Grandma's Pie Dough

This is my Grandma's pie dough recipe, it is pretty basic and works great with a lot of pie recipes. It's also on my mom's blog, http://alwaysanotherrecipe.blogspot.com, you will noticed that my recipe is a half recipe, it makes 2 pie shells with a little left over. Tip: Keep the pie dough as cold as possible, the warmer it gets, the harder it is to work with.

1 1/2 c. flour
1/2 c. Crisco vegetable shorting
1/2 tsp. salt
1/3 c. ice water

Mix shortening and salt into flour until in starts forming small pea sized balls. You can do this in the food processor or by hand with a pastry cutter. My mom uses the mixer. Slowly add the ice water until the dough binds into a ball that is not sticky, you may not need all of it. Roll out on a floured surface in a circle shape until it is between 1/4 and 1/8 inches thick. Sprinkle lightly with flour. Carefully fold the dough in half and then fold in half again in the other direction and you should be able to easily pick up the dough and place it into your pie plate. Unfold the dough once it is in the pie plate, make sure that their is no air anywhere between the pie plate and the dough. Trim the edges, crimp and you are ready for your filling!