How To Make A Pie Crust
To start, youll whisk together the all-purpose flour, salt, and sugar. Then add the cold cubed butter and cold vegetable shortening and cut it into the dry ingredients with a pastry cutter. If you dont have a pastry cutter you can also use a fork to cut the fat into the flour mixture.
If you want to make this step even easier, feel free to use a food processor. If you do use a food processor, I recommend just pulsing the mixture. You want to see pea-sized pieces of fat, but a few larger pieces are fine too.
Next, youll slowly mix in your ice water. One tablespoon at a time is the perfect amount, so you dont end up with too much water in your dough and a sticky mess. The recipe calls for 1/2 cup of ice water, but you may not need the full amount. Just use enough ice water to get the dough to come together.
Once you add enough water, the mixture will start to look like the picture above and when you squeeze it in your hand it will hold together. Just try not to use your hands too much when making the dough because your hands are warm and can quickly melt the fat in your dough.
Once the dough comes together, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and gently pack it into a ball. Cut the dough in half and flatten it out into two discs. Wrap each disc of dough tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate them for at least one hour. You may also store these in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. If its too hard to roll, just let it sit at room temperature for 10 to 15 minutes.
How To Make The Apple Pie
Peel, core and cut the apples, and sprinkle them with a little lemon juice or apple cider vinegar to keep from browning. Toss them with a little flour, sugar, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, and vanilla, and let the filling sit while you roll out the pie crusts.
Remove the dough disks from the refrigerator and let them sit for 10 to 15 minutes before rolling one of the disks out to 12-inch circles, about 1/8″-inch thick.
Line the bottom of a 9-inch pie plate and line with the rolled out dough. Trim the edges to a half-inch from the sides of the pie pan. Scoop the apples into the pie plate and create a mound in the center. Don’t worry if the apples are high in the pan, they’ll shrink as they cook.
Roll out the second pie dough disk. If you want to make a lattice pie, see our directions for making a lattice pie here. Otherwise, place the second round of rolled out pie dough over the apples, and tuck the edges of the top pie crust over and under the bottom pie crust edges. Crimp with your fingers to seal.
Score the top in several places to create vents for steam to escape .
How To Prepare A Prebaked Pie Crust
Many recipes call for a fully baked or partially baked pie crust. A baked pie crust is generally needed for a filling that will not be baked. A partially baked pie crust crust is often called for a custard filling. We always partially bake a crust for pumpkin pie, bean pie, chess pies, and sweet potato pie even if the recipe calls for a baked crust. That extra 10 to 15 minutes of baking time ensures a fully cooked bottom crust. It ensures that you have no soggy bottom. For desserts, however, you might want to consider an all-butter pie pastry.
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What Type Of Flour Should You Use In Pie Crust
I recommend using a high quality all purpose flour. I love Bobs Red Mill Unbleached All Purpose Flour, but honestly, you can use whatever all purpose flour you have on hand and it will work!
You might ask why I dont use pastry flour in my pie dough. I mean, I get the question because essentially a pie crust is a type of pastry. And when I tested pie crust with pastry flour, there is no denying that the crust was delicious and very tender, as pastry four has less protein than all purpose, BUT it didnt hold up as a crust as well as the crust made with all purpose flour. If you are looking for a flaky, yet sturdy crust for your pie, I definitely recommend all purpose flour.
Can You Use A Food Processor To Make Pie Crust
Absolutely you can! Start by cutting your shortening into small cubes and mixing the flour around them in the food processor, using the pulse button on your machine, if you have one. When you use a machine, youll notice that the blades of the processor accomplish the cutting much faster, so make sure you do not over-mix your flour. When using the food processor, its best to start with very cold shortening.
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How To Roll Out Pie Crust
After the dough has chilled, start preparing your pie. Roll out the crust. Always use gentle force. You are not mad at the crust. When rolling dough out, always start from the center and work your way out in all directions, turning the dough with your hands as you go.
Turn, roll, turn, roll.
Roll the dough to fit a 9-inch pie dish. I typically roll the dough into a 12-inch circle so that there is enough crust to go up the edges of the dish and so I can trim and flute.
Do NOT be overwhelmed. I made sure to break everything down as detailed as possible. Be sure to read through additional tips and troubleshooting below. Let me know about your pie adventures!
- Total Time:2 hours, 15 minutes
- Yield:2 pie crusts
- 6 Tablespoons unsalted butter, chilled and cubed
- 2/3 cup vegetable shortening, chilled
- 1/2 cup ice water
Making The Dough By Food Processor Or By Hand
The folks at Cooks Illustrated insist on using a food processor for this method. We sort of agree It makes making the flour and butter paste easy.
Use the food processor to make the paste then add the remaining flour. Pulse a few times then transfer everything to a bowl and add water until the dough comes together. .
Using the food processor eliminates variability. If you have one, use it.
With all that said, we hate cleaning dishes and since a food processor means 5 parts to clean we tried this method by hand.
It worked.
We used a pastry cutter to cut the butter into part of the flour and made it as close to a paste as possible. The flour was moistened by the butter and the mixture looked like fresh breadcrumbs it was not powdery from flour. Then, we cut in the remaining flour and added water until the dough came together.
The dough made by hand was just as easy to roll out and turned out just as flaky. In fact, the photo above is actually from dough made by hand, not the food processor.
So, if you dont have a food processor or are like us and hate the extra dishes, give making it by hand a go.
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Easy Homemade Pie Crust Recipe
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Simple and delicious homemade pie crust recipe that is perfect for any type of pie. Flaky and delicious, this is my go to pie crust recipe.
