Instructions: Combine flour, salt, butter and shortening in a large bowl. With your fingertips, work fat into flour until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add 4 T ice water and toss together with your fingers just to moisten flour and form a cohesive dough. Do NOT knead; handle dough as little as possible. If dough is too dry and crumbly, add more ice water, a teaspoon at a time. The higher the humidity, the less water you will need. Divide dough in half and flatten each half into a disc. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate 1 hour before rolling. Do NOT skip this step.
* The texture of authentic Southern pastries comes from using Southern soft wheat flour. If you use a "harder" type, you cannot expect the same results. Use low protein for best results. A typical Southern soft wheat flour contains 8 to 9 grams of protein per cup.

Check the protein content of your flour. Anything over 10 is to "hard"

for good Southern pastry. This makes enough pastry for 1 9-inch double crust pie or 2 single crust pies.

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