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Homemade pie crusts are about a thousand times more flavorful, flaky, and tender than the store-bought kind. It takes a little bit of extra work to get a perfect pie crust, but it absolutely does not need to be as intimidating as it may seem.
Until the dough comes together in a cohesive ball, it seems like something has gone wrong. Not to mention all of the frustrations when pie dough shrinks or loses its shape after baking. I’ve factored in as many potential pie crust woes into this recipe to make it as foolproof as possible.
I actually completely overhauled my pie crust recipe in 2020 to make it even more tender and flaky. I took a bunch of feedback I’d received over the years from readers to improve the recipe and I’m SO happy with the results. Take a look at just how FLAKY:
I spent weeks testing, experimenting, and researching different pie dough methods, tips, and tricks. Some worked, others didn’t.
I’m sharing a ton of tips that truly work in this post, so let’s go ahead and get right into the juicy stuff. (Or should I say flaky stuff?)
How to Make the Best Ever Pie Crust
For Flaky Pie Crust, Keep Everything COLD, Especially Your Butter
If your kitchen is above 73°F, you can refrigerate all of your ingredients and equipment including your bowl, rolling pin, and pie plate until it’s between 65-70°F (dip an instant-read thermometer into your flour to gauge the temperature). If it’s a hot day, or you have hot hands, you’re probably better off making your pie dough in a food processor.
If your kitchen is warm, fill freezer bags with ice and a little water and set them on your work surface for 10 minutes to chill it before rolling out your pie dough. This will prevent the butter from becoming greasy as you work with the dough.
Pea-Sized vs. Large Chunks of Butter in Pie Dough
- The general rule of thumb is that smaller pieces of butter will result in a more mealy textured crust that holds up better to custard fillings.
- Larger chunks of butter will yield a flakier crust better suited for fruit fillings. Larger chunks also run the risk of creating pools of butter as your pie dough bakes.
- Overall, the differences can look relatively minor from a visual perspective once the crusts are baked.
- If you don’t have a ton of pie dough experience or confidence, I’d recommend small pieces of butter. It makes the dough much easier to work with!
- Take a look at what a difference it makes to use pea-sized vs. large chunks of butter in pie crust:
Cut the Butter Into Small Uniform Pieces
It should take just a couple of minutes to cut the butter into the flour mixture so you don’t risk the butter getting too hot. For this reason, it’s helpful to start out with pieces of butter that are already small in size. I’ve included several options for processing the butter below. My personal favorite is to grate it like cheese!
Method 1: Grater or Knife
Take your butter and freeze it for about 10 minutes, or until it’s super cold and firm. Using the large holes on a grater, literally grate the butter like cheese. If you have it, you can use the grater attachment on your food processor, but otherwise use the large holes on a box grater. Return the grated butter to the freezer for another 10 minutes until it’s firm before adding into the flour mixture.
If you don’t have a box grater, freeze your butter for even longer, until firm, then use a sharp knife or bench scraper to slice it into chunks.
Working quickly, use your hands to further cut and break the butter into pieces the size of small peas. You can also use a pastry cutter/blender or two knives.
Method 2: Food Processor
Since I live in Phoenix where temperatures often exceed 85°F, I typically use a food processor to make pie dough. It’s quick, easy, and prevents the butter from warming up too much. Cube your sticks of butter with a bench scraper and freeze until firm. Add into the dry ingredients in the bowl of the food processor with the butter and pulse until the butter is the size of peas.
You want the butter to end up the size of little peas. This will help bring the dough together cohesively without overworking it.
Overworking the pie dough develops more gluten, which can make the baked crust tough and dense instead of light and flaky. This can also cause the crust to shrink while it’s baking. Additionally, overworking the dough with your hands can start to melt the butter, preventing that flaky texture from forming.
Creating pea-sized bits of butter will also prevent the butter from pooling into greasy puddles as the pie bakes. I used to use larger chunks of butter and would encounter these grease pools too often, so I’ve scaled back to much smaller pieces.
How Much Water to Use For Pie Dough?
This is one of the trickiest parts of making pie dough. The reason is that many factors affect how much ice water you’ll need to add, such as the climate and humidity of your kitchen and the brand of flour you’re using. That’s why the recipe calls for a range of water. Add half of the total amount to start with. Toss it in to combine either by hand or with a few pulses of the food processor.
