My Go-to Pie Crust Recipe

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I thought it would be good to kick off August’s Flavor of the Month, Pies, by sharing my go to pie dough recipe.  I have been using this pie dough for years and it’s never failed me!  It’s great for fruit pies, savory pies, and even hand pies.  I love it!  This dough makes a super flaky crust with a nice buttery flavor.

So let’s get to it!

The first order of business is making sure you are using cold butter and cold water.  If you’ve never made pie dough before, this is not one of those baking recipes where you want to use softened butter.  You want the butter nice and cold.  If I have time, I’ll even cube up the butter and chill that beforehand to get it super cold.  I also use ice water to help keep things cool.  Keeping everything cold will help ensure you have a really flaky pie crust.

Now in a large bowl, mix together your flour, sugar, and salt.  The nice thing about this recipe is there’s not too much sugar in it so I’ve been known to even use it as is for savory pies like quiche without any tweaks.  If you want it really savory, just omit the sugar and it’ll work fine.  

Now plop in your shortening and butter.  

Next you will cut the fats into the dry ingredients using a pastry blender or your hands.  I like to start what the pastry blender first to get things going and then finish it with may hands.  Not using your hands the whole time will make it less likely the dough will start to warm up.  

Continue to work the dough together until the lumps are no bigger than a pea. 

At this point, it’s time to add the water.  You’ll notice that I put a range in the recipe and that’s because the amount can vary based on several things, the brand of flour you use, if you live in a more humid or dry climate, etc.  Start with the minimum and mix that in with a spoon.  You’re looking for the dough to just start to come together.  Add more water, as needed. 

Once the dough comes together, gently knead it a few times against the side of the bowl to clump together more.  

Now pat the dough into a rough disc and cover in plastic wrap.  Chill at least an hour before rolling out for your pie.

This dough will last chilled in the fridge three days before you’ll need to use it.  This recipe will make one bottom crust with a few bits left over.  If you’re making a pie that has a top and bottom crust, I would double the recipe.  You’ll have leftover dough but that’s ok.  I like rolling it into shapes and making pie dough “cookies”.  Just brush the shapes with milk and some sugar and bake until golden.

This dough bakes best at 375°.