Follow this simple recipe and video tutorial for the best all butter pie crust. It will make you a pie expert immediately! Complete with all my tips and troubleshooting, this pie crust recipe is buttery, flaky, and tender with the most incredible flavor.
At the request of many, today I’m sharing my go-to all butter pie crust recipe. It competes with my butter and shortening pie crust for the #1 spot in my pie-loving heart. (Scroll to the recipe notes for my pie crust comparison!) I’ve made thousands of pies in my day and consider myself a pie expert. A pi-expert, if you will. I’ve made all the pie crust mistakes so I can coach you through the process and supply you with all the knowledge and confidence to tackle pie crust once and for all.
You’ll be a pi-expert with this recipe and tutorial on your side!
Watch my video tutorial for butter pie crust with lattice topping. This is my homemade apple pie with chai spices, a favorite every Fall season.
Start with a dependable pie crust recipe and you’re set for success. Soon everyone will be asking YOU for all your pie crust secrets.
Only 5 Ingredients in Butter Pie Crust
This pie crust is made with 5 ingredients. Each ingredient has a very specific job. And with so few ingredients, it’s important to use the best quality.
- Flour – The structure of pie crust.
- Salt – Flavor flavor flavor. Use table salt instead of coarse salt. Smaller salt crystals dissolve and disperse more evenly throughout the dough.
- Granulated Sugar – Pie crust should not be sweet, but adding a little sugar to butter pie crust improves its flavor and enhances browning. The sugar crystals also help break down the hard pieces of butter.
- Cold unsalted butter – Supplies the pie crust’s unbeatable flavor and flaky texture. Use unsalted butter. The amount of salt in different brands’ salted butter varies, so for better control over the flavor, it’s best to begin with unsalted and add your salt.
- Ice water – The final ingredient, about 1/2 cup of ice cold water holds all the ingredients together. Use just enough so the dough holds its shape when rolling out. Many pie crust recipes don’t call for enough ice water, giving you a dry pie dough that cracks when you roll it out. When in doubt, add a little more water. You’re better off with more water (wet pie dough) than not enough water (dry, cracking pie dough) because you can always work more flour into the dough, but you can’t really add water to the pie dough when you’re trying to roll it out.
I use this crust in my apple cheddar pie— there I add some sharp cheddar cheese. It’s also the starting point for chocolate pie crust that we use for chocolate pop tarts!
Basic Pie Crust Steps
- Mix dry ingredients together.
- Cut in the butter with a pastry cutter or food processor.
- Add ice water a little bit at a time until the dough begins to come together. It will feel thick and moist, not overly wet. You’ll use around 1/2 cup (120ml).
- Mold pie dough into a ball.
- Cut in half. This recipe yields two 9-inch pie crusts.
- Flatten into discs. Wrap in plastic wrap.
- Chill for 2 hours before using.
These steps are shown in the video tutorial above and described in the recipe below.
Why the Emphasis on Cold?
Keeping your pie dough as cold as possible prevents the fat from melting too soon. Too soon = before the pie crust enters the oven.
- What happens when the pie dough is warm? The butter in the pie crust will melt before baking, which means you lose all the flakiness and structure. Warm pie dough melts into a pool of grease. You’ll have a hard, crunchy, and greasy crust instead of a beautifully tender flaky crust.
- What happens when the pie dough is cold? The butter in the pie crust will melt inside the oven. Butter has a high volume of water content and this water converts to steam as the pie dough bakes. The steam separates the crust into multiple flaky layers, making this the most delicious pie crust ever.
The colder the dough, the flakier the pie crust.
How to Keep Pie Dough Cold:
- Use ice cold water. Fill a glass with 1 cup of water, add ice. You only need 1/2 cup of water in this butter pie crust recipe, but have a little extra just in case.
- Use cold butter. I keep some of my butter in the freezer and transfer it to the refrigerator a couple hours before beginning the crust. The butter is part frozen and very cold.
- Chill the pie dough for at least 2 hours before rolling out. This step is non-negotiable; it’s the most crucial in the entire pie crust recipe.
- For extra insurance, chill your flour and your mixing bowl in the refrigerator or freezer. Sounds a little silly, but trust me… it really helps!