Pick up a piece of the mixture and pinch it between your fingers. It should hold its shape. If it crumbles away or seems really floury and dry, then you need to add more water.
At this point, I like to turn the mixture out onto a work surface and begin pressing it together into one messy lump of dough. Doing so will give you a better indication if you need to add more water.
The dough won’t look like much at first. It’ll be kind of craggly and messy looking, and that’s okay.
Once you have a fairly cohesive mound of dough, flatten it into a disk and fold it onto itself, kneading gently as you work.
Do this a couple of times to ‘laminate’ the dough. Every fold will give you more flaky layers. Just be careful to be gentle and work the dough only until it comes together into a smooth cohesive disk like this:
If you were to cut the mass in half, such as for a double-crust pie, you can visibly see the layers of butter thanks to that extra folding step. These layers are going to bake into crispy, tender, flaky goodness:
Give the Dough a Rest
If you have problems with your crusts shrinking while baking OR if your crust becomes tough, then it needs more time to rest so the gluten can relax so it doesn’t snap back to its original smaller shape. I’ve included these resting periods in the recipe directions.
After mixing it: wrap it in plastic and refrigerate overnight. You can shorten this to a few hours if you must, but I find overnight really makes a difference in preventing classic pie issues.
After rolling it out: let it rest in the fridge after you’ve rolled it out and placed it in the pie dish and/or after you’ve assembled. Do NOT stretch the dough to fit into the tin, as it will snap back like a rubber band while baking.
Now let’s move on to the other area of pie crust that I think frustrates a lot of people.
How to Roll Out Pie Dough
I typically roll out my dough on a marble pastry board, but that is totally optional. You can use the trick I mentioned above of icing down your counter before rolling to help keep things nice and cool. Avoid overworking the dough as you roll it out. Keep the dough moving on a lightly floured surface so you don’t roll over the same areas repeatedly, making it tough.
You’ll want about a 12-inch diameter for a 9-inch pie pan. Some pans are deeper than others, so factor that into your rolling. Whatever you do, make sure the thickness is about 1/8-inch for your pie crusts. Thinner will result in rips and tears. Thicker and it won’t cook through and get flaky.
Flour your work surface, the dough itself, and your rolling pin throughout the process as needed. There are two inexpensive tools that I find are both a MUST when it comes to rolling out pie dough: a flour shaker and a bench scraper.
The flour shaker allows you to easily add flour wherever sticking might be happening. The bench scraper allows you to easily keep the dough moving as you roll it out, which is essential. I keep the dough moving in quarter-turns to prevent sticking and to keep it an even thickness.
Alternatively, you can roll the pie dough out between two sheets of parchment paper or plastic wrap. I find that most non-commercial paper and plastic wrap isn’t big enough to accommodate a 12- to 14-inch diameter circle, so I don’t often use this method.
If at any point the butter begins to get melty and sticky, return the dough to the fridge immediately.
Use your fingers to flute the edges of the pan if you wish. I find that I need to make a more dramatic flute than I might think since the design will loosen during baking. Whatever you do, don’t make the flute too thick and heavy, otherwise it’ll slump down the sides.
More Dough Than Other Recipes?
You might notice in the recipe below that I call for more ingredients than other recipes. This is because I think it’s easier to work with dough when you have a little more than you may need. It comes together more cohesively and if you get any rips, tears, or make any mistakes with a design, you have extra.
This especially comes in handy if you have a deeper pie dish or if you want to get fancy with any designs.
Pie Crust: Butter vs. Shortening?
I’ve done an extensive amount of testing on pie crust. Let’s just say my kitchen has seen a LOT of butter. I made the messes and did the testing so you don’t have to. Here’s what I learned.
When it comes to pie dough, I’ve heard a lot of confusing and conflicting opinions about which is the better fat. If you’re curious, you can learn more about the general differences between butter and shortening here. But I actually tested the two fats in pie crust side-by-side to compare. I still need to do testing with lard, so stay tuned for that!
Shortening
All-shortening dough can be easier to work with in one sense because unlike butter, shortening requires less chilling time. Shortening has a higher melting temperature than butter. However, this also means that unlike the very hard chunks of cold butter that remain in the control dough, shortening is soft enough that it is easily overworked, resulting in a crumbly crust instead of a flaky crust. In our blind-baked shortening crust, the parchment paper holding the pie weights actually stuck to the crust, pulling some of it off with it.
