She didn’t use frozen butter or cold shortening cut into the flour blend. What she did have was cold water and manipulating the dough as little as possible, just the bare minimum for everything to be blended. Then you put it in the fridge for a good 45 minutes before handling it to roll out into a pie tin. It has simplified my life. Goodbye Tenderflake! If you make the dough ahead of time, just take it out of the fridge a good 15-20 minutes beforehand so it isn’t too cold and stiff. Manipulating stiff dough means extra work, and it could make the pastry less flaky and more tough.

Good luck!