How to Roll Out Pie Dough
After the dough has chilled, it’s time to roll it out. Keep a small bowl of flour nearby to keep your work surface, rolling pin, and hands lightly floured. This prevents the pie dough from sticking. When rolling pie dough out, always start from the center and work your way out in all directions, turning the dough as you go. If the pie dough feels too warm or the butter is melting, stop. Lift it up, place on a baking sheet, and chill in the refrigerator for at least 10 minutes before continuing.
Butter Pie Crust Tips
- I’m going to repeat myself here. Keep all pie crust ingredients cold. On a hot day, you can chill the measured out flour in the refrigerator or freezer before starting. When taking the pie crust out of the refrigerator to roll out and fill, make sure your pie filling is ready to go. If not, keep the pie crust in the refrigerator until it is.
- Glass pie dishes are best. Why? As opposed to ceramic or metal pie dishes, glass pie dishes conduct heat evenly, which allows the bottom of the crust to bake thoroughly. Also, you can see when the sides and bottom of the crust have browned.
- If your pie recipe requires pre-baking (blind bake pie crust)– let’s say you’re making a pie with an especially wet filling– use pie weights or dried beans. Without pie weights, the pie dough will puff up, then shrink. Whichever you choose, be sure to line the crust with parchment or aluminum foil, then fill the empty pie crust with the weights. See my post and video tutorial for how to blind bake pie crust.
- Always use a pie crust shield. A shield keeps the crust edge covered, which protects it from browning too quickly or worse, burning. Use an adjustable silicone pie crust shield that you can fit to the size of your delicate pie crust. Metal can break the crust. Alternatively, you can cover the pie with a piece of aluminum foil. Cut a large circle in the center of the square so the center of the pie is exposed.
- Learn how to braid pie crust with my how to braid pie crust video tutorial.
- Learn how to lattice pie crust, too.
Pie Crust Troubleshooting
- Prevent a crumbly pie dough that rips and tears when you roll it out. Make sure you use enough ice water when preparing your pie dough. Too little water creates an unworkable dough.
- Prevent a tough pie crust. Tough crusts are the result of not enough fat in the crust, as well as overworking the dough. Use the all butter pie crust recipe or my shortening and butter pie crust recipe to ensure a flaky, tender pie crust. Additionally, don’t work the dough too much.
- Prevent a burnt crust with a pie shield. See above.
Recommended Pie Crust Tools
(All my recommend products are affiliate links. I trust these tried-and-true tools!)
- Pastry cutter – Though you can use a food processor to make this butter pie crust, I strongly recommend a pastry cutter to avoid over-mixing. Food processors are quick to over-work pie dough.
- Pastry mat – I prefer rolling pie dough out on a lightly floured counter because countertops are usually colder, but you can use a lightly floured pastry mat instead.
- Rolling pin – An obvious must with pie dough! I also love this marble rolling pin. Marble rolling pins are usually cooler to touch and we all know that pie dough loves the cold.
- Glass pie dish – My mother-in-law bought me this Pyrex pie dish 5 years ago and it’s been my go-to ever since. I have 4 of them now! Like I mention in my pie crust tips above, glass pie dishes conduct heat evenly, which allows the bottom of the crust to bake thoroughly. This is important. There’s no comparison, Pyrex is the best.
- Pizza cutter or pastry wheel – To cut your pie dough into strips for lattice decoration or any decoration. Have you seen my pie crust designs post?
- Pastry brush – An egg wash is simply an egg mixed with milk or water (usually milk). Lightly brush the pie dough with an egg wash using a pastry brush. The egg wash creates a golden, shiny, crisp crust. Without it, pie crust is dull and lacking color.
- Pie weights – These are crucial when you blind bake pie crust for no-bake or custard pies. Note: 2 packs of these pie weights is definitely needed!
- Pie crust shield – Pie crust edges are usually higher up than the center of the pie, leaving them exposed to the most heat. They brown quicker than the center of the pie, so it’s important to protect it with a shield. I usually place a pie crust shield on the pie about halfway through bake time. I recommend an adjustable silicone pie crust shield that you can adjust. Or you can cover the pie with a piece of aluminum foil: cut a circle in the center so the center of the pie is exposed.