As you can see in the photograph, the all-shortening dough ended up being flat, tender, and fairly crumbly. The texture was actually reminiscent of shortbread, and it was completely lacking in flavor. In fact, the flavor reminded me of store-bought dough.
Butter
In this all-butter dough, there were plenty of visible chunks of butter studded throughout. Once it came together and was chilled, it was a bit of a challenge to maintain that perfect temperature where it’s warm enough to shape but cold enough that the butter doesn’t melt. Especially for me living in the desert. The extra effort paid off immensely, though. This pie crust was ridiculously light, flaky, and loaded with rich buttery flavor. You could immediately tell this was homemade, in the best way. This is why I almost always prefer a 100% butter pie crust.
If you like the benefits of shortening, then I’d recommend a 50-50 ratio of butter and shortening to get the best of both worlds.
Other Pie Crust “Tricks” Put to the Test
Vodka in Pie Crust?
A few reputable sources have claimed that by substituting a portion of the water with vodka in a pie crust recipe, you prohibit gluten development and therefore ensure a tender, flaky crust. I tested this against my standard pie crust recipe and found the differences to be slight. I don’t think it’s worth the extra effort if you don’t have chilled vodka on hand.
Optional SECRET Ingredient!!
As you can see, I’ve done a lot of side-by-side testing of pie crust variations. Most of the time the classic recipe has won out, with a single exception: SOUR CREAM!
Sour cream acts as a tenderizer in baked goods, and I was curious to see if it would significantly affect the texture of pie crust.
- I added 2 tablespoons of sour cream to my standard single recipe along with the butter.
- This dough was very soft and slightly sticky, but easy enough to work with.
- The texture was ultra-light, puffy, and flaky, almost like puff pastry.
- This pie crust puffed up to a surprising height.
- If you have sour cream handy, I definitely suggest giving it a shot.
How to Add Sour Cream
Add in 2 tablespoons to the single recipe below, and reduce the water by about 2 tablespoons, or as needed.
Can you Make Pie Dough Ahead of Time?
Yes! Here are your options:
1. Chilling the dough disk: Pastry dough can be shaped into a disc and refrigerated for up to 3 days, as long as it’s well wrapped in plastic.
2. Chilling the unbaked pie shells: Refrigerate for up to 3 days. Simply roll out your dough, lay it into your pie tin, crimp the edges, and cover loosely with plastic wrap. When ready, simply remove from the fridge, fill, and bake. This works perfectly for single-crust pies like pumpkin or sweet potato.
3. Freezing dough: Pastry dough can also be shaped into a disc and frozen for up to 2 months, well wrapped in plastic, and placed in a freezer bag or airtight container. Defrost in the fridge overnight before rolling out.
4. Freezing pie shells: Unbaked pie shells can also be covered and frozen for up to 2 months. No thawing necessary.
How to Bake Pie Dough
I’ve included instructions on how to blind-bake the crust for recipes that require an already-baked crust. Otherwise, just follow the directions in the pie recipe you’re following for baking the crust – or, check out my full article on How to Blind Bake Pie Crust here!
The Best Pie Pan for the Best Pie Crust
The material of your pie pan can make a big difference in how your pie bakes. I recently used this Best Ever Pie Crust recipe to experiment with different pie pans, to determine which pie pan is best. Check out my Best Pie Pan article here to see my side-by-side experiments using glass, ceramic, metal, and disposable pie pans, and learn which pie pans I recommend.
Expert Tip!
Place your pie pan on a rimmed baking sheet before putting in the oven. This helps you to remove the pie tin without damaging the crust with your oven mitts. Better yet? Place the sheet on a BAKING STONE to ensure a golden crispy bottom crust and avoid any sogginess.
Check Out These Pie Recipes:
- Caramel Apple Pie
- Pecan Pie
- Thanksgiving Apple Pie
- Easy Pumpkin Pie
- Browned Butter Maple Pecan Pie (Without Corn Syrup!)
