My Best-Loved Flaky Pie Crust Recipe is so buttery and delicious! Learn how to make this pie dough perfectly every time with step-by-step instructions and tips.
Have your work area ready before starting: a clean area large enough to roll out the dough. Have ingredients and tools set out and ready to go. Keep the butter and ice water in the fridge until you need them.
Combine the dry ingredients:
Combine the flour, salt and cinnamon (if using) in a large bowl.
Cut in the butter:
Slice the cold butter into very small cubes—about ¼-inch sized. I like to slice the butter lengthwise into 3 planks, then cut these into 4 sticks, and then cube them.
Add these to the flour mixture. Break them apart and toss them until they're coated.
Work the butter into the flour using a pastry blender until the mixture is shaggy and crumbly. If any larger pieces of butter remain, flatten them between your fingers.
Add the liquids:
Add the vanilla extract (if using) to the bowl. Then add 4 tablespoons of the ice water to the mixture and use a spoon to toss it together.
Add another tablespoon of ice water and stir it again. Continue adding ice water one tablespoon at a time and stirring until the dough starts clumping together. (On dry days you'll need more water, on humid days you'll need less.)
Squeeze a handful of the mixture: if it holds together with little to no crumbliness it's ready—stop adding water.
Give it a few squeezes:
Turn the contents of the bowl out onto a lightly floured surface. Squeeze the pile together with your hands a few times, gathering up the dry bits from the bottom.
Use your bench scraper to get under the pile: pull the mixture up and fold it over the top. Flatten it with your hands and then repeat. Do this 4-5 times until the dough has just come together. Do not overwork the dough.
(There will be pieces of butter visible in the dough, which is good: that's what will make a flaky crust.)
Divide and chill:
Divide the dough in half. Flatten each half slightly with the palm of your hand and wrap the disk in plastic wrap. Chill the dough disk in the fridge for 30 minutes or until firm.
This recipe makes enough dough for 1 double-crust pie or 2 single-crust pies, about 24 ounces of dough.
TO STORE YOUR DOUGH:
Refrigerate: Wrapped disks of dough can be kept in the fridge for up to three days. The dough will be very hard. To make it workable, bang it with a rolling pin to help soften the dough.
Freeze: Wrap the dough disks well and freeze them up to 1 month. Let frozen dough thaw in the fridge.
OPTION: MAKE IT WITH A FOOD PROCESSOR:
After combining the dry ingredients pour them into the bowl of a food processor. Cube the butter and add this in.
Pulse the food processor several times until the butter has been cut into the dough. It should have a shaggy appearance.
Add the vanilla (if using.) With the food processor running on low, spoon the ice water in a tablespoon at a time. Continue adding tablespoons of water until the dough JUST comes together.
Turn the dough out of the food processor and squeeze it together one or two times. Divide and refrigerate it as instructed above.
VARIATION: FOR SAVORY PIES
For a dough that tastes wonderful with savory pie fillings, omit the cinnamon and vanilla. Add a teaspoon of crushed thyme to the dry ingredients before cutting in the butter.
HOW TO ROLL OUT THE DOUGH:
Take a chilled disk of dough from the fridge. Set it on a floured work space and sprinkle a little flour over the top.
Place your rolling pin in the middle of the dough and roll towards the outer edge. Pick up the dough and rotate it a quarter-turn. (Don't flip it: keep the same side up the whole time.)
Dust a little flour under it if it's sticking. Roll the dough again starting in the center and rolling towards the outer edge.
Continue rolling this way and rotating the dough after each pass, until you have a large enough circle and the dough is about a ¼-inch thick.
USING THE DOUGH
To fit the dough into your pan:
Cut out a circle large enough for your pie pan. Gently drape an edge over your rolling pin, then use the pin to lift the dough up and into your pan.
Press it in along the bottom and sides leaving an overhang all around. Lightly cover this with plastic wrap and pop it in the fridge while you prepare the top crust.
To blind-bake a pie shell:
Once you fit the bottom crust into the pan, roll the edge under and crimp it firmly down to the edge of the pan.
Gently press a piece of foil or parchment paper into the pie shell, then fill it with pie weights or dried beans. Refrigerate the shell for 30 minutes while preheating the oven to 375° F.
Bake the shell for 20 minutes. Remove the pie weights and foil/parchment. Prick the bottom and sides of the shell all over with a fork.
For a pie that you will bake after filling: bake the shell for 5 minutes longer, then remove from the oven and allow to cool.
For a pie that does not get baked again: bake the shell for 10 minutes longer until it is golden-brown all over. Remove it from the oven and let it cool completely.
To add a top crust:
Once the cooled filling has been added to the bottom shell, roll out the top crust using the same technique you did for the bottom crust (roll from the middle, quarter-turn after each pass.)
Cut out the circle size appropriate for your pan. Make any decorative cut-outs in the dough now. Use the rolling pin to gently lift up the dough and drape it over the top of your pie.
Roll the edge of the top crust under the edge of the bottom crust, and do this around the entire pie. Firmly crimp the edge down to the rim of the pie pan. Lightly cover the pie with plastic wrap and refrigerate it for 30 minutes before baking.
Notes
The prep and chill times are for making the dough only. Plan extra time for rolling dough and making your pie.
This all-butter crust puffs up a lot during baking. Very intricate cut-outs may lose some definition.
Cold butter is the most important part of a successful pie crust. Keep your butter in the fridge until you need it.
Based on techniques I learned at the King Arthur Flour Education Center.