Pie Recipes
Now that you’re fully prepared and equipped, here are several pie recipes to use your all butter pie crust. Pictured is my chai spice apple pie and I topped it with salted caramel in the video.
- Salted Caramel Apple Pie & Apple Pie
- Lemon Meringue Pie (a blind bake pie crust recipe)
- Caramel Pear Pie
- Pumpkin Pie
- Pecan Pie
- Banana Cream Pie (a blind bake pie crust recipe)
- Cherry Pie
- Peach Pie
- Blueberry Pie
- Sweet Potato Pie
- Fun recipes: Apple Hand Pies, Brown Sugar Cinnamon Pop Tarts, Pecan Pie Tarts
- Or any of my favorite Thanksgiving pie recipes!
All Butter Pie Crust
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 0 minutes
- Total Time: 2 hours, 20 minutes
- Yield: 2 pie crusts
- Category: Pie
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
Follow this simple recipe and video tutorial for the best all butter pie crust. It will make you a pie expert immediately! Complete with all my tips and troubleshooting, this pie crust recipe is buttery, flaky, and tender with the most incredible flavor.
Ingredients
- 2 and 1/2 cups (313g) all-purpose flour, plus more as needed (spoon & leveled)
- 2 teaspoons granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup (230g; 16 Tbsp) unsalted butter, chilled and cubed
- 1/2 cup (120ml) ice water, plus more as needed
Instructions
- Mix the flour, sugar, and salt together in a large bowl. Add the cubed butter on top.
- Using a pastry cutter, food processor, or two forks (pastry cutter is ideal, see post above), cut the butter into the dry ingredients until all flour is coated. You’re looking for pea-sized bits of flour coated butter. A few larger bits of butter is OK.
- Measure 1/2 cup (120ml) of water in a cup. Add ice. Stir it around. From that, measure 1/2 cup (120ml) of water since the ice has melted a bit. Drizzle the cold water in, 2 Tablespoons (30ml) at a time, and stir after each addition. Stop adding water when the dough comes together easily and begins to form large clumps. The dough will feel moist and a little sticky, but not feel overly wet. Do not add any more water than you need to. I always use about 1/2 cup (120ml) of ice water.
- Place pie dough on a lightly floured work surface. Using floured hands, fold the dough into itself until the flour is fully incorporated into the fats. Form it into a ball. Divide dough in half. Using your hands, flatten each half into a 1-inch thick disc.
- Wrap each disc tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours and up to 5 days before using in a pie recipe.
- When rolling out the chilled pie dough discs, use gentle force with your rolling pin. Start from the center of the disc and work your way out in all directions, turning the dough with your hands between rolls. Smooth out the edges if you notice cracks. (See video above.) Keeping your work surface, rolling pin, and hands lightly floured makes rolling out easier.
- Proceed with the pie per your recipe’s instructions.
Notes
- Make Ahead Instructions: Prepare the pie dough through step 4 and freeze the discs for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator before using in your pie recipe.
- Pie Crust Comparison: Let’s see how this all butter pie crust recipe compares to my favorite buttery flaky pie crust, which uses a mix of shortening and butter. Due to butter’s high water content, this all butter pie crust is lighter textured with more defined flakes. As the crust bakes, the butter’s water converts to steam, creating thousands of deliciously light flakes. It’s also so buttery! However, because of all this butter, I find that the shortening and butter pie crust is a little easier to work with. Shortening has a higher melting point than butter, so the crust holds its shape wonderfully. Both crusts are fantastic, but if you are looking to make intricate pie crust designs I highly recommend my buttery flaky pie crust.
- Try This: Replacing 1 Tablespoon of ice water with cold apple cider vinegar creates an even flakier, more tender pie dough. It’s so tasty. Try it!
Keywords: pie crust
This recipe is lovely. I had the smoking oven problem, as several others did, but placing a large baking sheet on the rack below the rack where the pie sits solved the problem.
