Perfect Buttery Pie Crust

Here’s a fool-proof recipe for flaky, buttery crust. I use this Pâte Brisée recipe for my savory and sweet pies. It never lets me down, and always brings out the best in my favorite fillings.

RECIPE:

7 Tablespoons very cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2’ thick pieces

1-1/2 cups all-purpose, unbleached flour

1 Tablespoon granulated sugar

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/4-1/3 cup, ice water

Place cut butter on a plate in your freezer for 10-15 minutes. Prepare your ice water and allow to set while butter thoroughly chills.

Place the flour, sugar and salt in the bowl of your food processor, fitted with the steel cutting blade. Plus twice to mix them together. Once the butter has chilled, add it to the dry mixture. Pulse 8-10 times. Add 1/4 cup ice water to this mixture and pulse 8-10 more times.

I like to feel the dough at this point. I’m testing it for moisture. This is done by pinching some of the dough crumbles together. Do they hold together? If not, I’ll add another tablespoon of ice water. Pulse again 2-3 times and check the dough. Repeat as necessary, until dough comes together to form a ball. Dough should not be sticky, and you want to be careful to no over-work it. Over-worked dough is tough dough, and makes for a flat, tough pastry crust. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and let chill and rest in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.

To prepare the dough for the pie dish, dust your clean counter with flour. I also dust the top of the dough with flour before rolling with a chilled marble rolling pin. When you roll the dough, gently rotate it clockwise about 90 degrees, using more flour as necessary to prevent sticking to counter or rolling pin. This helps to shape it into an even, round disk. It should be rolled out about 1/8” thick and it should cover approximately 12-13” in diameter.

Carefully move your rolled crust to the baking dish. Shape the edges and decorate as desired before filling with your delicious filling. Alternatively, if you require a pre-baked crust, you should gentle use a fork to make pricks in the crust once in the baking dish. Cover bottom with parchment and weigh it down with pie weights, or dried beans.

A pre-baked shell should bake at 375 degrees, for 15-18 minutes. TIP: Before baking your shell, return it to freeze for 10 minutes while your oven preheats. This helps it to hold it’s decorative edge’s shape.

Similarly, once you fill your unbaked crust, you should consider returning the entire pie to the freezer. Preheat your oven to 425 degrees. I like to bake my filled pies at 425 degrees for the first 15 minutes, and then drop the oven’s temperature to 325-350 degrees (depending on the delicacy of the filling) for the remaining baking minutes. The very cold dough and the very hot oven help with the formation of the flakiness.

Need a double crust for your pie? Easy! Just double this recipe. If you have multiple pies to bake, I personally just use the doubled recipe, multiple times. Keep in mind the size of your food processor when doubling.

If you don’t have a food processor, you can follow the same procedures with a pastry blender and a stainless steel bowl.

Let me know how your crusts turn out!