All Butter Pie Crust
This recipe makes one double crust pie or two single crust pies. If you only need one, freeze the other. This crust is buttery, flaky, and can be used for both sweet and savory pie fillings.
Servings 2 pie crusts
Equipment
- pastry cutter or food processor
Ingredients
- 1 ¾ sticks unsalted butter, cubed and chilled (198g)
- ½ cup ice water
- 1 tbsp red wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar
- 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour, plus more for kneading and rolling (300g)
- 2 tsp granulated sugar
- 2 tsp kosher salt
Instructions
- Take the butter out of the refrigerator and cut into 1/2-inch cubes. Put it back into the refrigerator until use.
- In a bowl, stir together the ice water and red wine vinegar and set aside.
- In a large bowl, add the flour, sugar, and salt and whisk together. Add the cubed butter and use a pastry cutter to cut the butter into the dry ingredients. If using a food processor, add the dry ingredients and pulse 4-5 times to combine. Then add the cubed butter and pulse for about 30 seconds. You're looking for pea sized crumbs, some larger pieces of butter are okay.
- Add 6 tbsp of ice water into the bowl and stir with a spatula until it starts coming together as large pieces. If using a food processor, and 6 tbsp of ice water and pulse 4-6 times (dough should never come completely together in the food processor). To test, squeeze a small amount of dough in your hand. If it holds its shape, it's done. If it's too crumbly, add another tbsp of water until it holds its shape. The dough should not be wet.
- Lightly flour a clean surface. Turn the crumbly dough out onto the surface and knead together until it's smooth. Form into a ball and divide the dough into two equal parts. Flatten with your palm and wrap separately in plastic wrap.
- Let the dough rest in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes or preferably overnight.
- Follow the recipes instructions for how to proceed.
Notes
- Keep the pie dough cold! Warm dough will melt before baking, which means the process of butter melting and releasing steam in the oven doesn't happen. That means no flaky crust and possibly melted butter on the bottom of your oven.
- Dough will look crumbly before kneading. It might seems odd to dump all of the pieces on the counter but this is traditional way of kneading pie dough together.
- Dough test. In step #4, if you can squeeze the dough and it feels wet, than you added too much water. If you squeeze it and it falls apart, than you need more water.
- Helpful tools that I use to make buttery and flaky pie dough: Pastry Cutter | Food Processor | Silicone Spatula | Glass Pie Dish (easier to see when the crust is done) | Rolling Pin | Pie Weights | Pie Crust Shield | Bench Scraper | Pastry Wheel
- Freezing. This crust can be made ahead and frozen for up to 2 weeks. Wrap with plastic wrap and store in a freezer bag. To use, take the dough out of the freezer and place in the refrigerator overnight. Before rolling, let the dough sit outside of the freezer for 30-40 minutes. The dough should be slightly colder than room temperature. If you dough is starting to warm as you roll it, place it back in the refrigerator until cold.