Chicken (or Turkey) Pot Pie

Doesn't this look Yummy!
A good pie will have a crust that is tender and flaky and tastes good.  To make the most flaky pie crust you would use lard.  Trust me, in college we did experiments with the fat part of pie crust being the only variable, and the flakiest was the crust made with lard.  I don’t use lard, so I use hydrogenated shortening.  It came in second with the test.  Butter didn’t even place.  So I use butter flavor hydrogenated shortening.  Yeah, that works:

Here is how to make flaky, tender, tasty pie crust.

Step 1:

Supplies:  (These are the amount for 1 8inch pie crust.  I made 4 X as much, you will need to double it.  One is for the bottom, one for the top.)
1 c flour
1/3 c shortening
1 tsp. salt
½ tsp. baking powder
2-3 Tbsp. cold water
Bowl
Rolling pin
Forks
Knife
Extra flour
Pie pan

Step 2:

Put flour, shortening, salt and baking powder, in the bowl.  Using two forks, cut the shortening into the flour so that it looks like meal with pea size lumps in it.

Step 3:

Here is how it should look before you add the cold water.

Step 4:

Add the water to the flour mixture.  This is where you need to be careful, the more you handle the dough, the tougher it will be, so with your impeccably clean hands, mix the water into the flour, and quickly as possible.  I reached the dough ball in less than 2 minutes.  If it needs more water, add a tablespoon at a time.  This is a good place to explain about flour.  When baking, you need to be aware that flour will take in moisture that is in the air.  So on a warm dry day, flour will be drier than it will be on a wet day.  So on a dry day, flour will need and absorb more moisture than it will on a wet day.  So the amount of water you will need will vary from day to day.

Step 5:

Take your ball of dough and put in on a lightly floured surface.  Using the rolling pin, roll it out as thin as you can (somewhere between ¼ &1/8 inch).

Step 6:

Fold the dough in half and lay it in the pie pan.

Step 7:

Unfold the dough and gently fit it into the pan.  Don’t stretch the dough, lift the edges and slide the dough down into contact with all of the sides and bottom of the pan.  If you stretch the dough, when you bake it, it will shrink.  You don’t want it to shrink.

Step 8:

Trim the excess dough away, using a knife.  Take a small hand full of flour and rub in along the whole surface of the bottom crust dough.  This will prevent the filling, from soaking into the bottom crust, and making it soggy.   This will ensure that you will have a flaky bottom crust.

Step 9:

Roll out the top crust, fold it in half for the top crust, and set it aside.

Step 10:

Filling:
2 cups chopped up chicken (you may substitute chopped turkey)
1 can cream of chicken soup
½ cup sour cream
1 29 oz can Veg•All (canned mixed veggies, drained)

Step 11:

Mix all for ingredients together in a bowl.  Stir them well.  Place the mixture in the pie crust.

Step 12:

Place the top crust over the filling.  Trim excess dough away from top crust.  It will be longer than the bottom crust.

Step 13:

Fold the top crust, under the edge of the bottom crust and crimp it any way you like.   Cut vent holes in the crust with the knife.

Step 14:

In a preheated 400̊ oven, place your pie and bake for 45 minutes.  It will come out HOT and Wonderful.

Step 15:

Doesn’t it look wonderful.  The bottom crust was even flaky!  Yeah, it was great!   ENJOY!!!