This easy homemade pie crust recipe is perfectly flaky, calls for just 4 simple ingredients, and takes less than 10 minutes to make! This butter pie crust recipe is perfect for any pie filling and makes enough for 2 pie crusts. Plus I’ll share some of my favorite tips and tricks for turning out the perfect pie crust every time!
Pie crust in my house is a pretty big deal, we love pie, eating pie, making pie, all kinds, for any reason. We love everything about pie and pie is kind of our thing. I don’t mean to brag but my family is known for their pies, especially my mum’s homemade apple pie.
And any time we meet someone who doesn’t like pie, we all say the same thing, ‘You just haven’t had a good pie’ and as any pie lover knows a good pie, starts with a good crust.
Making pie crust, however, can often be a daunting task, even for the biggest of pie lovers. I’ll be the first to admit, that I struggle to make good pie crusts, pretty much everyone in my family, even those who don’t bake can turn out a better pie crust than me, any day of the week.
This might lead one to ask, why the heck am I writing this post, to be perfectly honest I’m writing it because I’m the one with a blog, but rest assured I’m not relying on my own pie crust-making abilities to write this recipe.
My mum is an expert pie maker, and not only can she make the best flaky pie crust in the world, but she can do it with her eyes closed. All the tips and tricks below, as well as the recipe itself, come from my mum. She has been more than happy to share her pie crust-making secrets with me over the years and she’s more the happy to share them here as well!
Making your own homemade pie crust might take a bit of practice, but I can assure you it’s also much easier than you think! The easy pie crust recipe below takes little time to master, is as fool-proof as they come, and is perfect for all your favorite pie recipes!
How to Make Homemade Pie Crust with Butter
This recipe makes two pie crusts.
Ingredients
- all-purpose flour
- sea salt
- unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch chunks. Be sure to use cold butter!
- water, use cold water, or even ice water if possible.
Directions
In a large bowl, combine the flour, and sea salt and whisk to combine.
Add the chunks of butter then using your hands or a pastry cutter, gently work the butter into your flour mixture until it resembles coarse crumbs.
Then add 4-5 tablespoons of water, and mix with a fork adding more water, a little at a time as needed, until the mixture comes together in a loose ball. Be careful not to add too much water or over-mix the dough. The pie crust dough should just stick together, it shouldn’t be smooth or soft.
Divide the dough into 2 equal pieces, and roll them out one at a time on a lightly floured surface until they are roughly 1/4-inch thick, or until they are big enough to fit in your desired pie dish. (I usually use a 9-inch pie pan). This crust can be used for any of your favorite pie recipes!
Tips and Tricks For Making Homemade Pie Crust
Always use cold butter: When making traditional pie crust, always always always use cold butter! Cold butter makes a flaky crust, when you are prepping your pie crust dough it’s always best to stick with cold unsalted butter. If you use room temperature butter, your pie crust might become too soft, and sticky.
Adding the water a little at a time: The biggest mistake I make when making homemade pie crust is that I am too impatient and I always end up adding too much water. If your mixture seems a bit too dry with only 5 tablespoons water, add more water a tablespoon at a time, never more, and mix. Adding too much water to a pie crust is perfectly fine, but the key to a flaky crust is a crumby mixture, and the less water you use the better!
Roll your crust out carefully: To make a perfect flaky pie crust, you’re going to need to start with a slightly crumbly dough. Sometimes this can make rolling out your pie crust a little tricky, or at least not what you are used to. When you are first learning how to make pie crust, work slowly and gently when rolling and transferring the crust. Take your time and don’t rush while you get in the hang of things. Working too fast might cause your dough to rip or break, and using too much flour when rolling it out, can dry out your dough, and even cause it to fall apart!
Making homemade pie crust might seem a bit intimidating at first, but I promise it gets easier each time! It’s easy to master with just a little practice and I promise if you stick with it, you’ll be turning out the perfect pie crust in no time!
Pie Crust Troubleshooting
Here are a few common problems people run into when making and baking homemade crust, what they mean, and how to fix them for next time!
My crust isn’t flaky. If you are following the tips above and still struggling to get your pie crust to come out flaky, you and I have a lot in common! It is very likely that you are still adding too much water. You’d be surprised how easy it is to add too much water and sometimes adding full tablespoons is too much. Next time try adding the water a very little at a time (less than 1/2 tbsp even!) until you have just enough water to loosely hold the crust together. You can even try rolling out your crust when you think it’s still a little too dry, sometimes the crust doesn’t actually need more water, we just think it does!
My bottom crust keeps breaking apart from the edge. This is more often than not a temperature problem, if you are chilling your crust, it might be too cold which is causing it to break as it cooks. If you are chilling your crust allow it to warm up to room temperature before rolling and baking it. This can also happen if your crust is too warm, if the butter in your pie crust dough has started to melt, or gotten too soft, it may break when baking, if you feel your dough is too warm, pop it in the fridge for 10 minutes before rolling and baking.
My pie isn’t golden on top. This problem is a super easy fix! To make a perfectly golden pie crust, simply brush the top crust and edges with an egg wash before baking!
My crust is too soft/sticky. This is likely one of two problems. The first is that there is too much water in the dough. Try adding less water the next time you make the dough and see if that helps. Another common issue is that the butter used was too soft. Using soft or even room temperature butter can often cause pie dough to be too soft and even sticky. If this is the case, wrap your dough tightly in plastic wrap and pop it in the fridge for 10-15 minutes before rolling and baking it!
Sweet and Savory Pies To Make With Homemade Pie Crust!
Fresh Strawberry Pie | no-bake Jello-free recipe!
Homemade Apple Pie with McIntosh Apples
The Best Homemade Pie Crust
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp salt
- 10 tbsp cold unsalted butter cut into chunks
- 5-8 tbsp water cold water if possible
Instructions
- In a large bowl, combine the flour, and sea salt and whisk to combine.
- Add the chunks of butter then using your hands or a pastry cutter, gently work the butter into your flour mixture until it resembles coarse crumbs.
- Then add 4-5 tablespoons of water, and mix with a fork adding more water, a little at a time as needed, until the mixture comes together in a loose ball. Be careful not to add too much water or over-mix the dough. The pie crust dough should just stick together, it shouldn't be smooth or soft.
- Divide the dough into 2 equal pieces, and roll them out one at a time on a lightly floured surface until they are roughly 1/4-inch thick, or until they are big enough to fit in your desired pie dish. (I usually use a 9-inch pie pan). This crust can be used for any of your favorite pie recipes!
Leave a Reply