My great-grandmother used vegetable oil for her pie crust, in fact, it wasn't til I was nearly an adult before I realized that people normally use shortening/butter. It's a slightly denser crust, an obviously doesn't taste like butter, but it is flakey and really easy.

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Something similar was in the last "Baker's Catalogue" from King Arthur Flour, recommending "very light" olive oil for best (i.e., "no olive") flavor.

The classic problem is that too little water produces a dry, unmanageable crust, but too much water and it combines with the flour to produce too much gluten, which makes pie crusts tough. Therefore, you want "hydration" (liquid) without "water" (gluten).

The new issue of Cook's Illustrated solves the problem a completely different way: using half cold water and half cold vodka. 80 proof vodka is 40% alcohol, producing a well-hydrated dough without making too much gluten. Vodka has no flavor, and the alcohol bakes away when the crust bakes (it's too volatile to survive oven temperatures). Quite the neat little trick.

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Vodka and/or olive oil in a pie crust?! These I've GOT to try...

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I tried making this crust today, and came out with similar effects: too dry. I added about a tablespoon of water and rolled half the dough out with a few frozen raspberries I had on hand to make a little raspberry crostada. The crust came out nicely crisp, compared to some others I've tasted using butter. This recipe is definitely a keeper, if you remember to add about a tablespoon more water or milk to the recipe!

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If you don't like the crust this recipe makes, I can understand why. It sounds odd.

Try the one developed by Wesson Oil back in the late 40's that my mother and I have always used.

2/3 cup oil ( for a buttery taste, sunflower oil is close)
1/3 cup water
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups all purpose flour

stir the oil and water until creamy
add to the flour and salt.
roll between two sheets of waxed paper.

It is a true never-fail method. Always flakey, and never gets soggy.
I'd be interested to see if others have the same luck as I have always had. I always get complements.
Good luck.

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I'm so glad to come across this because shortening is in impossibly short supply in Korea. I wonder if this method could work on biscuits...

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Most of you probably already know this, but olive oil performs very good in baking. Except for recipes that call for butter, which I just can't get away from because I LOVE butter, I use olive oil exclusively in baking and cooking. In some things I use the lighter version. The only thing that I found it would not work in was a sour dough starter and sour dough bread recipe that calls for corn oil. But other than that, I use olive oil in cooking, frying and baking recipes.

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While the olive oil trick does sound cool, I think I'm gonna have to go with vodka, just because it's VODKA.

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Long ago, the use of lard was generally discouraged and the Crisco crust recipes were the result.

Pie crusts is one of the rare foods where lard still is the best ingredient. The crispy flaky goodness cannot be beat with vegetable oils.

Don't get me started on the evils of baking/cooking with Crisco.

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