• 2/3 cup whole wheat flour

• 2/3 cup unbleached flour

• ¼ teaspoon salt

• 1 teaspoon unrefined cane sugar

• 1 stick cold butter

• 2 tablespoons ice water

Mix dry ingredients in large mixing bowl.

Quickly cut butter into small pieces (about ¼ inch cubes) Add to flour mixture and work into flour quickly and lightly with finger tips or pastry cutter. If using fingertips, rub butter into flour using 4 fingers snapping against the thumb while lifting hands and let flour mixture fall lightly back into the bowl.

Continue working ingredients together until the flour is well coated by the butter and the mixture resembles a coarse meal.

Add ice water and stir together with a fork just enough to bring together ingredients. The dough should hold together when a little is pressed between two fingers. If mixture is still a little crumbly when pressed, sprinkle in a little more ice water (1 teaspoon at a time) until it holds together.

Turn dough on to a lightly floured board and press into a rough flat disk and wrap with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least a half hour.

If dough is refrigerated for an hour or more, you will need to let it sit at room temperature for about 10 minutes, to prevent cracking when rolling out.

For double crust pies, double the above recipe. A food processor works well for double crust dough. Using standard mixing blade, mix together dry ingredients and cubed butter with about10 to 12 short pulses until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add ice water and pulse a couple times more until dough just begins to form.

Turn out onto lightly floured board and press into one mound, then cut in half and form into two, round flat disks, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate.

The art of making a tender flakey pie crust is to make sure the flour is well coated by butter before adding ice water but not over mixed so that the butter is too dispersed into the flour. If the butter is under mixed into the flour, the pie crust will be tough. If over mixed, the dough will be too tender and crumbly and difficult to work with.

Part II. Forming Pie Crust

For a single bottom crust, place dough onto lightly floured board and sprinkle with a little flour. Then with a rolling pin, start in center of the dough and using only outward strokes, roll out evenly in all directions, using just enough pressure to spread dough out to form into a circle. Lift and turn dough after every few rollings and sprinkle on a little more flour if it sticks. Keep enlarging the circle until dough is about 1/8 th inch thick and measures about 2 inches larger then the diameter of the pie pan.

Fold dough in half and lift and place in pie pan with the fold in center. Unfold dough and drape and press lightly into pie pan. Trim edges so there is an inch overhang. Scrapes of dough from trimmings may be used to patch any gaps where more dough is needed, using a drop or two of water to glue to crust.

Fold and press down the inch overhang of dough into itself to form a ridge on edge of pie pan.

To make fluted edge, with lightly floured fingers, press dough between thumb of one hand and thumb and forefinger of the other hand making fluted shape evenly around pie. If dough is too soft to work, refrigerate for a few minutes until firm enough to shape.

To make decorative flat pie edging, press dough against edge of pan with tines of a fork.

Cover pie crust with plastic wrap and chill at least an hour after shaping so it will keep its form when baking.

For a top crust, roll out dough as above until it measures 1 inch larger then the diameter of the pie pan. Fold in half and place over pie filling with the fold in the center. Unfold and drape on top of pie, trimming and patching any wholes if needed so the crust is aligned neatly with the edge of the pan.

Fold overhang of bottom crust up over edge of top crust, pressing the dough together to seal in filling. Form sealed edge into either a fluted or flat edging, as explained above with a single bottom crust.

With sharp knife, make several slits in top crust to make vents for steam to escape. Chill pie for an hour before baking.