RECIPE
Buttery Pie Crust
I think the crust is the most important part of a pie. If the crust isn’t great it really ruins the pie in my eyes. I think a crust needs to be all butter, no crisco. Sorry but I am not a fan of working with Crisco. I have worked on my pie recipe for years. I tweaked the first one I ever came up with and it is delicious. I might have eaten the leftover scraps from the crust.
The key to this pie crust is use that I use all European butter. A quality cold butter makes a huge difference in this recipe. I use frozen butter. The reason is grating the butter is easier this way. I figured most people don’t have a food processor, so the directions for this crust is with a bowl and a good old pastry cutter. In the tips section there is tips on how to make the crust with a food processor.
A few tips about pie crust. It is better to work with a cold pie crust. You don’t want to overwork it and have the butter start melting while rolling it out. If you are using a ceramic pie dish roll out the pie crust a little bit thinner and bake a little bit longer. Pie crusts in a ceramic dish take a little bit longer compared to a glass pie dish or aluminum dish.
That’s the Dish from my Kitchen to your Kitchen ????
Billie-Jo
Ingredients
- 2 ⅔ cup all purpose flour spooned and leveled
- ¼ cup sugar
- 1 cup cold butter
- Sprinkle of salt if needed
- ¼ -⅓ cup of iced cold water or more if needed
Directions
- In a large bowl whisk together flour, sugar and salt.
- Grate in cold butter.
- Using a pastry cutter, cut in butter until a crumb forms.
- Slowly add the water until the dough starts to come together.
- Using a spatula, fold the dough together until a ball starts to form. Using your hands if necessary. Be careful not to overwork the dough.
- Split the dough into two parts. Make two discs and wrap each one in plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for 3 hours.
Tips & Recommendations
Make sure your butter has been in the freezer for at least an hour. I usually throw mine in the night before. Pie crust can be made ahead of time. Keep wrapped in refrigerator for 3 days or freezer for two months. You can use a food processor to make this. Add flour and sugar to food processor. Pulse a few times. Add cubed butter, pulse until a crumble texture. You can now add this to a bowl and add the water. Or slowly add the water to the food processor. I prefer to add the crumble to a bowl and mix the water in that way.