Learn How to Make Pie Crust From Scratch
A good butter pie crust recipe always comes in handy! And the good news is that it’s easier to make than you can imagine. At the request of many, today, I’m sharing my go-to all-butter pie crust recipe. I’ve included all my tips and tricks for the best pie crust, whether you’re making it with a food processor or by hand. This pie crust recipe is buttery, flaky, tender, and tastes delicious! Once you learn how to make pie crust from scratch, you’ll never buy the store version again. If you prefer an easy, No-Fuss Press-In Crust, check out my No-Fuss Press-In Pie Crust recipe.
Ingredients You’ll Need to Make Pie Crust From Scratch
Add chilled butter and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse meal with some roughly pea-size butter lumps.
Flour: Standard all-purpose flour works best here; skip the cake flour, bread flour, and wheat flour. Sugar: Regular white granulated sugar or caster sugar. Salt: I recommend kosher or sea salt. If you only have table salt handy, I recommend reducing the amount to half. Butter: I prefer to use unsalted butter, but if you only have salted butter handy, you can use it. In this case, skip the salt called in the recipe. Make sure your butter is super cold. Cold butter is the key to flaky texture. Iced water: It’s very important to use very cold water because it helps to improve flakiness and structure. Since it helps to keep the fat (butter) cold, if the fat melts before it makes it to the oven, it’s absorbed into the flour, and you’ll have a hard, crunchy, and greasy crust instead of a beautifully tender, flaky crust.
Step 1 – Make the Dough
Place flour, sugar, and salt in a food processor. Pulse to combine. Slowly add iced water until the dough just barely begins to cling together.
Step 2 – Chill the Dough
Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured surface. Gather dough together, form one or two disks depending if you are making a single or double recipe, wrap with plastic wrap and chill for 2 hours.
Step 3 – Roll Out the Chilled Pie Dough
After the chilling time, place dough on a floured surface, roll to 1/4″ thick, and place into a pie dish, crimping edges.
Step 4 – Chill Again!
Refrigerate for 30 minutes, and then proceed with the pie per your recipe’s instructions.
How To Blind Bake Pie Crust
For a single-crust pie, such as eggless pumpkin pie, eggless coconut cream pie, egg-free sweet potato pie, or eggless pecan pie, I usually blind-bake the crust before adding the filling. This prevents the bottom crust from becoming soggy. Substitute 1 tablespoon of iced water with 1 tablespoon of cold apple cider vinegar for an extra flaky crust. Use cold butter. I like to cube my butter and freeze it for 15-20 minutes before making the dough. Chill the pie dough for at least 2 hours before rolling out.
Storing & Freezing Instructions
Refrigerate the pie dough in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. Or freeze for up to 3 months. Make sure to cover the pie dough with plastic wrap and then chill or freeze. If frozen, thaw overnight in the refrigerator before using it in your pie recipe.
Make Ahead Instructions
Prepare the pie dough through step 4 and freeze the discs for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator before using it in your pie recipe.
Eggless Pie Recipes You’ll Love!
Easy Eggless Key Lime Pie Easy Eggless Pecan Pie No-Bake Eggless Chocolate Cream Pie Easy Eggless Pumpkin Pie Easy Eggless Sweet Potato Pie Eggless Coconut Cream Pie
Recipe Card
You’ve asked, and I’ve answered! Read on for a handful of answers to the most frequently asked questions about eggless baking. Originally posted in November 2020, the post content was edited to add more helpful information, with no change to the recipe in July 2022.
