Rosie wrote:
>I read here but lurk, good pie crust is a challenge for me..

A bssic good pie crust is not difficult to make.
The recipe is just flour, fat, cold water and salt.
The most important part is how its made.
It just require care and gentleness in the manipulation
For a home scale method
The secrets are similar as in the institution : using the right flour
and fat then coupled with proper manipulation procedurss that includes
resting in between; that is after the dough is gently mixed( by first
crumbling the flour with the fat with the fingers or two knives or
pasty blender until coarse crumb texture is obtain where you can still
see lumps of fat coated with flour.
Then the liquid ( where the salt is dissolved is sprinkled in while
blending the dough gently.

It is then divided into the sizes( depending on the pie pan sizes)
allowed to rest preferably in cool conditions.. for at least half an
hour.
One preferred technique for the beginner is described below.

The dough is placed in between sheets of wax paper gently dusted with
flour)
It is then rolled from the center outward in 360 degrees to the
required thickness about 2 mm. the paper dough sandwich can be rolled
in either side and if it happens that the dough does not move outward
you need to lift the paper and add more dusting flour but not much.then
pressing back the paper.
The benefit of this technique is the dough is not over handled so does
not to shrink much if compared to bare dough rolling which is suited
for advanced pie makers.

Then the outer sheets is peeled of , then the remaining dough paper
layer transferred to the prepared pie pan,( greased with fat and
dusted with flour) the bare dough facing the pan.
The It is lowered gently and the remaining wax paper peeled.
The dough must be permitted to sag loosely to the pie pan
The dough is then gently pressed into the bottom making sure not to
overstretch the dough. If the dough appears to stretch the outer sides
are slightly pressed toward the center to permit the dough to sag.
loosely.

Once the bottom is done the sides are then pressed in the same manner
as the bottom taking care not to stretch the dough. The hands is
pressing it gently downward and ouward to form a uniform surface
snugly fitting the pie plate until your hands reach the pie pan rim.
Do not press the dough to hard or you will end up with nonuniform
thickness throughout the pie pan.

Finallly the overlapping excess dough is trimmed by sliding the knife
edge around the pan rim.
Presto you have a properly made pie crust bottom...