But even easier, I found, was making galettes according to Sally’s recipes and using this crust. I actually for the galettes in a pie dish to make them perfectly round. And this eliminates the smoking oven problem entirely.
I also want to say thank to all at Sally’s baking addiction. Many of us would have lost our minds during this pandemic without you. It was a life-saver for me. Your recipes are clear and don’t require insanely expensive kitchen gadgetry. Your explanations are unpretentious and also not patronizing, both of which I find all too common on many other recipe blogs. Thanks for everything!
★★★★★
HI SALLY, LOVE YOUR BUTTER RECEPY PIE CRUST I MADE IT TWICE FOLLOWED THE INSTRUCTION CAME OUT AWESOME< I DID NOT EVEN PUT THE DOUGH IN THE FRIDGE. ROLLED IT OUT TO USE THAT MOMENT.]
THANK YOU SO MUCH<
I grew up making lard pie crusts which were always good but since I love butter decided to give this recipe a try. I’ve made it a few times now and while the flavor turns out great, it has been tough and the butter pools on the bottom everytime! I’m making sure to not overmix it and my butter and everything is chilled. Any ideas on why it would do that? Thanks.
Hi Shannon, Thank you for trying this recipe and I’m happy to help troubleshoot. First, make sure you are using very cold ingredients! You can even freeze your flour for 30 minutes before beginning. The colder everything is the better your pie crust will turn out. Make sure your butter is super cold.
Also, make sure you’re cubing the butter and work it in with a pastry cutter. Using a food processor overworks the pie dough and yields a dense pie dough, and using your hands will melt the butter, so we recommend using a pastry cutter.
We recommend using 1/2 cup of ice water. For even more success, use 1/4 cup of ice water and 1/4 cup of cold, unflavored vodka. The vodka helps prevent the pie crust from shrinking and keeps it really flaky. All of the alcohol bakes out so you don’t have to worry about that. No matter what, use 1/2 cup of very cold liquid. And finally, don’t overwork the pie dough- make sure that after you add the water, you’re lightly mixing everything together. You want those visible specks and swirls of butter!
I hope all of this helps 🙂
Hi Sally.
Just wanted to say thank you for this recipe. I am a beginning, pie crust maker and have had trouble with crusts. Using 2-3 tbsp of water to get the dough to come together never seemed enough. Then I read your blog post and everything just clicked, especially when you talked about what was the problem for me and how 1/2 cup or less works. What a game changer for me. My crusts have been getting better step by step and today on PI Day I made a single crust and oh boy did it come together nicely! So thank you! Off to roll it out.
★★★★★
Hi Sally,
I have really enjoyed using your recipes in the past year. Your cookie recipes are fantastic and I have had great success with your pie crust and quiche recipes. My question about baking the pie crust is about my oven. I usually use my convection setting but find that it is hotter than conventional. I know every oven is different. What do you recommend when baking?
Hi Donna, we’re so glad to hear you’ve been enjoying our recipes! All of the recipes on our site are written for conventional settings. Convection ovens are fantastic for cooking and roasting. If you have the choice, we recommend conventional settings when baking cakes, breads, etc. The flow of air from convection heat can cause baked goods to rise and bake unevenly and it also pulls moisture out of the oven. If you do use convection settings for baking, lower your temperature by 25 degrees F and keep in mind that things may still take less time to bake. Hope this helps!
I love this recipe – it is perfect!
★★★★★
I have made this recipe 3 times already. The first time, it turned our perfectly. The 2nd and 3rd times, it created a ton of smoking in my over (even though I followed the recipe exactly, each time). Nothing else makes my oven smoke and the oven has been cleaned. I tried cooking at a lower temperature, confirmed cooking temperature with an oven thermometer, and tried different butter brands. Any thoughts on how to prevent the smoking?
Hi Meghan! The burning smell is most likely from butter melting and falling off the side of the pie crust onto the bottom of your oven. Make sure your crust is cold when going into the oven to prevent too much melting. You can also place a baking sheet under the pie dish in the oven to catch any drips. Hope this helps!
