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Easy All-Butter Flaky

Pie Crust

714 comments / 270 reviews

Jump to Recipe + Video

Our favorite butter pie crust recipe

that makes consistent flaky pie dough
every time. Our recipe below includes a
straightforward video showing how we
make it. In the video, we show how to
make the crust by hand and with a food
processor. Jump to the full Pie Crust
Recipe

Watch The Video

Easy All-Butter Flaky Pie C…

How to Make Our Favorite

All-Butter Pie Crust
We’ve been making pie crust the same
way in our kitchen for years. We cut
butter (or other solid fat) into flour until
the butter and flour look crumbly and
have pieces of butter the size of peas.
Then, we add just enough water to form
the dough into a ball. That was until we
found a better way. A homemade pie
crust recipe, rather a pie crust method,
that’s consistent and makes dough
that’s a dream to roll out.

It’s not that our previous method failed

us. We just came across another way of
how to make it. A while back Cooks
Illustrated reworked pie dough.

You may have heard of it — they added

vodka to their recipe. (We don’t add
vodka — I’ll get to that in a minute).

Cooks Illustrated looked at the science

behind pie crust — and it made sense.
Our high school science teachers would
be proud.

Here’s all you really need to know:

Gluten is an enemy to pie crust. Some
gluten is okay and actually needed for
structure, but too much can really mess
things up.

So, remember this: less gluten

formation = flakier and more tender
pie crusts.

Back to the vodka. That’s what got all the

hype — why wouldn’t it, right? In their
recipe, the vodka replaced some of the
water.

The theory is that vodka doesn’t promote

gluten formation, whereas water does.
So, by replacing part of the water with
vodka, it helps the pie crust become
flakier and more tender.

We love the idea and many swear it

works, but adding a 1/4 cup of vodka to
our homemade pie dough recipe just
didn’t sit well with us. It’s not something
we store in our home often and it’s
expensive.

Making Flaky Pie Crust —

It’s About the Method
What’s more important than vodka is
the way you combine flour and fat (in
our case, butter).

Remember that gluten is our enemy

when it comes to pie dough? Well,
Cook’s Illustrated found that if
you thoroughly mix part of the flour with
the fat (butter) and make a flour-butter
paste first, every particle of that flour
becomes coated in fat.

Think of each particle of flour with butter

raincoats. These raincoats make it very
difficult for the flour to absorb water. In
other words, it helps to prevent the
development of too much gluten.

Then, you can add the remaining flour so

the perfect amount of gluten develops.
This means perfect pie crust, every
time.

What We’re Looking For

Great pie crust shouldn’t become
all soggy from juicy fillings, but is light
enough to flake. It isn’t crumbly, instead
it’s made of long, thin layers of dough
(see photo). It should stand up to fillings,
but shouldn’t be chewy, hard or heavy.

So, After All That Talk, Did it

Work?
Yes. It really did. Our pie crust was
tender with long thin layers of
dough, making it perfectly flaky.

We love this method for two reasons:

1. It’s consistent. By adding part of the

flour to the butter first, combing them
into a paste then adding
the remaining flour, the recipe
determines how much flour is being
used for the formation of gluten. The
dough is the same, every time.
2. That butter and flour paste really
helps when it comes to working with
the dough. Since it’s more pliable,
the dough is easily rolled out.

Making the Dough – By

Food Processor or by Hand
The folks at Cooks Illustrated insist on
using a food processor for this method.
We sort of agree — It makes making the
flour and butter paste easy.

Use the food processor to make the

paste then add the remaining flour. Pulse
a few times then transfer everything to a
bowl and add water until the dough
comes together. (You don’t want to add
water to the food processor — that can
overwork the dough and lead to extra
gluten formation).

Using the food processor eliminates

variability. If you have one, use it.

With all that said, we hate cleaning

dishes and since a food processor
means 5 parts to clean (yes we counted)
we tried this method by hand.

It worked.

We used a pastry cutter to cut the butter

into part of the flour and made it as close
to a paste as possible. The flour was
moistened by the butter and the mixture
looked like fresh breadcrumbs — it was
not powdery from flour. Then, we cut in
the remaining flour and added water until
the dough came together.

The dough made by hand was just as

easy to roll out and turned out just as
flaky. In fact, the photo above is actually
from dough made by hand, not the food
processor.

So, if you don’t have a food processor or

are like us and hate the extra dishes,
give making it by hand a go.

Make Ahead Tips

Wrap pie dough well so that it is airtight.
(I use plastic wrap.) Well-wrapped pie
dough lasts in the refrigerator for up to 3
days and in the freezer for three months.

When you are ready to use frozen pie

dough, transfer it to the fridge and let it
thaw overnight. Dough straight from the
refrigerator can sometimes be tricky to
roll out. If yours is, leave it on the counter
for a few minutes to warm up slightly, and
then try rolling it out again.

