When making pie dough, I often shred the cold butter instead of mixing chunks into the flour. I shred the butter using the large holes of a box grater. Refrigerated butter works fine, but for best results, freeze the butter first. Instead of mixing with a pastry blender or food processor, simply toss the shredded butter with the flour before adding ice cold water. This cuts down on the mixing. The less the dough is handled, the more tender the pastry. Pie crust mythstakes, pg. 575 in 12,167 Kitchen and Cooking Secrets.