Thank you for your recipes– I am thrilled to have found your fantastic website and I have learned so much about baking (namely that I can actually bake!!) I have a quick question about halving the all-butter crust recipe. I already have one crust frozen from a cream pie I made so I only need another one for a fruit pie I am making. Is it possible to take this recipe for two crusts and divide it? I wanted to double check that the proportions would not be compromised. Thank you!
★★★★★
Hi Helen, You can try cutting each ingredient in half, but for the best results we do recommend making the dough as written.
This crust turned out hard as a rock. 1/2 cup water is definitely not enough, but I discovered this too late to do anything about it. It already started feeling tough while I was still trying to get it to stick together in a ball. I’ve never refrigerated a crust before rolling it, but decided to follow that instruction as a hail Mary move, hoping that would miraculously counteract what I feared was going on. Turns out cold, hard dough is difficult to roll out, so it probably took 3 times as much time and handling of the dough as it would have taken if I’d just rolled it out immediately after mixing. This probably made the crust even harder than it would have been if I’d rolled it out without refrigerating first.
It didn’t taste bad. But I felt like I could have used a chisel to slice the pie.
On the plus side, this would probably be good for pasties, which require a durable crust. But I’ll never again waste a from-scratch pumpkin filling in this crust recipe.
★
Did you make sure to knead the butter in thoroughly? I’ve always found when crust is dry it’s often because I didn’t mash the butter and flour together thoroughly enough. ♀️
i have 9.5 inch pie plate. do I have to increase ingredients?
thanks
Hi Marina, you can roll it out a bit thinner to fit your pie plate. No need to increase ingredients.
Hi there! I’ve recently discovered your site and a love for the challenge of making pie crust. I don’t know if you’ll see this, but I know my dough doesn’t have enough water – I wish I’d added more but I was worried I’d overdo it. Is it possible to add water to dough before rolling out or do I throw it away? Thanks!
Hi Liz, Dry and cracked pie dough is fixable and I’m glad to help! If it’s cracking when you roll it out, moisten your fingertips and bring the cracked edges back together. Cracked pie dough is dry, so a little moisture will help. I always use my fingers to “meld” any cracks back together– as if it were play doh.
Can you tell the size of the baking tray/pie? Is it for 23cm?
Hi Eva! This recipe is for a 9 inch (about 23 cm) pie dish, yes. Enjoy!
Hi Sally,
Thanks for your recipes. I’ve recently made this ‘all butter pie crust’ which was a great success (despite me being a pie making novice) and will soon be attempting your ‘buttery flaky pie’ crust as I’ve finally been able to get my hands on some shortening which is pretty rare in the UK! I just wondered why the flaky pie crust recipe omits the 2 teaspoons of granulated sugar that are used in this recipe?
Hi Rachael, you’re so welcome. Thank YOU for trying out my recipes and congrats on a pie success– I know they aren’t easy when you first get started. I use sugar in this pie dough because it helps break down the butter. We don’t use as much butter in the shortening version so sugar isn’t really necessary. The butter cuts in nicely without it. (That being said, feel free to add it– doesn’t do any harm!)
Great recipe from Sally as always! Use for lattice apple pie (partial blind bake) and pumpkin pie (full blind bake) and turned out very well. Next time I will reduce the butter by two tablespoons since the crust was a tiny bit greasy.
★★★★
Hi Sally
I’d like to make a deep dish 2 crust apple pie using an all butter pie crust that will turn out nicely browned with a thick and syrupy filling. Do you recommend special baking tips for this type of crust? (higher temp to start, for example). I’ve followed your suggestions on how to make the crust – now the rolled out crusts are chillin’ in the fridge waiting to be filled and baked. Thank you!
Hi Victoria, You can see all of our tips and tricks for that exact pie in the post Deep Dish Apple Pie. Happy Baking!
I read through it earlier but the crust is a butter and shortening blend. Any modifications in baking if using just all butter crust? Temperature? Bake time? Thank you!
Made this crust for an apple pie for a friendsgiving potluck at work, and received so many compliments. I’ve used pre-made crust in the past, because I was intimidated by making it from scratch. This was very easy! I used a food processor and was extra careful not to overdo it.
