Pie Crust Recipe
This Pie Crust Recipe makes the BEST flaky all butter pie crust. You won’t believe how easy it is to make homemade pie crust from scratch!
It’s hard to beat a slice of homemade pie, especially when it’s made with a flaky, buttery pie crust. If you’ve been intimidated by making pie crust from scratch, you are going to love this easy recipe. The dough comes together in just minutes, either mixed up in a food processor or by hand. You’ll need just four ingredients plus cold water, and the best part? You don’t have to chill this pie dough before rolling it out. It rolls out like a dream, ready to fill with your favorite pie filling (Apple Pie, anyone?) and bake.
This recipe also includes how to make pie crust ahead, which is convenient if you plan to do a lot of baking around the holidays. I’m also sharing instructions for blind baking the crust before adding a pie filling, which you might wish to do if you want to make a pie with a no-bake filling or crisp the bottom crust up before adding Pumpkin Pie filling, for example.
How to Make the Best Pie Crust
- Use all butter: You can’t beat the flavor of an all-butter pie crust! Yes, some recipes call for using shortening to help make the crust extra flaky, but it’s not necessary. This recipe uses all butter and makes perfect flaky pie crust every time.
- Cold ingredients: Use cold butter and ice-cold water in the dough and keep the crust cold until it goes into the oven to bake. Keeping it cold ensures that the butter doesn’t melt and makes for a flakier pie crust.
- Visible pieces of butter: Whether you use a food processor or make the dough by hand, be sure to stop processing/cutting in the butter when the largest pieces of butter are the size of small peas. It’s these visible pieces of butter in the dough that will create pockets of steam as the crust bakes, which leads to maximum flakiness.
Pie Crust Recipe Ingredients
The ingredient list for this pie dough recipe is short and simple!
- All-Purpose Flour: Be sure to use the spoon and level method when measuring the flour. Spoon it into your measuring cup and then level it off. This will ensure that you use the correct amount of flour.
- Granulated Sugar: Just a little bit of sugar adds a touch of sweetness to the pie crust. If you are making a savory pie, such as Chicken Pot Pie, you can reduce the sugar to 1 teaspoon.
- Salt: A little bit of salt is essential for flavor.
- Butter: Cut it into small cubes and keep it in the refrigerator until you are ready to add it to the dough. I always use unsalted butter. If your butter is salted, reduce the added salt by half.
- Ice-Cold Water: To help the dough come together.
Making the Dough
This recipe makes two pie crusts, for a double crust pie. If you are making a single crust pie, you can halve the recipe or freeze the second pie crust for later. Here’s an overview of the recipe steps. You can also jump straight to the full pie crust recipe in the recipe card below.
Food Processor
If you have a food processor, it the easiest, most foolproof way to make your pie crust. If you don’t have one, you can mix the pie dough by hand and use a pastry cutter to blend in the butter.
- To start, combine the flour, sugar and salt in the bowl of the food processor and pulse a few times to combine them together.
- Then add the cubes of cold butter and pulse 8-10 times, until the largest pieces of butter are the size of small peas.
- Finally, add 6 tablespoons of ice-cold water. Pulse just until the dough starts to come together, adding one more tablespoon of water if the dough seems very dry. The dough should still look crumbly but should hold together when you press it with your fingers.
- Transfer the dough to a floured work surface, gently shape it into a ball and then cut the ball in half. Shape each half into a round disk. At this point, you can roll the dough out right away, or store it in the refrigerator or freezer to use later.
To Make Pie Crust by Hand
To make the dough by hand, first whisk together the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Then use a pastry blender to cut in the butter until the largest pieces are the size of small peas. Finally, use a fork to mix the cold water into the dough until the dough starts to come together. Transfer it to a floured work surface, cut the dough in half and shape each half into a round disk.
Make Ahead Instructions
If you don’t plan to roll out the pie crust right away, you can store it in the refrigerator or freezer to use later.
- Refrigerator: Wrap the dough disks airtight in plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
- To Freeze: Wrap each disk of dough tightly in plastic wrap (I then place the wrapped dough in a labeled zip-top bag). Freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw frozen pie dough overnight in the refrigerator before rolling it out.
