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There’s nothing better than a made-from-scratch pie crust! I think it’s everyone’s favorite part of any pie dish, honestly. A homemade buttery, flakey crust really highlights a pie dish whether is sweet or savory. They are also very easy to make and you probably already have all the ingredients at home. There’s 3 easy methods I use to make a perfect pie crust dough: a food processor, stand mixer, and a pastry cutter.

There are a lot of different ingredients people use to make pie dough, but the ones that I use are basic, everyday items that most folks already have in their pantry.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 (1 stick) cup cold unsalted butter, diced into small cubes
• 1/4 cup ice water

The secret to a flaky pie crust is the cold butter. When the cold butter hits the hot oven, it releases steam which creates the flaky crust.

Methods To Create The Dough:

(1) Food Processor

Using a food processor is my favorite way to make pie crust dough because it takes practically no effort or time at all. The rapidly spinning blades does all the work for you.

Add the dry ingredients and pulse several times to get them well mixed. Next, add the butter and pulse until the butter is about the size of peas or smaller.

With the food processor on high, pour the water down the spout and keep running until the dough forms.

(2) Stand Mixer

Using a stand mixer to make the dough is also a very easy method. A stand mixer is so versatile at helping make a wide variety of dishes. I literally couldn’t live without mine!

Add the dry ingredients to the bowl and mix on low with the paddle attachment to combine the ingredients. Add the butter and mix on low until the butter starts to become incorporated with the dry ingredients, then turn the speed up to medium and mix until fully incorporated.

With the mixer on low, add the ice water. Turn the speed up to medium until the dough forms.

(3) Pastry Cutter

Some people may not have a food processor or stand mixer as both can be expensive. A pastry cutter is the perfect solution to making the dough by hand. They are inexpensive (around $15.00) and can be easily stored in a kitchen drawer. The only draw back to a pastry cutter over a food processor or stand mixer is the pastry cutter is more “hands-on” and will require a little more muscle work.

The pastry cutter acts to cut the fat (butter) into the dry ingredients to make the dough.

Add the dry ingredients to a large bowl and stir to combine. Add the butter, then using the pastry cutter, press the butter down into the flour. Continue to cut the butter into the flour until it’s the size of peas or smaller.

Stir in the water and keep stirring until the dough starts to form.

Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead by hand until the dough comes together.

Preparing The Dough

Now that the dough is made, it needs to chill in the refrigerator for a minimum of 30 minutes so that it will be easy to roll out.

Shape the dough with your hands into a disc, then wrap the dough in plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.

The dough will keep in the refrigerator for 2-3 days and in the freezer for 3 months.

Rolling Out The Dough

Now that the dough has chill and stiffened up a little, it’s time to roll it out and place in a pie dish. What I love about this dough is how forgiving it is. A lot of doughs tend to stick to the surface or the rolling pin making it an absolute pain to get it to form into the desired shape. This pie crust dough is easy to manage and won’t stick as long as you keep the dough moving and the surface and rolling pin well floured. It will also maintain its shape when you roll it out unlike other doughs that are difficult to stretch out and stay stretched out.

Place the dough disc onto a floured surface and begin rolling out with a floured rolling pin. Continue to roll the dough from the center out while moving the dough every so often on the surface to prevent sticking.

Once the dough is rolled out to the desired diameter, roll the dough up with the rolling pin and then roll out into the pie plate.

Press the dough down into the plate to conform to the shape of the plate, then cut off any excess around the edge. Prick the bottom with a fork to prevent the crust from puffing up during baking.

Blind Baking/Pre-Baking

To make the perfect pie, you want the filling perfectly cooked and the crust browned and flakey. The problem with many pie recipes is that the crust takes more time to cook than the filling. To have the perfect, flakey crust, it needs to be pre-baked. This is called blind baking. It’s a simple process that prevents the bottom of the crust from being soggy, helps the pie keeps its shape, and only requires aluminum foil, butter, and pie weights.

Pie weights are inexpensive and can be reused. You can also use dry beans; however, those will need to be tossed after using.

Take a piece of aluminum foil that will cover the dough in the pie plate and coat one side with butter.

Place the aluminum foil butter side down on top of the dough and form the foil against the dough. Add the pie weights into the plate, then bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes at 350 degrees.

Remove from the oven, remove the pie weights and aluminum foil, add in the pie filling, and bake per the recipe instructions.

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