Easy All-Butter Pie Crust
This Easy All-Butter Pie Crust recipe is the perfect recipe for beginners or anyone who needs a delicious and flaky pie crust pulled together in 10 minutes and then chilled. The steps are easy to follow and the results are a perfect pie crust every time.
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Ingredients Needed to Make a Basic Pie Crust
- all-purpose flour
- salt
- sugar
- unsalted butter, COLD
- ICE COLD water
How to Make this Easy Pie Crust
- Prepare some ice water in a glass so that it gets nice and cold. Grate your butter into a bowl or cut it up into small pieces and place it in the fridge until you are ready to add it to your crust dough.
- Put the flour, sugar, and salt in another mixing bowl and mix together. Add the butter and cut in using a pastry cutter or a fork. You can then use your hands to fully incorporate everything into a coarse meal with some larger pieces of butter throughout.
- Measure and add the ice-cold water and mix it in using a pastry cutter, a fork, or your hands.
- Create 2 equal-sized discs using your hands. Wrap the discs tightly in plastic wrap and place them in the fridge for at least an hour to chill.
TIP: Grate your Butter!
That’s right, use your cheese grater to get nice small pieces of butter that are so much easier to cut in! I use this trick all the time and it never fails. Once you grate it, if you feel like it warmed up too much, place the bowl in the fridge for 5-10 minutes to chill it back up.
Baking the Crust
Bake this crust as indicated in the recipe you are using. Some recipes will have you bake the crust and the filling together like a galette or chicken pot pie. Other recipes will require blind baking where you cook the crust first before adding the filling. This is common with some fruit pies or pies where the filling doesn’t cook at all like a cream pie. When you are blind baking, you want to ensure you have pie weights or an alternative to help keep the crust in place.
What are Pie Weights?
Pie weights are usually ceramic or metal balls that you put on top of your crust when you are baking just the crust, or “blind baking”. You use pie weights to help keep the crust from shrinking or getting air pockets while it is baking.
Pie Weight Alternatives
No pie weights? No Problem! There are many other pie weight substitutions you can use that you probably already have in your kitchen! These items include uncooked beans (which you can’t use for cooking after you use them as weights), rice, sugar or another pie pan are all good options. Place any of these items on parchment paper before putting on top of your pie crust to bake.
Tips on Making the Best Pie Crust Ever
- Make sure you are adding ICE COLD water, not just cold water from the tap. This keeps the butter from melting while mixing so when it comes time to bake, the butter slowly melts creating a flaky and delicious crust.
- If you are using your hands to mix the dough, run them under cold water first. This is for the same reason as using super cold water in the mix, it keeps the butter from melting.
- If at any time you think your butter is getting too soft, place the bowl in the fridge for 5-10 minutes, and then continue mixing.
- Don’t over handle your pie crust. This includes when you are making it and when you are rolling it out for your recipe. The more you handle it, the less flaky and it will be and it will also shrink when baking.
- If you are making a savory meal like a Chicken Pot Pie, you can omit the sugar in the recipe.
Basic Pie Crust
Equipment
- medium mixing bowl
- cheese grater (optional)
- pasty cutter
- plastic wrap
Ingredients
- 2½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1½ tsp salt
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 2 sticks unsalted butter, COLD
- 8 tbsp ICE COLD water
Instructions
- Before you begin, add ice to a cup of water so it gets nice and cold. Grate your butter into a bowl or cut it up into small pieces and place it in the fridge until you are ready to add it to your dough.
- Place the flour, sugar, and salt into a mixing bowl and mix together with a fork or whisk. Add the cold butter and cut in using a pastry cutter or a fork. You can then use your hands to fully incorporate everything ensuring you have a coarse meal with some larger pieces of butter throughout.
- Measure and add the ice-cold water to the dough and mix it in using a pastry cutter, a fork, or your hands. The dough will still be crumbly at this point, that is fine.
- Dump the dough onto a lightly floured surface or a silicone mat. Create 2 equal-sized discs using your hands but do not press together too much, just lightly to quickly form 2 circles.
- Wrap the discs tightly in plastic wrap and place them in the fridge for at least an hour to chill. If you only need one crust, you can place the other disc in a freezer bag and freeze for later.
- When ready to roll out, remove the disc(s) from the fridge and allow it to sit at room temp for about 10 minutes. Roll the disc out on a lightly floured surface with a rolling pin, rotating and flipping as you go. Try not to handle the crust too much and allow it to rest for 5-10 minutes before shaping. Once you have the shape you need, place the crust in the fridge until ready to bake.
Notes
- recipe inspired by Martha Stewart
Recipes That Use a Pie Crust
- This Chocolate Walnut Pie from Sulanadapice.com
- Apple Lavender Galette Recipe
- Lemon Cranberry Meringue Pie
- Chicken Pot Pie
Tag me and show me your Basic Pie Crust!
If you get a chance to make this Easy All-Butter Pie Crust, tag me on Instagram or Facebook and show me your creation! I love to see what people are making in their kitchens and what they do with my recipes.
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