Best Ever Pie Crust
Ingredients
Single crust:
- 1 1/2 cups (191 grams) all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
- 3/4 teaspoon fine salt
- 10 tablespoons (142 grams) cold unsalted butter
- 4 to 6 tablespoons ice cold water
Double crust:
- 3 cups (381 grams) all-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons fine salt
- 2 1/2 sticks (284 grams) cold unsalted butter
- 1/2 cup to 3/4 cup ice cold water
Instructions
Make the dough:
By hand:
- Freeze your butter for 10 minutes, or until very cold. Grate the butter using the large holes of a box grater (or using the grater attachment of your food processor – see below). Return grated butter to freezer for another 10 minutes. Alternatively, you can also shred frozen butter into shards using a sharp knife.
- In a deep, medium-sized mixing bowl, combine the flour, sugar, and salt. Add the cold grated butter, tossing to combine. Working quickly, use your hands to further cut and break the butter into pieces the size of small peas. You can also use a pastry blender or two knives.
- Drizzle a few tablespoons of water on the mixture and toss to moisten. Continue adding the remaining water until the dough sticks together and stays stuck when pressed between two fingers. It’s okay if the dough is still crumbly and messy.
- Turn the mixture out onto a clean work surface. Use your hands to press the dough together into a craggily mass. Gently fold one half of the dough over and onto itself, repeating this three times, until it’s come together into a cohesive mass.
- Use a bench scraper to cut the dough in half (if making double crust). Wrap each half in plastic. Press down each plastic-wrapped dough to create a 4-inch wide disk shape. Refrigerate at least six hours, preferably overnight.
By food processor:
- Freeze your butter until hardened, then use the grater attachment of your food processor to shred it. If you don't have the grater attachment, use a bench scraper to cube cold but not frozen butter into 1/2-inch pieces. Freeze the cubed butter for 10 minutes.
- In the bowl of a food processor, add the flour, sugar, and salt. Pulse a few times to combine. Add the cold grated or cubed butter and pulse for about 30 seconds, or until the butter pieces are uniform in size.
- Drizzle a few tablespoons of water on the mixture and pulse briefly a few times to moisten. Continue adding the remaining water until the dough sticks together and stays stuck when pressed between two fingers. It’s okay if the dough is still crumbly and messy.
- Turn the mixture out onto a clean work surface. Use your hands to press the dough together into a craggily mass. Gently fold one half of the dough over and onto itself, repeating this three times, until it’s come together into a cohesive mass.
- Use a bench scraper to cut the dough in half (if making double crust). Wrap each half in plastic. Press down each plastic-wrapped dough to create a 4-inch wide disk shape. Refrigerate at least six hours, preferably overnight.
Roll out the dough:
- Let the dough sit at room temperature for 5 to 10 minutes, or until slightly pliable.
- Roll the dough out on a floured work surface. Keep turning the dough after every roll to ensure it doesn’t stick to the counter and is of even thickness. Add additional flour to the dough, the counter, and your rolling pin as needed. Roll out into a 12-inch circle about 1/8-inch thick.
- Gently roll the dough up and around the rolling pin, then unroll and drape over a 9-inch pie tin. Gently press into the pie tin, being careful to avoid stretching it to fit. Use scissors or a knife to trim the excess dough, leaving a 1-inch overhang. Fold the overhang under itself and crimp or flute. Pierce the base of the dough with a fork.
- Repeat above rolling process if making a double crust pie.
- Wrap the dough in plastic and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, or overnight. At this point, consult your recipe directions for how to use the dough or follow options below.
Bake dough:
- If the pie recipe calls for a prebaked shell, preheat the oven to 425°F. For an extra crispy bottom crust, place your oven rack on the bottom shelf and if you have one, bake on a preheated baking stone.
- Line the chilled crust with foil. Fill the crust completely to the rim with pie weights, granulated sugar, rice, or dried beans.
- Place on a rimmed baking pan.
- To par-bake if baking again with filling:
- Bake for 15 to 17 minutes, or until just beginning to brown and no longer raw.
To bake completely:
- Bake for 20 minutes or until solidified. Remove foil and weights. Continue to bake until totally browned at the edges with light browning in the center, about another 7 to 10 minutes.
This post was originally published in 2017 and updated with recipe improvements, updated tips, and new photos. Photos by Ashley McLaughlin.
HTH Community Pies
Take a look at these pies using this recipe, all made by HTH community members – many of whom had previously struggled to master pie dough! Follow the tips in this article to bake pies that look like these:
Made homemade Mater pie with this crust and it was phenomenal!!
