A step-by-step photo tutorial for how to make a pie crust — either 100% by hand or with the help of a food processor — featuring my favorite all-butter homemade pie crust recipe.
I hope that your holiday baking seasons are off to a delicious start! I have two new (naturally-sweetened) pie recipes coming your way later this week that I’m pretty excited about. But before we get to those, I thought it might be helpful to go back to the basics today with a quick refresher on how to make pie crust…
As someone who used to be 100% intimidated by the art of making pie crust from scratch, I’m here today to assure you that homemade pie crust is genuinely much simpler than you might think! All you need are 5 easy ingredients to make pie crust — flour, butter, salt, sugar (optional) and ice water — plus about 15 minutes of active prep time if you would like to make this recipe completely by hand. (Or less than 10 if you happen to own a food processor, which makes this recipe even easier.) Then after just a few simple steps, the most delicious, golden, buttery, flaky homemade pie crust will be ready to bake up in no time.
I initially shared this classic pie crust recipe here on the blog six years ago when I was first venturing into the world of pie crust baking. But now, dozens and dozens of pies later, I’m back today with a big update on this post, including some of the best tips and tricks I’ve learned in these past few years of pie baking, plus new step-by-step photos for how to make this recipe either with a food processor or completely by hand. So whether this is your very first time making pie crust or your fiftieth, my hope is that there will be a little something helpful here for everyone today, and that this recipe might make your holiday season all the more delicious and bright.
Alright, before we get to the recipe, let’s start with some ingredient notes. To make this homemade pie crust recipe, you will need these 5 simple ingredients:
How To Make Pie Crust:
Full detailed steps for how to make pie crust by hand or in a food processor are detailed in the recipe box below. But in a nutshell, you will simply need to…
- Mix the dry ingredients. Either whisked together in a mixing bowl, or pulsed together in a food processor.
- Cut the butter into the dry ingredients: (This is just baking lingo for mixing cold butter into flour.) You can either do this step by hand using a pastry cutter or two forks, or you can do it in a food processor with a few brief pulses. Cut the butter into the dry ingredients until it forms roughly pea-sized clumps. (It’s ok to see some clumps!)
- Add water: While the butter is still nice and cold, use a spatula to quickly mix the ice water into the dough until it is evenly combined and the dough begins to form moist clumps. (If the dough is not sticking together, you can add 1 or 2 more tablespoons of water to help it clump.) Be careful not to overmix the dough during this step of the process; you don’t want to overwork the gluten.
- Form a dough ball: Using your hands, quickly pack the dough into a ball (like you’re packing a snowball) and then flatten it into an even disk.
- Wrap and chill the dough: Wrap the dough disk tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate it for at least 1 hour, or up to 3 days. Then it will be ready to use!
Flaky and Buttery Pie Crust | Chef Jean-Pierre
FAQ
What’s the difference between pie crust and pastry crust?
What are the 3 types of pastry crust?
What does pie crust contain?
Is puff pastry the same as pastry crust?
How do you make a pastry crust?
This pastry crust is perfect for all your fruit and custard tarts and pies. I also use it for empanadas and pot pies. Mix flour and salt together in a large bowl. Cut in butter using a pastry blender until the mixture resembles fine cornmeal. Pour in water slowly; knead dough into a firm ball.
What is shortcrust pastry?
Shortcrust pastry is a French-style dough with a crumbly, biscuit-like texture. This style of dough is “short” because the amount of flour is usually double the amount of fat, allowing it to break apart more easily than American-style pie dough (a closer ratio of flour to fat).
Why do you use pastry flour for pie crust?
Pastry flour pie crust is harder to roll without cracking, and it can split apart at the seams while the pie is baking. That’s why I choose all-purpose flour for my pie crust. The dough is easier to roll out and move around and, despite its slightly higher protein, the crust is wonderfully flaky.
What is pie crust?
That might be obvious to many of us but this kind of pastry dough is known by different names in the English speaking world (see below). Pie crust is a pastry dough that calls for a minimum of half the amount of fat as flour by weight.