Perfect Pie Crust

Homemade pie crust is frugal and melt-in-your-mouth delicious! Here’s how to make a perfect pie crust from scratch using just flour, salt, butter, & water.
Homemade pie crust is SO easy to make! They taste much better than store-bought pie crust, and the ingredients are simple--no weird food additives!

Have you mastered the homemade pie crust, yet? Good news–it’s not hard, not hard at all. I love to make my own pie crusts because it’s such a simple thing to do for such tasty results. I’m also not a fan of the hydrogenated oils and unnecessary ingredients found in store-bought crusts.

There are a lot of slight variations in how to make a great pie crust, but the basics are all the same. You need

  • flour
  • fat
  • and a little liquid to stick it all together

I call my variation below “Perfect Pie Crust” because it’s my go-to, never-failed-me-yet recipe. Don’t worry if your pie crust doesn’t look perfect; pies are supposed to be a little rustic. It adds to the charm and helps people recognize them as homemade–which builds anticipation and excitement before the first bite.

My favourite tools for making pie crusts at home are my pastry cutter (I found one at a thrift store), and my pastry mat from Pampered Chef (here are other options to choose from). The pastry cutter makes it quick and easy to blend the butter into the flour. And since I operate in a very tiny kitchen, the pastry mat is superb for rolling out the crust on the kitchen table! It’s easy to rinse off the mat when I’m finished, and I keep it rolled up and stashed in a cupboard. It’s one of my favourite kitchen tools!

For a rolling pin, I just use a clean, empty wine bottle–pretty frugal!

Perfect Pie Crust

Homemade pie crust is frugal and melt-in-your-mouth delicious! Here’s how to make a perfect pie crust from scratch.

Course Dessert
Prep Time 15 minutes
Servings 1 pie crust

Ingredients

  • 1 1/4 cup unbleached flour
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 8 Tbsp butter (1/4 lb)
  • 3-4 Tbsp ice cold water

Instructions

  1. In a bowl, stir together the flour and salt. Cut the butter into small chunks and work into the flour with a fork or pastry cutter until the mixture resembles pea-sized crumbs.
  2. Sprinkle in the water 1 tablespoon at a time, mixing lightly with a fork after each tablespoon. When the emerging dough begins to hold together and clean the sides of the bowl, gather it together in a ball. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for half an hour, or until you're ready to roll it out.
  3. Lightly dust a flat surface (such as a pastry mat) with flour. Place the ball of dough in the center and roll out in a circle. For most pies, you want the circle to be about 12 inches across. (Thirteen across for a deep-dish pie.)

  4. Transfer the dough to the pie plate. To do this, fold the circle in half twice, so that you have a fan shape. Place the tip of the fan in the center of your pie plate, then unfold the circle. If any dough overlaps the pie plate, crimp it down with your fingers or trim it off to patch up thin parts elsewhere in the crust.

For a visual of the process, check out the pictures below. And if you want more ingredients you can make from scratch, check out this post!

Cutting butter into flour

Mixing the pie crust

Mix until the dough holds together

Homemade Pie Crust

Perfect Pie Crust

3 Comments

  1. Your pie looks beautiful, Elsie! I love that it is made with butter and not Crisco. I have a bunch of apples that are begging me to make them into a pie. I’m pinning this recipe to try it. Thanks, again. Wishing you and yours a blessed Thanksgiving tomorrow.

  2. Elsie, Looks yummy! Is the pie crust flakey and light? I’m making the pies for Thanksgiving and would love to try yours.

    1. Yes, it is! Just be sure not to overwork the butter too much(: Someday I want to try a combination of duck fat and butter–I’ve heard that makes THE flakiest pie crusts! Duck fat is a little hard to come by, though!

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