Homemade Pie Crust Recipe Recipe
My favorite, all-butter pie crust recipe is irresistibly flaky and packed with rich butter flavor. I share my best chef's tips; easy to make and perfect for sweet or savory pies.
How to Make the Best Homemade Pie Crust Recipe
This all-butter pie crust recipe is a baker’s dream—irresistibly flaky, rich with butter flavor, and surprisingly easy to make. Whether you’re preparing a classic apple pie, a savory quiche, or a decadent chocolate cream pie, this versatile crust delivers perfect results every time. The key to success lies in using cold butter and minimal water, which creates those beautiful, tender layers that shatter delicately when you bite into them.
What sets this recipe apart from other pie crust recipes is the careful balance of technique and ingredients. By keeping your butter cold and handling the dough gently, you’re preserving the butter’s structure, which creates steam pockets during baking—the secret to that coveted flakiness. The expert tips shared in this recipe guide you through each step, from cutting the butter to the proper water ratio, ensuring even novice bakers can achieve bakery-quality results.
From preparation to rolling out, this pie crust comes together in about an hour (plus chilling time). Whether you’re making it for a holiday gathering, a weekend dessert, or to impress friends and family with homemade goodness, you’ll find this all-butter crust works beautifully with both sweet and savory fillings. Once you’ve mastered this recipe, you’ll never go back to store-bought crusts again.
Homemade Pie Crust Recipe
My favorite, all-butter pie crust recipe is irresistibly flaky and packed with rich butter flavor. I share my best chef's tips; easy to make and perfect for sweet or savory pies.
Ingredients
Main Ingredients
Instructions
Making the Dough
- Measure flour and salt into a large bowl and mix together.
- Cut the COLD butter into ½ inch cubes or slices and add to the flour mixture.
- Using a pastry cutter, cut the butter into the flour mixture until the butter ranges from the size of lentils to peas. You can also use two forks or work it with your fingers.
- Add the ice cold water, starting with ⅓ cup, then adding a tablespoon at a time, stirring until the pie dough just clumps together.
- Place the dough on a floured surface and fold it over itself a few times, as if smearing butter. If it feels dry or crumbly, add just enough ice water to have it stick together. The goal is to use as little water as possible without the edges being crumbly. Form into a ball and cut in half. Then form each half into a round flat disk, roughly 1 ½ inches high.
Chilling and Rolling
- Tidy the edges, wrap, and refrigerate for at least 45 mins or overnight.
- On a floured surface, roll out the dough, starting from the middle, working your way out, turning, and flipping, being sure it is not sticking to the counter. Roll out until it is 11-12 inches wide.
- Using the rolling pin, lift it into a glass pie pan. For a single pie crust, trim the edges to ½-¾ inch beyond the pie plate. Then fold it behind itself, so it's sticking up higher than the edge of the pie plate. Then crimp with your fingers. It is ready to use, or blind bake as needed.
