Definitely refridgerate the dough for 10-15 minutes before rolling it out. And if you live in a teeny tiny apartment like me, DON’T PREHEAT THE OVEN until the crust is rolled out and in place in the pie dish! Gooey, shredded mess will ensue!!!
Good luck. Making your first pie is very rewarding. I have a picture in my photo album of mine! 
My grandmother made lots of pies during his many years on the planet (96 of them).
She gave me some advice on making pies.
She told me to buy the premade ones at the store. She said making pie crust was a pain in the ass.
As in most things, she was quite correct.
Zilpat is good, but a good old fashioned pastry cloth as always worked just as well for me. Just DON’T let your good-deedy roommate throw it in the washing machine.
Another suggestion: I often roll out pie crust and cut it with cookie cutter, or into strips, and bake it on a cookie sheet, to serve as a “cracker”-like side. You can add herbs, spices, etc., too. I made some very sagey piecrust crackers to serve with a chicken dish recently, and have used paprika and nutmeg in crackers that accompanied a whiskey-soaked venison and prune stew. Raves all around.
I’ll second (or third or whatever) the idea that pie cookies are a cherished part of my childhood. My mom would even make extra dough just to be sure that there would be plenty of pie cookies 
She cut the dough into triangles, sprinkle cinnemon sugar on them and roll them up. (final cookie about 1.5 inches long x 1/4 inch in diameter.
Brian
who would be happy to skip the pie and just have the pie cookies.
Just last Friday, Alton Brown’s Good Eats episode about pie crust was on. I have yet to make it myself, but the technique looks impeccable. You don’t necessarily have to fill it with the pear concoction he uses in this recipe, of course.
(ain’t it great that the Food Network has finally wised up and is now giving us Good Eats five days a week?)
I did it!! And the crust turned out great!! I used my mom’s recipe, kept everything very cold, and handled it as little as possible. I also let it sit in the fridge a good long time. The scraps tasted just like Mom’s
Unfortunately the filling wasn’t as good as the crust. I guess now I need to ask…anyone have any tips/recipes for the apple part of the pie?
Thanks to all of you for your tips and encouragement…it was easier than I thought it would be and I know I’ll get better with practice.
Take care,
hill
Well, what did you put in your filling? That way, we’re not all telling you the same thing you’ve already tried.
The following is a link to a sugar free apple pie recipe I found online. I make it at work and a lot of people are suprised to find it is sugar free. I especially like that it doesn’t use artificial sweetener either. Whem making it I use just a leetle more flour(8 tsp instead of 6), but I am working with fresh frozen apples and that changes the moisture content. I also use a little more cinnamon, but that’s a matter of taste, not of cooking quality.
http://www.recipesource.com/special-diets/diabetic/pies/apple-pie2.html
All you crusty folk… i once saw, in an advertisement for * Cook’s Illustrated, * a come-on for pie crust making that referred to the idea of somehow combining the methods for short vs. long flake crusts. (For anyone with a blank look on their face, long-flake refers to the kind of flakiness in a classic crust or puff pastry, short refers to the sort of flakiness one gets in a shortbread cookie or cream-pie crust.) I have searched for some answer to this forever.
I seized upon it because there used to be a pie baker nearby who made a jaw-dropping crust that could only be described as that…some marvelous bybridization of the two styles of crust.
So am I ringing any bells?
Use pastry flour. It has less gluten than all-purpose flour does, so it makes a more tender crust.
Let the dough rest in the refrigerator for a couple of hours before rolling it. This makes it easier to roll out the dough.
A lot of people will warn you against adding too much water. While this can be a problem, it’s equally bad to add too little water. It should be possible to roll the dough out without it falling apart.
Buy or borrow a copy of The Pie and Pastry Bible by Rose Levy Beranbaum. This book has several pie crust recipes. If you follow them carefully, your crusts will come out flaky and tender.
I always have good results when I make apple pies. I use only certain apples; I find Rome, Jonagold, Granny Smiths and Winesaps to work best for me. The amount of apples and ingredients may vary depending on the size of the pie plate you use (I tend to use a 10" plate myself). About six cups of apples is a good amount to use for an average pie. Core and peel your apples, then cut them in half. Carefully slice them thinly, maybe a quarter inch thickness. In a large bowl, toss together 1/2 to 3/4 cup sugar (depends how sweet the apples are; go ahead, taste one) and one tablespoon flour. I like to add a 1/4 teaspoon allspice and maybe a little cinnamon. Then add the sliced apples and fold to coat well. Pour the apples into the prepared pie shell. Sometimes I will dot the filling with little dabs of margarine (or butter) but this isn’t necessary. Cover with top pastry and flute the edges. Always cut the top crust to allow the steam to escape while baking. You can sprinkle the pie with some sugar before you pop it in the oven. Cover the edge of the crust with foil and bake in a 375 F oven for 25 minutes. Remove the foil and bake 20 to 25 minutes longer, or until the top is golden.
I also make an awesome strawberry-rhubarb pie if you’re interested.
My current favorite pie recipe, my own:
Make a pie crust with have butter and half lard, of course. Toss a small handful of sugar and a few scrapes of a nutmeg into the flour before you mix.
For the filling, get a pile of fresh ripe just off the tree peaches. Dip them, one at a time, in boiling water, for about 15 seconds. This makes the peel slide off like a satin sheet. slice the peaches.
Meanwhile, take about a thumb of ginger and, with a ginger grater and ONLY a ginger grater, render it into about a half cup of white sugar. Add an egg, and beat the hell out of it.
Lay the peaches in the bottom crust, piled up above the rim. Drizzle the ginger-sugar-egg mix over them. Cover with the top crust. Carve some funny shaped holes in the top: I try for birds, but they usually look too retarded to fly.
Bake. Cool. Eat. Die.
Oh yeah – you should take the pits out of the peaches before baking them, as the pits contain cyanide. Then you can leave out the last step, above.
(Actually, that sounds divine. It’s been too long since I’ve made peach pie!)
Daniel
Just made an apple pie this weekend. Eaten in one sitting (they usually are.)
No one has mentioned parchment paper. You can put a round ball of dough on one piece, pat it down into a circle, and then put a second sheet of parchment paper on the top, then use your rolling pin. No sticking, and I get a rounder crust this way. (But as someone said, you can always patch it up, there will be extra pieces of dough.)
As far as the filling: 6 cups of freshly sliced apples (Granny Smith, Red Rome, Jonathan, Winesap–I generally use a combination but I like juicy crisp ones), 1/2 to 3/4 cup light brown sugar or turbinado sugar, two tablespoons flour, and a sprinkling of nutmeg. Another sprinkling of maybe a tsp. of white sugar with a bit of nutmet on the top crust before it goes into the oven; moistening the top crust with water helps it to stay in place.
I don’t use lard for the crust because there are people in my family who don’t eat pork products. I use two parts Crisco to one part butter. I have done an all-butter crust but it tended to pull away from the pan and shrink.
If I ever find myself in a piemaking situation sans pastry cloth (say, kidnaped or in prison–otherwise I’d never leave home without it), I use “cling wrap” for this; it works very well if adequately floured.