Based on a classic pâte brisée, the buttery French pastry dough used for making pies and tarts, this pie crust dough is easy to work with and wonderfully versatile.
Ingredients
Makes 2 dough disks (enough for 2 nine-inch pie crusts)
Blend flour, sugar, and salt in processor. Add butter; using on/off turns, process until coarse meal forms. Add 8 tablespoons ice water and cider vinegar; blend until moist clumps form, adding more ice water by teaspoonfuls if dough is dry. Gather dough together. Turn dough out onto work surface; divide dough in half. Form each half into ball and flatten into disk. Wrap disks separately in plastic; refrigerate at least 1 hour. (Can be made ahead. Keep dough refrigerated up to 2 days, or enclose in resealable plastic bag and freeze up to 1 month, then thaw in refrigerator overnight. Soften slightly at room temperature before rolling out.)
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Reviews (42)
Back to TopThis is the very best pie crust I've ever made! Delicious, tender, flaky,buttery, and, best of all, very easy to work with! I'll be using only this recipe from now on--thank you.
manipulative_chi
Texas
2/27/2017
This is the best crust I have ever tried. I now use it exclusively for pies. Flaky, buttery with very slight tartness from the apple cider vinegar. It also works well with 2/3rds whole wheat pastry flour, 1/3rd all purpose white flour.
beth2bramblett2
Rio Rico, AZ
11/12/2016
Agree with others this is a great recipe for pie crust - love it because it is easy and it finishes flaky made it several times.
Anonymous
Cook on the Oregon Coast
11/29/2014
I love this pie crust recipe. Delicious and easy.
debkane
Asheville, NC
2/8/2014
Great crust! Its soft, flaky and has a nice buttery flavor. This one is a keeper for me.
Pennant
Atlanta, Ga
12/6/2013
I agree with many of you. This is the best pie crust. I used it to make hand-held blueberry-pear pies and they turned out great. The crust was flaky and flavorful. Certainly the best pie crust this novice has ever made!
Anonymous
Seattle
2/28/2013
I've tried *a lot* of different crusts - this one is the best, easy to make and always delicious.
Anonymous
Seattle, WA
12/2/2012
Best pie crust I've made, except when I pre-baked it I didn't follow any of the previous commenters' advice about freezing it first or filling it with beans or pie weights and it shrank a lot. For my purposes this time, that was fine, but I will follow the advice in the future. Since I was making a savory pie I just used a teaspoon of sugar.
mbetsy6
Sunnyvale, CA
12/19/2011
I have been using this recipe for pie crust for about two years. It is flawless. The crust is flavourful and very flaky indeed. There is a constant debate among people that prefer an all-butter pie vs people that prefer 50% butter and 50% lard. The brilliance of this recipe is in the fact that it delivers the advantages of both methods. Using exclusively butter, the crust is rich and flavourful. At the same time, thanks to the addition of vinegar, the crust is also flaky. The best of both worlds!
m010m
11/18/2011
I agree with the majority of the rest of the users on about two things. One: This pie crust is delicious. It is made from all butter and is extremely flaky. Two: This pie crust is easy to make. However, this pie crust is more of a croissant than a pie crust, I believe. I tried to make this pie crust to collaborate with a sweet potato pie, and it did not work out very well. Instead of a crispy and hearty crust, I got flaky and undercooked. This recipe would have been amazing had it included instructions for a Pre-Bake. (Although a previous reviewer posted those) I found that when I did pre bake the crust, the edges burned easily and there were many bubbles at the bottom. Although, beacuse of this, I cannot give this crust 4 stars. ALl in all, good recipe. Here are The Pre-Bake instructions: Though I would suggest brushing the bottom and edges of the crust with butter to reduce the burning, Because THIS CRUST BURNS EASILY. Pre Bake Directions (from friscokitchen/Dallas,TX): Transfer the rolled-out dough to 9- inch-diameter glass pie dish. Fold edges under and crimp decoratively. Freeze crust 20 minutes. Position oven rack in bottom third of oven; preheat to 350°F. Line crust with nonstick foil and fill with dried beans or pie weights. Bake until crust is set, about 20 minutes. Gently remove foil and beans. Return crust to oven and bake until partially cooked and golden brown around edges, pressing down on crust with back of spoon if bubbles form, about 15 minutes. Cool crust on rack". (Then add the filling and finish baking following the recipe for whatever pie you're making.)
TylerTheChef
Texas
6/15/2011
This is a wonderful pie crust! It`s easy, tender and flaky. My search for the perfect crust is over!
suziecan
Gainesville, GA
1/30/2011
Easy to make! Since I don't usually buy shortening and prefer butter, this recipe is great. Also, since i don't have a food processor, I coarsely grate the frozen butter cube (per Cook's Illustrated tip). Some modifications that have worked for me: use all whole wheat pastry flour instead of all purpose & use just 2 sticks (1 cup) of butter instead of the 2-1/4 sticks.
Anonymous
the Land of Berry Pies
11/16/2010
This pie dough was outstanding! It was flaky, and tasty. I kept the measured apple cider vinegar floating in the ice water. I rubbed the butter in and kept the pieces larger, to ensure it would be flaky. It will be in my recipe box forever.
mumathome2
Calgary, AB
9/6/2010
Surprised at how easy this crust was, considering I'd never made one before. It was a little salty but with the pie I made it worked really well, maybe next time I'll use just a little less salt and a little more sugar (I like my crusts on the sweeter side). Will definitely make it again!
Anonymous
Seattle, WA
9/2/2010
Very flaky and crisp, crunchy. Surprising, unusual, but delicious.
Anonymous
2/15/2010
