Happy holidays! I love to bake during this time of year and I especially love making pies, so I figured this would be a good time to share my go-to recipe for pie crust. This recipe makes enough dough for two pie crusts. So, it can be used for double crust pies or two single crust pies. Okay, let’s get started on making these delicious, flakey and buttery pie crusts.
How to Make Pie Crust
You will need the following ingredients for the pie crust dough: 285 grams (2¼ cups) of all purpose flour, 75 grams of vegetable shortening, 115 grams (1 stick) of butter, 111 grams (8 tablespoons) of ice water, 1 teaspoon of salt, and 2 teaspoons of sugar (optional). You will also need about 3-4 ice cubes for the ice water.
An important thing to remember when making pie crust, is to keep the dough cold so that the fats (i.e., the butter and vegetable shortening) remain cold and solid until the pie is baked in the oven. Doing this will yield flakey pie crust. This is because when cold fats melt in the oven, they create air pockets that make the flakey layers in pie crust.
Start by chopping the butter into large cubes. Place the cubed butter into a bowl. Place the bowl in the freezer for about 15 minutes to make the butter cold, but not frozen. Keep the flour, vegetable shortening and water in the fridge to keep cold.
Mix the flour, salt and sugar (if using) in a medium bowl or food processor. Add the vegetable shortening and work it into the mixture using the pulse on the food processor. If you’re not using a food processor, use a pastry cutter or a fork. You should end up with a crumbly mixture (see picture below).
Add the butter cubes to the mixture. Pulse the food processor until you have rough chunks of butter in the mixture. Use a pastry cutter or a fork to do this if you’re not using a food processor.
Do not mix the butter so finely that it’s difficult to see in the mixture. There should be large and small chunks of butter in the mixture as in the picture below.
Add the ice water to the mixture, one tablespoon at a time. If the mixture is in the food processor, add the water through the feed tube. Use the pulse on the food processor to gently toss the flour after adding each tablespoon of water. This will ensure even distribution of the water in the mixture. If you’re not using a food processor, toss the flour with a fork after adding each tablespoon of water to get even distribution of the water in the mixture.
The mixture should be coarse, but should hold together when pressed.
Pour the mixture onto a clean, lightly floured surface and gather the mixture together to form a round shape.
Use a dough scrapper or a knife to cut the dough into two, the sizes should be roughly equal.
Shape each dough into a disk, about 1 inch thick and wrap with plastic (Saran) wrap. Store in the fridge for about 1 hour or until you’re ready to use.
To make the dough easier to roll out, leave each disk on the counter for about 2 minutes before rolling. Use a rolling pin to roll each disk out on a clean, dry, lightly floured surface. Make sure that the dough remains cold enough to keep the fats (butter and shortening) cold and the butter in visible flat chunks in the dough until the pie is baked in the oven.
If the butter starts to melt as you’re rolling/handling the dough, stop and place the dough in the fridge for about 5 minutes to get the dough cold and prevent the butter from melting.
You can also store the disks of dough in the freezer. Just put them in freezer bags and store them in the freezer until you’re ready to use. To thaw the dough, remove the disks from the freezer and place them overnight in the fridge.
One rolled out dough can be used for the bottom crust of a pie and the other can be used for the top crust. You can also use them for two bottom crust pies. Enjoy! Let me know how it goes!
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Pie Crust Recipe (for Double Crust Pie)
Ingredients
- 285 g all purpose flour (2¼ cups; cold)
- 75 g vegetable shortening
- 115 g butter (1 stick)
- 111 g ice water (8 tbsp)
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 tsp sugar (optional)
- 3-4 ice cubes (for the ice water)
Instructions
- Chop the vegetable shortening into large cubes. Place the cubes in a bowl and store them in the fridge until they're cold.
- Cut the butter into large cubes, place the cubed butter in a bowl and store in the freezer for about 15 minutes to make the butter very cold, but not frozen.
- In a medium bowl or food processor, pour the flour, salt and sugar (if using).
- Add the vegetable shortening and work it into the mixture, using the pulse on the food processor until the mixture is crumbly.
- Use a pastry cutter or a fork to do this, if you’re not using a food processor.
- Add the cubed butter to the mixture. Pulse the food processor until you have rough chunks of butter in the mixture; there should be visibly large and small chunks of butter in the mixture.
- If you're not using a food processor, you can use a pastry cutter or a fork to work the butter into the mixture.
- Add the ice water to the mixture, one tablespoon at a time.
- If you’re using a food processor, you can add the water through the feed tube, then pulse the food processor to gently toss the flour after adding each tablespoon of water, so the water gets evenly distributed in the mixture.
- If you’re not using a food processor, use a fork to toss the flour after adding each tablespoon of water to evenly distribute the water in the mixture.
- The mixture should be coarse, but hold together when pressed.
- Pour the mixture onto a clean, lightly floured surface and gather the mixture together to form a round shape.
- Cut the dough into two using a dough scrapper or a knife, the sizes should be roughly equal.
- Shape each dough into a disk, about 1 inch thick and wrap with plastic (saran) wrap.
- Store the dough in the fridge for about 1 hour or until you're ready to use.
- To make the dough easier to roll out, leave each disk on the counter for about 2 minutes before you roll each of them out with a rolling pin.
- Roll each dough out on a clean, dry, lightly floured surface using a rolling pin.
- Make sure that the dough remains cold enough to keep the butter solid until the pie goes in the oven.
- One rolled out dough can be used for the bottom crust of a pie and the other can be used for the top crust. The doughs can also be used for two bottom crust pies.
Notes
- To get a nice, flaky pie crust, keep everything cold so that the fats (butter and shortening) stay cold and solid in the pie dough until the pie is baked.
- If the butter starts to melt as you're rolling/handling the dough, stop and place the dough in the fridge for about 5 minutes to get the dough cold and prevent the butter from melting.
- The dough can be stored in the freezer; just place the wrapped disks in freezer bags and store them in the freezer until you're ready to use.
- To thaw the dough, remove the disks from the freezer and place them overnight in the fridge.
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