★★★★★
I’ve never commented on any recipe I’ve pulled off a website before, (over many years) but the quality of this recipe and Sally’s instructions were just so outstanding, I had to take the time. Do exactly what she tells you to do….I happen to have a good food processor, so I used chopped frozen butter to make the crumb mixture, and then drizzled the ice water in, while pulsing, just until it started to bind. Then, I shaped the dough into two discs, before placing them into the fridge. She’s absolutely right…leave it for at least 2 hours. Her pie crust was incredibly flexible and strong, a dream to work with. I took the scraps and rolled them out 2-3 times to cut leaves, to trim the pie. The dough never lost its flexibility or was too sticky to work with. I used it to bake a pumpkin pie in a ceramic dish, and it turned out amazing. You could hold the slice up to eat it, and yet it was flaky and moist…you could literally see the layers from the side. Delicious! Thank you Sally!
★★★★★
My crust looked beautiful. It was easy to work with and didn’t shrink at all when baked. However, it was really tough. Following your advice that everything be really cold, I cut the butter into chunks and chilled those. They were really cold and solid when I started working them into the flour and it took a LOT of effort. Could that have overworked the dough and caused the crust to be tough? I’ll keep trying!
★★★★★
Hi Fran, overworked pie dough will taste tough when baked. See if you can cut your butter into smaller pieces before working into the dough. That way you won’t have to work it so hard. I hope this helps for next time.
great texture! I used salted butter and just a dash of salt instead and it worked out well also
★★★★★
OK Sally this was my first time making pie crust as an adult by myself so of course I came to your blog. I’ve used many of your recipes over the years without fail. I wasn’t sure which crust to make so I made both the traditional with shortening and also the all butter. I made pies with each to test, one with an old family recipe for chocolate chess pie (traditional crust) and one for your pumpkin pie (all butter crust). The all butter crust was a disaster. I spooned and leveled the flour, put it in a bowl in the freezer for a few hours and cut in frozen butter by barely pulsing with a food processor. I made both the day prior and kept them chilled until I was ready to use them. I put ice packs on my counter before I rolled and I let the dough sit out just long enough to be pliable. The traditional rolled out well and baked well. The all butter stuck to everything even after putting it back in the fridge several times (could still see dots of unmelted butter when rolling) so I used a lot more flour-maybe too much? The all butter also bubbled over when I blind baked (used parchment paper and lots of coins as weights) and the butter dripped to the bottom of the oven making a smoky mess! The all butter was so crunchy after it was pre-baked for pumpkin pie then baked again with filling. It was like cardboard! Any idea what could’ve gone wrong or should I just maybe stick to the traditional with shortening?
Hi Sara, I’m so glad that you tried both pie crust recipes. (I strongly prefer the shortening and butter pie crust because it’s so much easier to work with). For this dough, however, it might be helpful to cut your butter into smaller pieces before mixing into the flour. Smaller pieces will break down a little easier and (likely) won’t stick to everything as you work with it. Even though your dough was sticky, it could have been thirsty– not enough water to help bring the butter and flour together. How much water did you add?
Thank you for the response! I felt like the butter was pretty small but I’ll check for that next time. I honestly can’t remember how much water I added to this one but maybe too much?? I started with the recommended 1/2 c of ice water which is exactly what I used for the traditional but then I read somewhere about thirsty crust so I think I added more than 1/2 cup to the all butter crust but ugh I can’t remember exactly. I did notice after I made the discs that the all butter ones were bigger than the traditional discs. I’m wondering if the extra water/extra stickiness caused me to overwork it or maybe I let it sit out too long before rolling. This was the second one I made and worked with-for the traditional I actually took the temperature of the dough before I started rolling. I was a little more lax by the time I got to the all butter which was clearly a mistake haha. I have the second disc still so maybe I’ll see what happens with that one. The traditional was absolutely perfect though so in the future I’ll probably stick with that one.
