin Pie, Pecan Pie or Farmhouse Strawberry Pie.

Or even for savory pies like Tomato Bacon Pie.

It's called Wham Bam because you don't have to worry about cutting in cold butter or

 shortening like you do normal pie crusts or add in super cold ice water.

Also, there is no rolling out of dough.

You stir it together and push it around with your fingers into the pie pan.

It takes just a bit of time to spread it all around.

But keep in mind, it's the bottom part of your pie crust, it doesn't have to be showcase beautiful. It's very forgiving.

But it's also tender and flaky and bakes up to a beautiful golden color.

Ingredients:

1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 tbsp. water

Directions:

In a medium bowl, combine flour and salt.

Stir in oil and water. 

 Mix until combined.

Then form it into a ball.

 Spray your pie pan with nonstick cooking spray. 

It's not really necessary but I just want to doubly make sure there is no sticking and it makes this dough just a bit easier to spread in the dish.

 Now, start pushing down on your ball of dough and begin spreading it towards the sides.

Do as best as you can to evenly pull it up the sides.

You'll want plenty of dough up the sides too so you can crimp it at the top edge.

 You can even get in there with your knuckles if you need to.

This is very forgiving dough. 

See that little tear there where I pulled the dough a little too hard?

Just smush around the dough with your thumb or fingers.

It'll seal write back up.

 Make sure you also press down into the bottom rim of the pan too to spread out the dough and so it's not too thick.

And then you can start to go around and crimp the top edges of the crust.

  Now, this does not have to be perfect. 

I don't know about you, but I like those little imperfections in baking.

It lets folks know you made this all yourself.

It's rustic and it's homemade. It should look that way.

I used it here for my Butter Crumble Apple Pie (recipe coming soon!)

It bakes up beautifully golden and tender and flaky.

It makes the perfect base for any of your one crust pies.

And even the least-experienced of bakers can manage this easy and forgiving crust.

To Prebake:
Poke crust with a fork, all over the inside of the crust (so it doesn't puff up too much while baking). Or if you have beans, you can line your crust on top with foil and then put beans inside to weigh it down to keep it from puffing up. Then bake at 400F degrees for about 10-15 minutes (maybe a tad longer). It should be golden in color. 

Enjoy!

Printable Recipe Here