Learn how to make easy homemade flaky butter pie crust recipe with 3 simple ingredients. Loaded with butter and flour. It can be made ahead of time and also frozen.
Pie Crusts are no longer scary and intimidating. This pie crust is so easy with only 3 ingredients that anyone can make it! Not only is it easy, but it is also delicious. How much better can it get? This Oreo Pie Crust {No Bake} is also a great variation to make for your next pie.
How To Make Flaky Butter Pie Crust Recipe From Scratch?
- Add flour and butter- In a large mixing bowl.
- Cut in butter- Use a fork or pastry cutter to mix the butter into the flour.
- Form dough- Add ¼ cup ice cold water and mix gently with your hands until you have a ball of dough.
- Chill dough- Wrap dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate.
- Roll out dough- Sprinkle flour on your countertop and roll out the dough.
- Spread dough- Gently on a 9 inch pie dish.
- Press dough- Use your hands to press it evenly along the sides and bottom.
- Trim crust- Cut off excess dough along the sides with a knife.
- Crimp edges- Or decorate with a fork like I did.
- Bake- Add pie filling and bake according to your pie recipe instructions.
Pie Dough Ingredients
- Flour- You can use All-Purpose flour for this recipe.
- Butter- Use unsalted, chilled, and diced butter.
- Water- Must be ice cold. This helps to bring the dough together.
Is Pie Crust Better With Butter Or Crisco Or Lard?
I use butter because the flavor is truly the best and richest. It also helps create the beautiful flaky crust.
What Does Adding Vinegar to Pie Crust do?
Vinegar slightly inhibits gluten production and therefore tenderizes the dough making it flaky and easy to work with.
What's The Difference Between Pie Crust And Pizza Crust?
Pizza dough is typically made with yeast and a small amount of fat. In contrast, a pie crust is made with a large amount of fat, butter, and no yeast. You don't want a pie crust to rise, whereas that is the goal for a pizza crust.
Blind Baking Pie Crust
Blind baking allows the crust to cook prior to filling the crust and baking the pie. This ensures a flaky and not soggy pie crust.
Variations For Homemade Pie Crust
Mini pie crust- Make small crust in a cupcake tin.
Lattice pie crust- Cut top circle of pie dough in long strips, and then create a lattice crust on top.
Braided pie crust- Cut long strips and braid the dough around the edges of the pie.
Use cookie cutters- Use cookie cutters to place themed shapes (hearts, leaves, pumpkins, etc) of dough on top of the pie.
Tips And Techniques For Very Easy Pie Crust
Use cold butter and cold water- This is super important. Cold butter and water is the key to a flaky tender crust!
Why is my pie crust crumbly and breaking apart? This means the dough is too dry. Simply sprinkle in some COLD water, about a teaspoon, and work the dough till is becomes a ball. This should keep it from crumbling.
Why is my crust soggy? A crust becomes soggy if it isn't baked all the way before filled. The filling can seep into the crust and make it soggy.
Why are there cracks in my crusts? This can mean that the dough is too cold to work with, or it hasn't been chilled long enough for the flour to hydrate and become a soft dough ball.
Why is my pie crust hard? If you add too much water to a pie crust it can cause a lot of gluten production making the dough and crust hard.
Why did my pie crust shrink? This means the dough did not have enough time to "rest", which is what it is doing for the 4 hours, or overnight, in the fridge. This "rest" time allows the gluten to relax in the dough so that it won't shrink.
Why did my pie crust stick to the pan? There are 2 possibilities here. 1 is that the crust had cracks in it and the pie filling seeped between the crust and the pan. Another possibility is that the pie pan needed to be greased so that the crust doesn't stick.
How much crust does this recipe make? This makes a single pie crust. Simply double the ingredients to make a double crust.
What to do with leftover pie dough? It can be stored in the fridge, or wrapped in saran wrap, for up to 3 days. It can be used to make mini pies or pie crust cookies.
Storage For Best Butter Pie Crust
Refrigerate- Cover the crust well with saran wrap and foil and refrigerate for up to 3 days.
Freeze- Wrap the crust in saran wrap, and foil, and place in a freezer safe bag. It will be good for up to 2 months.
Reheat- Thaw and bake according to the recipe you are using.
More Easy Pie Recipes
- Cranberry Pie {No Bake}
- Easy Sweet Potato Pie
- Easy Apple Crumble Pie
- Easy Peach Pie
- Easy Cherry Pie
- Easy Blueberry Pie
- No Bake Oreo Pie
- Easy Pumpkin Pie Recipe {5 Ingredients}
- Easy Homemade Apple Pie Recipe
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Recipe
How to Make Pie Crust
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Ingredients
- 1 ¼ cups All-purpose flour
- ½ cup Butter Unsalted, Chilled, Diced
- ¼ cup Water Ice cold, Additional 2-3 teaspoon water may be needed
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, add flour and butter.
- Use a fork or pastry cutter to mix the butter into the flour until you have a crumbly mixture.
- Add ¼ cup ice cold water and mix gently with your hands until you have a ball of dough.
- If dough is dry, add 1 teaspoon of cold water at a time and mix until you have a ball of dough.
- Wrap dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 4 hours or preferably overnight.
- Sprinkle flour on your countertop and roll out the dough.
- Spread the dough gently on a 9 inch pie dish.
- Use your hands to press it evenly along the sides and bottom.
- Cut off excess dough along the sides with a knife.
- Crimp the edges or decorate with a fork like I did.
- Add pie filling and bake according to your pie recipe instructions.
Notes
- Read all my tips above.
- This recipe provides a single crust. Double all the ingredients in this recipe to make double pie crust.
- Leftover pie dough can be stored in the fridge, wrapped in saran wrap, for up to 3 days. It can be used to make mini pies or pie crust cookies.
Nutrition
An automated tool is used to calculate the nutritional information. As such, I cannot guarantee the accuracy of the nutritional information provided for any recipe on this site.
Jane
Thank you so so much for your Great recipe and all your fantastic tips on making great pies and how to over come some of the problems that one might encounter along the way. I so appreciate your time in doing this.
Terry M.
yes I made this recipe. My go to recipe when making a pie