Cut the butter and shortening into pieces and lay out on a dinner place and place in your freezer while you prepare the rest of the dough.

In the bowl of a food processor, place flour, salt and sugar and pulse a few times to mix.

Take the frozen butter and shortening and push the pieces down into the flour. Put the lid back on and pulse several times until the butter and shortening are rice-to-pea sized.

Add 3 tablespoons of the ice-cold water and pulse a few times to mix.  Open the cover and test by squeezing some dough together. If it crumbles, keep on adding a tablespoon of water at a time, pulse for a few seconds then test again. The resulting dough should be shaggy and not completely mixed and you should still be able to see bits of fat.

Once it stays together in your hand when squeezed, pull off a big piece of plastic wrap and pour the mixture into the center.

Then use the plastic wrap sides to push the mixture into a tight ball. Flatten into a round disc, wrap tightly and refrigerate for one hour before use. *See notes – dough may be refrigerated or frozen.

After one or more hours, roll out on a well-floured surface, pushing any cracks together with your fingers. Don’t let it stick to the counter; add more flour to the counter if needed. Roll to 12 inches (for a 10-inch pie plate) across by pressing from the center out to the edges.

To place in a pie plate, roll up on the rolling pin and unroll into the pie dish, gently pressing it into the dish and over the edge.  For a single crust pie: Trim excess crust to one inch beyond the edge of the pie plate. For a pie with a top crust, trim after you’ve filled the pie and placed the top crust over the filling. Brush off any excess flour.

Use the index finger knuckle and thumb of one hand and the index knuckle from the other and make a fluted edge all the way around.

Bake according to your pie recipe instructions.