If the chilled dough is too firm to roll out, let it sit at room temperature for a few minutes to take the chill off.
Blind Baking Instructions
Blind baking means to bake a pie crust “empty” before adding a filling. All butter pie crust is more prone to “sinking” down in the pan than a crust make with shortening and butter because butter has a lower melting point than shortening. To ensure that the crust holds its shape when blind baking:
- When trimming and fluting the edges, be sure that the edges of the crust reach all the way to the edges of your pie pan.
- Prick the crust all over the bottom and sides with a fork. Then line the inside of the unbaked crust with a piece of parchment paper and then fill with pie weights, dried beans or rice before blind-baking.
- Chill it in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes, until it is firm, before baking.
Find the full directions for how to blind-bake the crust in the recipe card below.
Favorite Pie Recipes
Use this recipe when making your favorite pie recipes. Here are a few of my personal favorites:
Or, use this pie crust in savory pie crust recipes, such as pot pie or quiche. Try Broccoli Cheese Quiche or Asparagus Quiche.
Pie Crust Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup cold unsalted butter, 16 tablespoons, cut into small cubes
- 6-7 tablespoons ice-cold water
Instructions
To Make Dough in a Food Processor:
- Combine the flour, sugar and salt in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the steel blade. Pulse a few times to combine the dry ingredients.
- Add the cold butter cubes to the food processor. Pulse 8-10 times, until the largest butter pieces are the size of small peas.
- Add 6 tablespoons of ice-cold water. Pulse just until the dough just starts to come together, adding one more tablespoon of cold water if the dough seems too dry. The dough should still look crumbly at this point, but it should hold together if you press it between your fingers.
- Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface. Use your hands to bring the dough together into a ball and then cut the dough in half. Shape each half of the dough into a round disk.
To Make Dough by Hand:
- Combine the flour, sugar and salt in a large mixing bowl. Whisk until well combined.
- Add the cold butter cubes to the bowl. Use a pastry blender, two forks, or your fingers to work the butter into the flour until the largest pieces of butter are the size of small peas.
- Add 6 tablespoons of ice-cold water. Use a fork to mix the dough until it comes together into a shaggy ball, adding one additional tablespoon of water if the dough seems too dry.
- Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface. Use your hands to shape it into a ball and then cut the dough in half. Shape each half of the dough into a round disk.
Using & Storing Your Pie Crust:
- Each disk of dough can be immediately rolled out into a pie crust (without chilling) or stored in the refrigerator or freezer for later. To store, wrap airtight in plastic wrap and refrigerate for up to 4 days or freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw frozen pie crust dough overnight in the refrigerator before rolling out. If the chilled dough is too firm to roll out, let it sit at room temperature for a few minutes to take the chill off.
- To make a pie, roll out a disk of dough into a 12-inch round and transfer it to a deep-dish pie pan. You can gently wrap the dough around your rolling pin or gently fold it into quarters to make it easier to transfer. Lightly fit the dough into the pie dish. Do not press it down or the crust may stick to the pie dish after baking.
To Bake:
- Add your filling to the pie and then top with the second rolled out crust, if desired (cut slits in the top for steam to escape). Trim the edges so that only ½-inch hangs over the edge of the pie dish. Fold the edges under and flute/crimp as desired. Bake as directed in your recipe. Or, blind bake the pie crust empty if your pie recipe calls for blind baking.
To Blind Bake (Empty):
- To blind bake, prick the crust all over the bottom and sides with a fork. Cut out a 12-inch round of parchment paper and fit it into the pie crust. Fill with pie weights, dry beans or rice. Chill pie crust in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes, until firm. Bake at 375° F for 20 minutes. Then remove the pie weights and parchment paper. Return pie crust to the oven and bake for 10-12 minutes more, until golden brown.
- Let the pie crust cool and then fill it with your desired filling.
Notes
- Recipe can be halved to make a single crust pie, or you can freeze the second pie crust dough for later.
This is the best pie crust that I have ever made. It got RAVE reviews at Thanksgiving!! I did have to add more water….about 2-3 Tablespoons more. AWESOME!! Thanks for sharing!