Old Fashioned Pantry Pie Crust Mix (No Butter, Eggs or Milk) ~ A Patty-Pan Printable Recipe Kit (2024)

"I am baking it in a pie-dish— a pie-dish with a pink rim.

You never tasted anything so good!"

Welcome to another edition ofFun Friday with Beatrix PotterfeaturingThe Tale of the Pie and the Patty-Pan!Today I wanted to share an old fashioned recipe from dear Ribby! It is an oil crust pastry which is made from ingredients found exclusively in the pantry. I believe she got it from her great-grandmother who used this easy, frugal recipe during the Depression Era.

"But she thought a great deal about Ribby's pie,

and she read Ribby's letter over and over again."

Dear Ribby liked to make things convenient and places a few jars of make-ahead crust mixes in her pantry. She noticed that if half of the work was done (and it only took minutes!), it made the pie-making process so very simple and she was apt to make more of them for her loved ones! You can fill them up with so many different foods and you have an instant feast when served inside a pastry shell! For meal making inspiration, there is the classic chicken pot pies and quiches. For desserts, the sky is the limit with peaches, apples, pumpkins, you name it!

"She peeped again into the bottom oven,

the pie had become a lovely brown,

and it was steaming hot."

To Make the Mix:

Place inside a pint-sized jar the following ingredients:

• 1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour *

• 1 dash of salt

• 1 tbsp. sugar (reduce the sugar by half when serving a savory dish)

"Such lovely pie-crust; and I put in a little tin patty-pan to hold up the crust;

and I made a hole in the middle with a fork to let out the steam..."

To Make the Pie:

1. Place the dry ingredients (or the mix-in-a-jar) in a mixing bowl and stir (Ribby prefers using a wooden spoon).

2. Add 1/2 c. oil.Mix again with the spoon until it looks almost mixed in(like fig. 2 above).

3. Add 1/4 c. waterandknead until just blended in (Ribby uses her pawshands). Shape dough into disc.

4.Roll out your dough into a circle shape by placing the discbetween two sheets of plastic wrap.

5.Remove top plastic sheet, invert the dough into the pie pan (as pictured)and fit the crust snugly inside. Remove other top piece of plastic wrap and crimp your edges. Your pie is ready to fill!

This recipe works well with "baked and filled" pies such as apple, peach and pumpkin. If making it for cream pies or fresh fruit pies, since the dough is softer, it will puff up in the bottom if baking unfilled. However, you can remedy that somewhat by poking holes in the bottom of the crust with a fork prior to baking it and also by filling the shell with pie weights during the baking process.

Final Notes:

This recipe is for one crust.

To make a double crusted pie mix -- double the ingredients and place them in a quart jar.

Depending on the sugar amount you use in the mix, you may wish to write down either "savory" or "sweet" on the lid.