Our Favorite Piecrust is flaky, tender, and performs like a champ. Use the highest quality butter you can find for the best outcome.
Our Favorite Piecrust
Makes 2 (9-inch) piecrusts
Ingredients
- 3⅓ cups (417 grams) all-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons (24 grams) granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons (12 grams) kosher salt
- 1 cup (230 grams) cold unsalted butter, cubed
- 10 to 14 tablespoons ice water
Instructions
- In the work bowl of a food processor, place flour, sugar, and salt; pulse to combine. Add butter, and pulse until mixture is crumbly. Add ice water, 1 tablespoon at a time, just until dough comes together.
- Divide dough in half, and shape each half into a disk. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours. Dough may be refrigerated for up to 3 days or frozen for up to 2 months.
Hi can you help with shrinking pie crust? When I make all butter crusts like this, they shrink beyond usability upon baking.
I freeze before baking, prick, and fill with dried beans in aluminum foil. What am I doing wrong?
Thanks for your help.
Hey there!
There are several reasons your pie crust might be shrinking. Your pie crust may be shrinking because your oven is too hot. Lower temps (close to 350 degrees) should keep from “shocking” your pastry dough, or causing it to shrink. You could also try blind baking the dough at 350 (baking it before filling) which can also keep your dough from shrinking. Using ceramic pie dishes could help, because glass often contributes to shrinking pie dough. And always leave somewhere between 1/2 or 1/4 inch of extra dough around the edges of the pie plate so that you account for a little extra shrinkage. And when placing your dough, make sure that you are only rolling out your dough and you aren’t just stretching it to fit because that will only cause the dough to snap back when baking.
I have made pie crust got 50 years and yet do I have any luck with butter. Crisco is best for truly flaky crust. Also seems best crust is totally controlled by hand rather than food processors. Light on touch with on shortening cutter, and carefully add cold water to dry places in dough. And wait a minute for water to sink into dough. And when rolling out, use gentle soft touch.