Homemade pie crust isn't as hard as you might think. If you have a food processor or a mixer with a pastry paddle, it's a breeze. The key to flaky crust is cold--cold butter and ice water, which keeps the butter separate from the flour. When the crust bakes, the butter melts and the steam released causes air pockets, which gives the crust its flaky texture.

This recipe comes from Nick Malgieri's Perfect Pastry, and it uses butter instead of the typical shortening.

1 cup all-purpose flour
2 tbsp. cake flour
1/4 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. baking powder
1 stick of cold butter, cut up into 8 pieces
3 - 4 tbsp. ice water.

Stir/pulse together dry ingredients. Pulse (food processor), paddle (mixer), or cut (by hand) in butter pieces until the mixture has a sandy appearance, but there are still small chunks of butter throughout. If you're mixing by hand, work fast, because the mixture needs to stay cold--if the butter starts to melt, refrigerate it for a half an hour to re-chill butter.

Sprinkle 3 tbsp. ice water over dough and combine well with a fork. Dough is ready when it holds together when you squeeze it. If it crumbles, sprinkle in a bit more water until it holds.

If the dough's still cold, you can roll it right away. Otherwise, roll it into a ball and chill it for a few hours first.

To form crust, pat ball into a patty, then roll out on a clean, floured dishcloth. Sprinkle flour on the rolling pin and the dough if the pin sticks. Switch rolling directions to keep a uniform circle. Drape into pie dish and crimp edges. Fill and bake according to pie recipe.