I love pie, but my pie crusts taste like glue.  This recipe is 100% foolproof...and relies on an 80-proof secret ingredient.

Pie dough should be simple: mix flour, salt, and sugar together, cut in some fat, add water, roll it out, and bake it. But somehow the same recipe can result in a perfect crust one day and a tough-as-nails crust the next. America's Test Kitchen went to work and discovered the trick to creating consistently great dough depended on the amount of water incorporated, and in particular how it was absorbed. There had to be a substitution that would keep the dough moist but not create too much gluten, which is produced by combining water and flour and makes for a leathery crust.  The perfect liquid is VODKA!!!   It added moisture, but is only 60% water—the other 40% of vodka is ethanol. The alcohol doesn't create dough-toughening gluten, so when the pie dough was baked, it was perfectly flaky AND tender with absolutely no vodka taste (all the alcohol evaporates in the oven during baking).

P.S.  I LOVE www.americastestkitchen.com.  Check out their website and watch their show on South Dakota Public Broadcasting.  It's Channel 598 on Midcontinent. 

Here's the recipe.  Good luck!

FOOLPROOF VODKA PIE DOUGH
from America's Test Kitchen
Vodka is essential to the texture of the crust and imparts no flavor — do not substitute.

2-1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon table salt
2 tablespoons sugar
12 tablespoons (1-1/2 sticks) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/4-inch slices
1/2 cup cold vegetable shortening, cut into 4 pieces
1/4 cup cold vodka
1/4 cup cold water

Process 1½ cups flour, salt and sugar in food processor until combined, about two 1-second pulses. Add butter and shortening, and process until homogenous dough just starts to collect in uneven clumps, about 15 seconds (dough will resemble cottage cheese curds, and there should be no uncoated flour). Scrape bowl with rubber spatula and redistribute dough evenly around processor blade. Add remaining cup flour and pulse until mixture is evenly distributed around bowl and mass of dough has been broken up, 4 to 6 quick pulses. Empty mixture into medium bowl.

Sprinkle vodka and water over mixture. With rubber spatula, use folding motion to mix, pressing down on dough until dough is slightly tacky and sticks together. Divide dough into two even balls and flatten each into a 4-inch disk. Wrap each in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 45 minutes or up to 2 days. Makes crust for 1 pie.