Pie Crust Recipe
This Easy All Butter Pie Crust Recipe delivers a buttery, flaky, delicious pie crust every time. Never use store-bought pie crust again!
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Why You’ll Love This
It’s extremely satisfying to produce a perfect pie crust from scratch.
Never be intimidated again by trying to make homemade pie crust dough.
It’s the best pie crust you’ve ever eaten, plus it’s easy and quick to make!
It’s tender, buttery, flaky, and crispy pie crust every single time.
Use this easy homemade pie crust recipe for Apple Pie, Southern Sweet Potato Pie, Blueberry Slab Pie, Pumpkin Pie, and Fresh Strawberry Pie. Or savory pies like this Leftover Thanksgiving Pie recipe.
Key Ingredients
- All-Purpose Flour – Low protein content All-purpose flour delivers a tender, flaky crust.
- Butter – Unsalted butter gives a rich buttery flavor to the crust. The water content of the butter evaporates during baking, creating steam resulting in lifted flaky layers.
- Kosher Salt and Granulate Sugar– Salt and sugar enhance the flavor of baked goods.
- Ice Water – Cold water moistens the pie dough. Be sure you use cold ingredients. It’s the secret to a flaky pie crust.
How to Make a Pie Crust Recipe
In the bowl of a food processor, combine the flour, sugar, and salt. Pulse a few times to mix. Add the cold butter pieces and pulse until the mixture looks like coarse crumbs.
With the processor on, gradually ice-cold water one tablespoon at a time and process until the dough begins to come together.
DO NOT overwork the dough in the processor. Overworked pie dough will result in a tough hard pie crust.
You can also make pie crust by using a pastry cutter to cut in the butter cubes. You don’t have to use a food processor, but it makes pie dough fast and easy.
Dump the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead a few times until it comes together.
Divide the dough in half. This recipe produces 21 ounces of dough. Each half should weigh 10.5 ounces.
Shape each piece into a ball, then flatten each ball into a disk. Wrap each disk tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least one hour or up to 3 days.
How to Roll Out Pie Dough
Have a 9-inch pie plate ready. Let the dough sit at room temperature for at least 10-15 minutes before rolling. This will prevent the cold dough from cracking.
Using a rolling pin, roll out one dough disk (leaving the remaining dough disk in the fridge) to a 12-inch circle, 1/4 inch thick.
Use medium force to roll out from the center, turning the dough to keep a circle. Flip the dough to make sure it’s not sticking to the surface.
Keep rolling and turning until you have a 12-inch circle that’s even in thickness all over.
A 12-inch circle of dough is perfect for a 9-inch pie pan.
Carefully lift one edge of the dough onto the rolling pin, lift it over the pie plate, and gently ease it down into the pan.
The dough is thin at this point, so do this carefully and slowly. You don’t want to tear the dough.
Trim the excess dough leaving about 1-inch overhang of dough. Add the pie filling and top crust.
Fold the overhang back over the top crust, pinch the top and bottom crust together, and then crimp or flute the edges.
To flute, use two fingers and the thumb of the other hand to press around the edges of the pie crust to form the scalloped look.
To crimp, press the tines of a fork around the edge of the pie.
I like to brush egg wash over the bottom crust and refrigerate it while I prepare the filling and top pie crust. This prevents the bottom crust from becoming soggy from the filling.
You can either roll out the next disk for a solid top crust or roll it out and cut it into 3/4 to 1-inch strips for a lattice top crust.
At this point, I like to freeze the formed pie for at least 15 minutes to make sure the butter is still cold before baking.
The Secret to Perfect Pie Crust
Cold ingredients and keeping the pie dough chilled at all times. Keeping the pie dough cold keeps the fat from melting before it goes into the hot oven.
When the fat melts in the oven and steam forms from the water content evaporating, it separates the crust creating flaky, crispy layers.
Par Baking
If you are baking a pie recipe that requires par-baking the crust before adding the filling. You will need to line the pie dough with parchment paper or aluminum foil and fill that with pie weights, dried beans, or sugar.
Freeze the pie dough formed into the pie plate. Form a sheet of aluminum foil to the inside of the dough, fill the foil with granulated sugar, and spread it out to fill every nook and cranny.
The cooled toasted sugar can be used in any recipe to add delicious, complex flavor.
Blind bake pie crust as instructed in your recipe.
Tips for a Successful Pie Crust
- Cold Ingredients such as butter and ice water. So chill the pie dough between every step. I have even placed it in the freezer for 10 to 15 minutes before baking.
- Add the water one tablespoon at a time. Too much water and the dough and you will need more flour resulting in a tough dough. With too little water, the dough will be dry and crumbly. This will result in the dough not coming together, and you won’t be able to roll it out properly.
- DO NOT OVERMIX. Overmixing will cause the gluten to develop and will result in a hard and dense crust.
- When kneading the dough to form a ball, don’t over-knead. If the dough feels crumbly, dampen your hands to add a little moisture. If it feels too sticky and wet, sprinkle a little flour over the dough and continue forming a ball.
- No food processor? Don’t worry. You can use a pastry blender to cut in the butter and then hand mix.
Variations
- Substitute some of the water for a couple of tablespoons of chilled vodka. The alcohol doesn’t promote gluten development in the dough, which helps the crust stay flaky.
- Up the sugar amount if you like a sweeter pie crust.
- Add other flavorings to the crust, such as fresh herbs, lemon zest, vanilla extract, or other extracts.
FAQs
The pie dough can be refrigerated for up to 3 days, wrapped tightly. Set out at room temperature for 10-15 minutes before rolling out.
Pie crusts are great for freezing. Wrapped tightly in plastic wrap and then placed into a freezer safe bag for up to 3 months. Thaw in the refrigerator overnight. This recipe makes a double crust pie. If you only need one crust, freeze the other one for later use.
Pie Recipes
Pie Crust Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups All-purpose flour or pastry flour
- 1 cup Unsalted butter cold, cubed
- 1 tbsp Granulated sugar
- 1/2 tsp Kosher salt
- 5-6 tbsp Ice water (or half chilled vodka)
Instructions
- In the bowl of a food processor combine the flour, sugar, and salt. Pulse a few times to mix. Add the cold butter pieces and pulse until the mixture looks like a coarse meal. With the processor on, gradually ice-cold water one tablespoon at a time and process until the dough begins to come together.2 1/2 cups All-purpose flour, 1 cup Unsalted butter, 1 tbsp Granulated sugar, 1/2 tsp Kosher salt, 5-6 tbsp Ice water
- Dump the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead a few times until it comes together.Divide the dough in half. Shape each piece into a ball, then flatten each ball into a disk. Wrap each disk tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least one hour or up to 3 days.