MAKE. FIND. GO.
Wooden pastry board dusted with flour, rolling pin, and pie dough
MAKE

The Only Pie Crust Recipe You Really Need

B

By Brandon

Pie crust has an undeserved reputation for being difficult.

It isn't.

It is, however, remarkably good at punishing people who overthink it.

The goal isn't perfection. We want a crust that's buttery, flaky, tender and strong enough to actually hold the pie. If the edges aren't geometrically perfect, nobody will care once there's a slice of warm pie sitting in front of them.

The Ingredients

Makes one double-crust 9-inch pie

  • 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
  • 1 cup unsalted butter, very cold and cut into small cubes
  • 6–8 tablespoons ice water

Keep Everything Cold

Cold butter makes better pie crust.

If there is one rule worth remembering, this is it.

Those little pieces of butter stay intact in the dough and release steam as the crust bakes. That's what helps create flaky layers.

If your kitchen is warm or the butter starts getting soft, put everything in the refrigerator for ten minutes.

There is no prize for finishing first.

Make the Dough

Combine the flour, salt and sugar in a large bowl.

Add the cold butter.

Using a pastry blender, two forks or your fingertips, work the butter into the flour until you have a mixture containing everything from small crumbs to pieces of butter roughly the size of peas.

Don't try to make it uniform.

Those imperfect little pieces of butter are exactly what we want.

Drizzle the water, little by little, over the flour mixture while gently tossing everything together.

Add additional ice water, one tablespoon at a time, only until the dough begins holding together when squeezed.

It shouldn't feel wet.

Bring It Together

Turn the mixture onto a clean surface and gently bring it together.

Don't knead it like bread.

Divide it into two roughly equal portions and shape each into a disk about an inch thick.

Wrap them individually and refrigerate for at least one hour.

Overnight is even better.

Roll It

Lightly flour your work surface and rolling pin.

Roll from the center outward, rotating the dough periodically to keep it from sticking.

You're looking for a circle roughly 12 inches across for a standard 9-inch pie plate.

If the dough cracks around the edges, patch it.

If your circle looks more like the state of Indiana than an actual circle, that's fine too.

Pie dough is extremely forgiving once filled with something delicious.

The MAKE. FIND. GO. Rule

Handle it less.

Keep it cold.

Don't panic.

That's basically pie crust.

Make It Ahead

The dough can be refrigerated for several days or frozen for longer storage. Make a double batch and future-you will be very pleased with present-you.

Because sometimes you want homemade pie without turning the entire afternoon into a baking project.

One Last Thing

There are elaborate pie crust recipes involving vodka, shortening, food processors and various forms of pastry engineering.

Some of them are excellent.

But this is the crust we want in our back pocket: flour, butter, salt, a little sugar and cold water.

Simple enough to remember.

Good enough to make again.

And flaky enough that nobody is going to ask whether you bought the crust.

Now go make the pie.

Back to MAKE.MAKE. FIND. GO.