Step 1: Combine flour and salt.
Step 2: Cut in shortening until you achieve the appearance of little crumbs. This can be done using a pastry cutter (easy), a fork (difficult), a food processor (haven't tried), or the dough hook of your Kitchen Aid mixer (Lauren's preferred method).
Step 3: IMPORTANT: After this point, avoid over-mixing or over-handling the dough, it makes the baked crust too hard. Work quickly so the dough is still cold when you go to roll it out.
Step 4: Sprinkle 2 tablespoons ice water over your dough, then quickly but gently stir. Your dough should start to stick together and form into a soft ball.
Step 5: If necessary, stir in another 1 tablespoon of ice water. You'll find this will be necessary if your dough isn't yet sticking together.
Step 6: Form your dough into a soft ball. Sprinkle your rolling surface and rolling pin with flour, roll out the dough, place in pie tin and crimp the edges.
Step 7: If you pie requires a pre-baked crust, bake for 8-10 minutes at 425 degrees.
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