More Easy Pie Recipes

How to make Blueberry Pie with fresh
(or frozen) blueberries, warm spices,
lemon, and an easy lattice crust.
Our Favorite Apple Pie — perfectly
cooked (not mushy) apples
surrounded by a thickened and gently
spiced sauce all baked inside a flaky,
golden brown crust
Easy Cherry Pie — we can’t decide
which we prefer, blueberry or cherry
pie.
Strawberry Pie — it’s a little quicker to
make and very tasty.
If time isn’t on your side, you may
want to try our Handheld Berry Pies!

Recipe updated, originally posted

May 2013. Since posting this in 2013, we
have tweaked the recipe to be more clear
and added a quick recipe video. – Adam
and Joanne

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714 comments /
270 reviews

Easy All-Butter Flaky Pie

Crust
PREP 1hr 15mins TOTAL 1hr 15mins

This pie crust recipe makes consistent

dough and makes dough that’s a dream
to roll out. Using a food processor in this
recipe eliminates variability. If you have
one, use it. With that said, you can do
this method by hand. Directions are
provided below for using a processor and
by hand.

Enough for one 9-inch double crust pie

WATCH US MAKE THE RECIPE

YOU WILL NEED

2 ½ cups (325 grams) all-purpose
flour
1 teaspoon kosher salt or use 1/2
teaspoon fine sea salt
1 tablespoon sugar, optional
1 cup (230 grams) very cold unsalted
butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes (2
sticks)
4 to 8 tablespoons ice water

DIRECTIONS
METHOD WHEN USING FOOD PROCESSOR

1. Add 1 ½ cups flour, salt, and sugar

(optional) to a food processor. Pulse 2
to 3 times until combined. The
remaining cup of flour will be added
later.

2. Scatter butter cubes over flour and

process until a dough or paste begins
to form, about 15 seconds. (There
should be no uncoated flour).

3. Scrape bowl, redistribute the flour-

butter mixture then add remaining 1
cup of flour. Pulse 4 to 5 times until
flour is evenly distributed. (Dough
should look broken up and a little
crumbly).

4. Transfer to a medium bowl then

sprinkle ice water over mixture —
start with 4 tablespoons and add from
there. Using a rubber spatula, press
the dough into itself. The crumbs
should begin to form larger clusters. If
you pinch some of the dough and it
holds together, it’s ready. If the dough
falls apart, add 2 to 4 more
tablespoons of water and continue to
press until dough comes together.

5. Remove dough from bowl and place

in a mound on a clean surface. Work
the dough just enough to form a ball.
Cut the ball in half then form each half
into discs. Wrap each disc with plastic
wrap and refrigerate for at least 1
hour and up to 2 days. You can also
freeze it for up to 3 months (just thaw
it overnight in the fridge before using
it).

METHOD WHEN MAKING BY HAND

1. Add 1 1/2 cups flour, salt and sugar

(optional) to a medium bowl. Stir 2 to
3 times until combined.

2. Scatter butter cubes over flour and

mix briefly with a fork or spatula to
coat the butter with flour.

3. Cut the butter into the flour with a

pastry blender, working mixture until
the flour has a coarse, mealy texture
similar to fresh bread crumbs. About 1
– 2 minutes.

4. Add remaining 1 cup of flour. Work

butter and flour with the pastry
blender until flour is evenly
distributed. About 20 seconds.
(Dough should look crumbly with pea-
sized pieces).

5. Sprinkle ice water over the mixture —

start with 4 tablespoons and add from
there. Using a rubber spatula, press
the dough into itself. The crumbs
should begin to form larger clusters. If
you pinch some of the dough and it
holds together, it’s ready. If the dough
falls apart, add 2 to 4 more
tablespoons of water and continue to
press until dough comes together.

6. Remove dough from bowl and place

in a mound on a clean surface. Work
the dough just enough to form a ball.
Cut ball in half then form each half
into discs. Wrap each disc with plastic
wrap and refrigerate at least 1 hour,
and up to 2 days. You can also freeze
it for up to 3 months (just thaw it
overnight in the fridge before using).

ROLLING OUT DOUGH

1. Remove one of the dough discs from

the refrigerator and let sit at room
temperature for 5 minutes.

2. Lightly flour work surface, top of

dough and rolling pin. Then use rolling
pin to roll out dough to a 12-inch circle
(about 1/8-inch thick). Be sure to
check if the dough is sticking to the
surface below — add a small amount
of flour when necessary.

3. Check for size by inverting pie dish

over dough round. Look for a 1-inch
edge around the pie dish. To transfer
dough to dish, starting at one end, roll
dough around rolling pin then unroll
over dish.

4. Gently press dough down into dish so

that it lines the bottom and sides of
the dish. (Be careful not to pull or
stretch the dough). Then, use a knife
or pair of kitchen scissors to trim
dough to within 1/2-inch of the edge of
the dish.

5. Fold edge of dough underneath itself

so that it creates a thicker, 1/4-inch
border that rests on the lip of the dish.
Then, crimp edges by pressing the
pointer finger of one hand against the
edge of the dough from the inside of
the dish while gently pressing with two
knuckles of the other hand from the