I saw on Julia’s PBS show years and years ago; this woman took her rolling pin and whacked the dough after it came out of the refrigerator. Julia asked her why – Flaker crust. So I’ve always whacked first the rolled.
haha, interesting! Love watching Julia’s show too. Thanks for the comment, Cathy!
(Most of the comments/questions about the pie dough are from 2017. I hope you’re still answering new ones.)
So in your YouTube video on rolling out pie dough, you make it a point to say that you find pea sized chunks of butter to be too small and recommend larger chunks for a flakier crust. But in this recipe, you specifically say “pea sized”, or even recommend grating your butter on a box grater. So which is it?
Hi Alan! The recipe that the YouTube video follows is from an old recipe from 2017. We actually noted in this post that the previous pie recipe was completely overhauled as Tessa took feedback that she’s received over the years from readers to improve the recipe. Please follow the recipe on our site 🙂
Absolutely perfect each time!
I love how detailed you get- thank you! I like to know the whys and understand everything but am not about to embark on these experiments myself! FYI my new favorite ever crust is using half lard, half butter- can’t wait to get your thoughts on lard
I’m so glad to hear this helps, I absolutely love experimenting in the kitchen and sharing my results! Still need to test lard 🙂
Hi, thanks for the detailed testing and explanations. Wondering if you’ve ever tried cake and pastry flour vs. All purpose?
I haven’t, I’ve always preferred all purpose flour in pie crust because of its protein content. The dough is also easier to roll out and move around but is still super flaky.
I’m so confused. The instructions clearly stated to cut the butter into “small sized peas” but your response in the comment section says “small sized peas” is too small and the butter will melt while being mixed. Please clarify!
Also, instructions say to refrigerate overnight after mixing, then refrigerate overnight after rolled dough is placed in pie pan. 2 overnights to bake a pie? Seriously … I have never been so confused by a recipe, but I really want to try this all butter pie crust.
Hi Sally! This recipe was revised in 2020, the comment you were referring to was posted back in 2017. Definitely follow the written instructions and the tips I share in the pink box for the pea-sized butter. The overnight times are optional, I share how many hours you can do instead! Hope you give this recipe a try!
Thank you for taking the time to respond!
Really appreciate it so much.
Happy to help!
I have an issue with the all butter pie crust. I use good quality ingredients but when I try to blind bake a crust it just melts and starts to droop down the sides leaving melted butter in the crust. I freeze the crust prior to baking and line the crust with pie weights. I have a very expensive thermometer in the oven so I know the temperature is correct. What is the problem and how might I solve it? Also I have not been able to receive your Pie Crust Troubleshooting Guide.
Never been able to roll out a pie crust until this recipe. Great find
My pie crust shrank and went down in my pecan pie along with my decorative crust leavesI even had it hanging a bit over when I read about shrinkage. But wow really shrank I’m cooking pumpkin as I write and it is doing same thing. I’ve always used butter for my crust but not the amount of water and sour cream thought it would work because I needed to make the crust and refrigerate.
I am a good cook with decades of experience, but I am a HORRIBLE pie crust maker. This is the first pie crust I’ve ever made that actually lived up to the promise of being the best pie crust ever! It was easy to roll out, completely gorgeous in the pie plate, it was flaky, buttery and super flavorful. I actually ended up using all 6 tablespoons of water because I tend to make crappy pie dough that’s crumbly and hard to hold together, but not this one. And that folding technique is something I use to make biscuits but I never thought to apply that method to a pie crust – THOSE LAYERS ARE ON POINT! I just couldn’t be happier with the resulting pecan pie it became! Thank you for so many great tips for a truly perfect recipe!
This makes me ridiculously happy! So, so thrilled you loved this pie crust recipe, Erin!
I made the recipe and replaced 2T. of water with 2 T. vodka; looking forward to the end result on Thanksgiving Day! And, I loved the technique of using a box cheese grater for the butter/shortening when hand mixing. There is always something new to learn at Handle the Heat!
I would also love to know Tessa’s thoughts on storing the dough disk(s) — how many days before baking can the dough be stored in the coldest part of the fridge, or should it be frozen if longer than, say 24 hours? And, best way to thaw frozen dough before rolling out?
Pastry dough can be shaped into a disc and refrigerated for up to 3 days, as long as it’s well wrapped in plastic! I give lots more details on how to make recipes ahead of time in my free Make Ahead Baking Guide!