While Im not opposed to using a premade pie crust when time is of the essence, nothing beats a homemade pie crust for creating the perfect tasting pie.
There are a number of great recipes out there, but this is the one I use the most. It produces a flaky and flavorful crust that is versatile enough to use with any type of pie.
I make this recipe for many of my holiday pies, but its also my go to crust for fresh fruit pies during the summer.
Make sure to bookmark or pin this recipe so you can find it the next time you have a fresh baked pie to make.
This recipe makes enough dough for two pie crusts. Its perfect for a single pie with a double crust or two open top pies.
Related Recipe:Apple pie from canned apples
How To Freeze Pie Crust
This pie pastry can be made ahead and frozen for later. Simply form the dough into a flat discs, wrap it tightly in beeswax or plastic wrap, place it into a freezer bag, and store in the freezer. Thaw the dough in the refrigerator the day before making your pie, and then you can roll and shape the pie crust like normal. For the best results, use frozen pie pastry within 2 months.
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Homemade Pie Crust Recipe
An easy tutorial on how to make your own homemade pie crust! This recipe uses just a few simple ingredients and turns out perfect every single time. This post also includes several different ways that you can use this pie crust recipe!
Making your own pie crust should never be intimidating. In fact, if you have a good recipe and instructions its actually pretty easy.
If youve been following me for a while youve probably seen this pie crust recipe at some point. But today I wanted to share this simple recipe with you again because its one that I use all of the time! Youll absolutely love this recipe because its:
- Super flaky
- Uses simple pantry staples you likely have on hand
- Tastes better than anything that you can buy at the store
Trust me when I say that youll never go back to buying store-bought pie crust again once you learn how to make your own!
The Importance Of Venting
It might seem like a pretty decoration, but adding slits, a hole, or a lattice design creates ventilation. As the filling heats up, it creates steam. You need a way for it to escape. The vent concentrates the fillings flavor and consistency and prevents sogginess.
An open weave is excellent for juicier fruit fillings like blueberries. But if you like a more liquidy texture like for cherry or apple pies, add several shallow cuts or a large circle about 1-inch in diameter in the center.
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Why I Use Shortening And Butter
Not all fats are created equal. I use a mix of shortening and butter because they work together to make the BEST crust. Butter adds flavor and flakiness, while shortening helps the dough stay pliable which is helpful when youre rolling and shaping it. Plus, its high melting point is advantageous because it helps the crust stay tender while still maintaining shape.
A Tasty Experiment: I recently performed an experiment. The tastiest kind, of course. I prepared an all-butter version to compare to my beloved butter/shortening crust. One thing was clear: the all-butter crust created a lighter textured crust with more defined flakes. This is due to the butters water content. As the crust bakes, the butters water converts to steam, creating light flakes. Get it? Because of all this butter, I found that the all-butter crust didnt have a perfectly neat-edged crust. The all-butter crust tasted like pure butter. The butter/shortening crust was just as flaky and tender in my opinion and tasted buttery and like pie crust . Both crusts were great. But the butter/shortening won in terms of texture, flavor, and appearance. This KA Flour blog post had similar results .
All Butter Vs Shortening Vs Mixed Crusts
Pie crusts are made by working fat into flour when the fat melts during baking, it leaves behind layers of crispy, flaky crust. Yum. But just what fat you use in your pie is a matter of much debate one that really boils down to personal preference. While some people prefer lard and shortening crusts because they can be easier to work with, I prefer all-butter crusts because of their lovely, rich flavor. Here, Im sharing my go-to method for making an all-butter pie crust, which I promise is practically foolproof.
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Also Invest In A Pastry Cutter
This is one of those annoying kitchen tools that always gets stuck in your drawer and takes up space. I know, its annoying. And trust me, my pastry cutter is pretty mangled, but it does the job. Its just the easiest tool to use to cut butter into a pie dough. Theyre cheap, so its not a huge investment, and I will tell you they are useful in other ways beyond pie crust! We use ours for making guacamole! haha!
BUT if you dont have a pastry cutter and youre not planning on buying one, here are a few option s of things you can use in its place:
- A Fork. This will take a little longer, and the tines are spaced closer together than a pastry blender, but it will work.
- Food Processor. I know lots of folks who swear by a food processor when making pie dough. Its actually a great idea, because you pulse it until its done and you have less chance of overworking your ingredients. Im just lazy and hate pulling my food processor out!
- Butter Knives. Two butter knives can do the trick as well, its just a little bit more tricky!
- A Cheese Grater. I only recommend using a cheese grater if you freeze your butter. Otherwise it gets a little mushy!
- You Hands. This is a last resort because the heat of your hands warms the butter pretty quickly. So if this is what you plan on doing, again, freeze your butter!
When To Blind Bake A Pie Crust
When fillings that dont need to be baked or precooked like creams and custards, then you can blind bake the crust. This method is the process of thoroughly cooking the bottom crust to be filled later and served.
The process initially starts with adding pie weights or beans to prevent puffing up, then removing them to complete cooking until golden brown and crisp. Fillings that are wetter, like pumpkin or egg custards, need some partial baking, so the bottom doesnt get too soggy, about 10 to 30 minutes.
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How To Crimp The Edges
For a single crust edge, use the tines of a fork to press down and crimp. Alternatively, make a fluted design using your thumb and pointer fingers, working your way all around.
Crimping not only creates an attractive edge but also locks in the filling for double and lattice tops. Once you place the top crust on, leave about ½ to ¾-inch overhang. Press the bottom and top edges together, so they seal, then tuck the dough under the rim of the pie dish.