After reading through some troubleshooting I’m positive it was too much water in the dough and being impatient at the end with adding 1 tbs at a time. I did much better with the traditional crust and now I know!! Thanks for such a great site 🙂
I’ve tried this recipe multiple times and it never turns out well. It always comes out tough on the upper crust and still a bit soggy at the bottom if I cook it with the filling as some recipes call for (pumpkin). I barely work the dough, and 1/2 cup of ice cold water has never been enough to get it to ball at all, it’s always super dry and falling apart unless I add more water, like a cup of it, which is what I thought was making it turn out hard on the edges (even with pie crust covers on), but that doesn’t seem to be the issue. I would love to know how to get the dough to roll out as smooth as it looks in that picture!? Two stars because at least the rest of the pie is edible.
★★
Hi! Does this recipe leave enough dough for the top of the pie as well, or is just enough to fill the base of the 9” pie plate?
Hi Jeff, this recipe yields enough dough for 2 crusts– 1 for bottom and 1 for top of a 9 inch pie.
Hi Sally! In the process of making the all butter pie crust now. I followed all your steps to a T I think. I weighed out the flour to make sure it was the correct amount. And I rolled the dough out to 12 inches but when I put it in the pie dish which is 9 in, it barely reached the top of the pie dish. I didn’t have any excess. I’m making your brown sugar sweet potato pie, and the batter pretty much covered up the whole pie crust. Did I do something wrong? Just how thin should the pie crust be? I’m not using a deep dish pie pan either. Thank you!
Hi Leanne, thank you so much for the comment. If rolling out to a 12 inch circle, you should have extra dough around the edges in a 9 inch pie dish, especially if you’re not using a deep dish pie pan. I always aim for about 1/8 inch thick. How deep is your pie dish?
Hi thanks so much for the response! My pie dish is 2.06 in deep. I think I didn’t roll it out thin enough. Once the pie crust was baked it was thicker than I thought it was going to be. For the next pie I’m going to roll out the dough a lot thinner. Thank you!
This is pretty much the same recipe I got from my mother-in-law many years ago. I used to do it with a pastry cutter but switched to a food processor – the dough is as good or better . The secret is to use the processor on pulse/low speed until the ingredients are combined then slowly drizzle in cold water until it just starts to crumb up. Should just be like little marbles.
★★★★
I’m making a cold pie, so the crust needs to be baked before I add the filling. Do you happen to have temp and time for this? Thanks!
Hi Hannah! I do. See my How to Blind Bake Pie Crust instructions.
If I’m trying to make one double crusted cherry pie and a single crusted pecan pie, will this recipe be enough or should I make extra?
Hi Sam, you would need to make this twice. Each recipe makes 2 crusts – so if you make it once you will have one top and one bottom crust, then you would need to make it a second time to have a bottom crust for your pecan pie (and you can freeze the other half). I hope this helps!
Hi there! Can I half this recipe to just make 1 pie crust, or does this recipe work best when it’s made as written? Thanks!! 🙂
Hi Jess, I recommend making the dough as written. You can freeze the 2nd pie crust for another time.
A tough crust has to be the result of over-handling, or too little liquid, forcing you to use more pressure to shape the dough prior to the refrigeration phase. Also, you might try leaving the dough disk on the counter for 10 minutes after you take it out of the fridge. If it’s very cold, you need to apply more pressure when rolling it out.
★★★★★
Hi Janie, if I place the shaped pie dough in the freezer before blind baking, I don’t usually thaw it. The point of the freezer is to help set the pie dough’s shape in the pie dish. The colder it is, the less likely it will melt down the sides of the dish.
I’ve made pie crust unsuccessfully a few times and always used store bought after that (which I didn’t find to be that great). I decided to give this a try to make mini turkey pot pies since I had all the ingredients already. I followed the recipe to a T and it came out AMAZING. I was completely blown away, could not believe how great the crust turned out. It had the most amazing texture and flavor! I am totally using this again and going to try a fruit pie next.
★★★★★
Hi sally!!
I couldn’t seem to fold the dough into a large even ball. It kept cracking and falling apart. What did I do wrong? Should it be a perfectly smooth ball before cutting in half? Thanks!
Hi Cari, I’m just seeing this comment now. I’m glad to help. It won’t be a perfectly round ball– dough can be a little scrappy/flaky after mixing in the water. If the dough seems dry and is cracking and falling apart, it likely needs a little more water. Try adding another Tablespoon.