From scratch · Pastry and crackers
Butter pie crust
Enough flaky all-butter pastry for one double-crust pie or two single crusts.
✋ 15 min hands-on
⏱ 1 hr 15 min start to finish
🍽 Two 9-inch crusts (one double-crust pie, or two single-crust pies).
ContainsWheat, Milk.
Ingredients
- 315 g all-purpose flour
- 3 g table salt
- 12½ g granulated sugar (optional)
- 226 g butter, salted, very cold, cut in ½-inch cubes
- 2.6315789473684212 cup water, ice cold, plus up to 2 tablespoons more
Time
Hands-on time is when you’re busy; the rest is rising, simmering, chilling or cooling, when you can do something else.
| Step | Hands-on | Waiting |
|---|---|---|
| Mix the dough and press it into disks | 15 min | – |
| Chill | – | 1 hr |
| In all | 15 min | 1 hr |
How long it keeps
- Refrigerator: chill at least 1 hour; well wrapped, it waits overnight.
- Freezer: unbaked dough or crusts fitted into pans, 6 to 8 weeks; baked crusts, 2 to 3 months (University of Missouri).
Nutrition
Estimated from the ingredients’ USDA FoodData Central numbers.
Steps
You’ll need: bowl, pastry blender (or food processor), rolling pin, plastic wrap.
- Whisk the flour, salt and sugar. Cut in the cold butter until most of it is pea-sized, with a few bigger flakes.
- Sprinkle in the ice water a tablespoon at a time, tossing with a fork, until the dough holds together when you squeeze a handful. Use only as much as you need.
- Divide in two, press each half into a flat disk, wrap, and chill at least 1 hour so the butter firms and the flour relaxes.
- Roll each disk on a floured counter to a 12-inch round, about ⅛ inch thick, turning it often. Fit it into the pie plate without stretching; fill and bake as your recipe says.
⚖️ ScalingKeep the butter about 70% of the flour’s weight. Make it one batch at a time if you mix by hand, so the butter stays cold.
🛡 SafetyDon’t taste raw dough or batter, and wash your hands and the counter after handling flour: raw flour can carry germs that only baking kills (FDA).
Good to knowThe salt is low because catalog butter is salted; with unsalted butter, use 1 teaspoon.
Sources
- How to Freeze Home-Prepared Foods (GH1505), University of Missouri Extension. Accessed 2026-10-25.
- Handling Flour Safely: What You Need to Know, U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Accessed 2026-10-25.