3-Ingredient Pie Crust Recipe
Servings: 2 pie crusts
Cost: $3.30 per recipe/ $1.65 per pie crust
Ingredients
- 3 cups (360 grams) all-purpose flour ($0.48)
- ½ teaspoon salt omit if using salted butter ($0.02)
- 1 cup (2 sticks) COLD cubed butter salted or unsalted, ($2.77)
- ½ cup ICE COLD water plus more as needed
- 1 tablespoon sugar optional ($0.03)
Instructions
- Mix the dry ingredients. In a large bowl, combine the flour, salt, and sugar, if using.
- Cut in cold cubes of butter. Add the cubed butter to the bowl, then using a pastry cutter, cut the butter into the flour until the texture resembles sand. A few larger pieces are okay, but you want it to be otherwise well dispersed.
- Add ice water. One tablespoon at a time, pour in the ice water. Using a wooden spoon or spatula, mix to combine until a crumbly dough forms with flecks of butter throughout. It should feel moist, but not overly wet. If the dough feels too dry, add additional water, 1 tablespoon at a time.
- Form into a dough ball. Turn the pie crust dough onto a clean work surface and gently work together with your hands until the dough comes together into a ball.
- Cut into 2 discs. Divide the dough into two even discs and wrap each in plastic wrap.
- Refrigerate overnight. Place the dough into the refrigerator and chill overnight or for an absolute minimum of 1 hour.
- Roll the pie crust 1/4" thick. After the dough has been sufficiently refrigerated, sprinkle a work surface with flour. Roll the chilled dough into a 12" circle, about 1/4" thick. This is easiest to do if you start with the rolling pin in the center of the dough, then roll out in all directions, turning the rolling pin as you go.
- Transfer to pie dish. Transfer the pie crust to a 9" pie dish. This is easiest to do by wrapping the thin pie crust around the rolling pin, then gently rolling it back out to cover the pie dish. Using your fingers, carefully press the crust into the bottom of the dish and up the sides. There should be a nice overhang around the edges of the pie dish with no air bubbles in the crust.
- Trim the crust. Using kitchen shears, trim the dough as needed.
- Chill until ready to use. The next steps will depend on the recipe you are making. Depending on the recipe, the instructions may call for blind baking, filling the pie crust immediately, etc.
Notes
How to Make a Lattice Pie Crust: Making an apple pie? Give a lattice pie crust a try! Follow the recipe steps above for rolling out the pie dough. Once 1/4" thick and about 12" in diameter, cut the crust into 10-12 long strips, about 1" thick.
Then, because it is easier to show visually than it is to explain, I am going to link a quick and easy tutorial from Sally's Baking Addiction on How to Lattice Pie Crust.
Tips:
- If you do not have a pastry cutter, use your food processor. Many recipes call for using your hands to cut the butter into the dough. I find this to be difficult to do without warming up the butter. Additionally, it usually disperses the butter unevenly, leaving large clumps throughout (not ideal). If you do not have a pastry cutter, add the flour, salt, sugar (if using), and cubed butter to a large cup food processor and pulse until pea-sized pieces form.
- Use ice cold water. Before starting, I will fill a pyrex with water and ice cubes. Then, right before using, I will remove the ice cubes. Cold, room temperature butter simply won't cut it. It needs to be ICE cold!
- Do not make substitutions to the measurements.This is not the recipe to be making substitutions with. Baking is precise and a perfectly flaky crust requires precise measurements.