Easy All-Butter Pie Crust (2 Ways!)
This Easy All-Butter Pie Crust bakes up flaky, golden brown, and absolutely delicious. Make it one of two ways - by hand or in the food processor - and use it with both sweet and savory fillings!
Servings: 8 (recipe makes one 9-inch pie crust)
Estimated Calories: 172
Ingredients
- 1¼ cups all-purpose flour
- ¼ teaspoon salt, use a salt with fine granules, such as table salt
- 1½ teaspoons sugar, for a sweet crust only (omit for a savory crust)
- ¼ pound (1 stick) unsalted butter, frozen if using the by-hand method; very cold if using the food processor method
- 3½ to 6 tablespoons ice water, approximately (you may need more or less)
Special Equipment
- rolling pin
- food processor (for food processor method only)
Instructions
Method #1 (By Hand Using Frozen Grated Butter):
- In a large bowl, combine the flour, salt and sugar (if making a sweet crust).
- Using the large holes on a box grater or hand-held grater, grate the frozen butter into the flour mixture, occasionally stopping to toss the butter in with the flour so it doesn't get stuck in a large clump (I toss it with a fork, and I do this 3 or 4 times as I go).
- Give the mixture a final quick toss so that the butter is evenly distributed throughout the flour.
- Add ice water, one tablespoon at a time, quickly stirring the mixture with a fork after each addition, just until the dough starts to clump together. As you add the water, try to focus on adding it to any super-dry spots like on the bottom of the bowl.The dough is not going to gather into a large ball here. It will still look quite crumbly (you might even think it's too dry). To test it, grab a piece and press it together in your hand or with your fingers. If it holds together without crumbling, it's good to go. If it's too dry and crumbles apart, keep adding water and stirring, a little at a time, just until it holds together when you test it. You have to be careful not to add too much water, because the dough will end up too wet and sticky and will be hard to roll out if you do. Also, don't overwork the dough, as this can cause your crust to be tough.
- Proceed with "Finishing the Dough" below.
Method #2 (Food Processor):
- Place the flour, salt and sugar (if using for a sweet crust) into the bowl of a food processor fitted with the steel blade. Pulse a few times to combine.
- Cut the very cold butter into cubes (about ¼ inch in size) and add it to the food processor.
- Pulse just until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs with a few small pea-sized chunks throughout.
- Add ice water, one tablespoon at a time and pulsing after each addition, just until the dough starts to clump together.
- Proceed with "Finishing the Dough" below.
Finishing the Dough (for either method):
- Transfer the dough to a clean work surface (don't flour the surface). Working quickly so as to not handle it too much, gather the dough together with your hands and form it into a disk about 6 inches in diameter.The dough might not be very smooth at this point and that's fine. Don't knead it!
- Wrap the disk of dough tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least two hours before using (and up to overnight).This chilling step is important, so don't skip it. Letting the dough chill out allows the gluten strands to relax, which will make it easier to roll out. It also allows the moisture to distribute throughout the dough. Finally (and maybe most importantly), it keeps those pieces of butter nice and cold, and those cold pieces of butter will create pockets of steam during baking, which is what gives you that flaky crust!
- Your pie crust dough is now ready to roll out and use (follow the specific instructions in your recipe for rolling, filling and baking)!Be sure to remove the dough from the refrigerator and let it sit on the counter for 5 to 10 minutes (no longer) before unwrapping and rolling out (this will make it much easier to roll).
Recipe Notes
- The key to a flaky pie crust is very cold butter. Those little butter chunks in the dough will create pockets of steam while baking, giving you that wonderfully flaky crust. You want to keep that butter as cold as you can, so this means work quickly while making the dough and handle the dough as little as possible with your warm hands.
- If you only have salted butter, that's ok. Depending on how salty your butter is, just reduce or omit the amount of salt in the recipe.
- How to correctly measure flour: First, fluff up the flour using a spoon. Then spoon the flour into your measuring cup (don't pack it in) and level off the top with a knife or other straight edge.
- Scooping the flour straight out of the container with your measuring cup can cause the flour to be too densely packed into the cup, resulting in using too much. And this can make your pie crust (or other baked goods) too dry and crumbly, dense or tough.
- The amount of ice water you need can vary quite a bit based on how you measured out the flour, the moisture content of the flour and even the humidity in your room, so don't expect to use the same exact amount each time.
- Please refer to the blog post for instructions and tips on rolling out the dough, transferring it to the pie dish, fluting the edges, blind-baking (if needed), and more!
- Making a 2-crust pie? Double the flour, salt, sugar, and butter; add ice water as needed. After gathering the dough together, divide it in half and shape into 2 disks.
- Pie dough is freezable. Once you've formed it into a disk, double wrap it tightly in plastic wrap and place into a freezer bag. Remove as much air as possible and freeze for up to 2 to 3 months. When ready to use, thaw the dough in the refrigerator overnight.
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