Place your flour, shortening, and salt in a large mixing bowl. Using a pastry cutter, or old-school like me, with a fork, cut the flour into the shortening until it is completely combined and has lumps about the size of peas. (For detailed photo instructions on crust, click here.)
Don’t believe anybody who tells you that you have to have a pastry cutter for this step. A fork works just fine.
Add the water, one tablespoon at a time, mixing with your hands, and kneading the dough to turn it over until it is a nice, solid ball. Do not over-work the dough- this is the number one mistake people make that will cause your pie crust to fall apart. Touch it as little as possible- your hands are warm, and you want it to stay cold.
Once you have a solid ball, divide it into two equal parts and tape a piece of wax or parchment paper onto your counter (thank you to my friend Tracy for this tip.)
Lightly flour the parchment paper, and roll one ball of your dough out into a large circle that is bigger than your pie pan.
Place your pie pan upside down in the center. Flip it over and press it down around the sides. Trim the edges, but leave about an inch of excess dough for pinching together later.
Roll out your next dough ball in the same way on the same piece of parchment paper. Pour your apple filling into the prepared crust (leaving about half of the liquid in the pan), and then pick up the parchment paper and slide the top crust over the top. Trim again, leaving about an inch of dough to crimp with.
Pinch the bottom crust and the upper crust together with your fingers, sort of pulling the lower crust over the upper crust and then pinching together to completely seal. This video has a good demonstration. Use a knife to slit 3 openings in the top of the crust for steam to escape.
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