Description
This easy pie crust recipe delivers a flaky, buttery crust perfect for sweet or savory pies. Made with simple ingredients like all-purpose flour, cold butter, ice water, and apple cider vinegar, this crust is easily prepared using a food processor and allows for flexible chilling time. The dough is formed into disks, chilled, then rolled out and shaped to perfectly fit your pie plate, ready for your favorite filling and baking.
Ingredients
Pie Dough
- 2⅔ cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
- ¾ teaspoon sea salt
- 20 tablespoons cold unsalted butter (2½ sticks, cut into ¼-inch pats)
- 6 tablespoons ice water
- 1 teaspoon cold apple cider vinegar
Instructions
- Combine flour and salt: In a food processor, add 1⅔ cups of the all-purpose flour along with the sea salt and pulse briefly to mix them evenly.
- Add butter and pulse: Distribute the cold, cut butter pats evenly over the flour mixture. Pulse the food processor until the butter is well incorporated and the dough starts to form clumps with no dry flour visible.
- Add remaining flour and pulse again: Spread the butter-flour mixture evenly in the processor bowl and sprinkle the remaining 1 cup of flour evenly on top. Pulse briefly until the mixture becomes crumbly.
- Mix dough with water and vinegar: Transfer the crumbly dough to a large bowl. Sprinkle the ice water and cold apple cider vinegar on top. Use a spatula to fold and press the dough gently until it just comes together into a ball.
- Form and chill dough disks: Divide the dough ball into two equal halves and pat each into a 1-inch-thick disk. Wrap each disk tightly in plastic wrap. Chill in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours or up to 2 days to firm up and develop flavor.
- Roll out first dough disk: On a lightly floured surface, place one chilled dough disk. Lightly flour the top and roll it out with a rolling pin into a large circle about ⅛-inch thick. The circle should be approximately 1 inch larger than your pie plate all around. Rotate the dough every few rolls to prevent sticking and occasionally dust with flour and flip to maintain texture.
- Transfer dough to pie plate: Roll the dough around your rolling pin and carefully unroll it over the pie plate. Press the dough gently into the bottom and sides of the plate. Trim edges to leave a ½-inch overhang, then cover loosely with plastic wrap and chill.
- Roll out second disk: Repeat the rolling process with the remaining dough disk, rolling out into another ⅛-inch thick circle, ready to be used as a top crust or for another pie.
- Assemble and bake: Proceed with assembling your pie according to your filling recipe and bake as directed. This crust is versatile and can be paired with any pie filling of your choice.
Notes
- Keep all ingredients, especially butter and water, very cold to ensure a flaky crust.
- Do not overwork the dough to avoid tough crust; handle it gently when folding and rolling.
- Chilling the dough for at least 2 hours helps hydrate the flour and firms the butter, improving texture.
- If you don’t have a food processor, you can use a pastry cutter or two knives to cut the butter into the flour.
- Apple cider vinegar enhances the dough's tenderness but can be omitted if unavailable.
- Use parchment paper to roll out the dough if you want to avoid excess flour and sticking.
- Freeze unused dough disks wrapped tightly for up to one month.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 0 minutes (pre-baking not included)
- Category: Baking
- Method: Blending
- Cuisine: American
