People who know how to make freaking awesome pie dough

I don't make or even eat pies very often (they're a little rich for me and I need to keep a bottle of Mylanta handy afterwards!), but when do, I want the dough to be freaking awesome. I am usually inspired to bake a pie when there is a large gathering and I need to bring a plate, so basically when I'm out to impress. But there's a definitely a knack and the books make it sound so easy. Like sponge cake recipes. And I've made plenty of crap pies while trying to impress!

I've found two great tutorials for making pie dough though: one that uses a mixer, and the other that swears by hand mixing.

• Beyond Salmon has a great tutorial, with loads of pictures, and it was the first time I made perfect pie dough. There are even additional detailed baking instructions. I made the tomato and onion tart for Christmas last year and it was divine!

• Smitten Kitchen, one of my all time favourite food bloggers, recently posted a follow up post on how to make really flakey pie dough. The original, easy to follow, fool proof pie crust tutorial can be found here. I have to say, I'm completely with her on the no-shortening thing (I hate the taste and texture). The combined tips and explanations from both of these bloggers has helped my confidence immensely when it comes to pie making.

I know there are probably a gazillion more posts out there on how to get the perfect pastry, but these two have given me the most help and inspiration, and have yielded the best results, so I haven't bothered to look further. Having said that, if you've got any tips to share I'd love to hear them! I love having little collections of ideas on a topic!

Tomato and onion tart by Beyond Salmon