all-butter homemade pie crust

I used to always buy the pre-made refrigerated/ frozen pie crusts, especially around the holidays. However, I didn’t realize how easy it is to make your own with only 4 simple ingredients you likely already have on-hand!

Plus, if you ever look at the ingredients in your favorite store-bought crusts, you may find things like: hydrogenated lard, BHA/BHT, palm oil, soybean oil, dextrose, etc. Yeah, no thank you.

But here we have 4 simple ingredients: flour, salt, butter & water. The end.

I usually make the dough the night before, stick it in the fridge, and the roll it out the next day for whatever pie, quiche, etc. is on the menu.

NOTE: This crust is incredible: flaky, buttery, melt-in-your mouth perfection; however, I am still working with it when it comes to making those Pinterest-quality pretty crust edges. I’d recommend a shortening-based pie crust if you’re wanting to do a detailed edge and have it keep its shape while baking. However, this crust works wonderfully if you just need an easy base to a pie, quiche, etc. Or it works well in a simple lattice top or solid lid too.

ALL-BUTTER HOMEMADE PIE CRUST:

• Yields: Two 9 inch crusts for 2 pies OR a bottom crust & top lid for 1 pie

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp. sea salt
• 2 sticks (or 1 cup) unsalted butter, very cold *skip the sea salt if using salted butter
• 3/4 cup of water, with ice cubes

Directions:

1. Fill a measuring cup with the 3/4 cup of water & ice cubes and set aside. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together your flour and salt. Next, dice your butter into cubes and add to the flour & salt. Using a pastry blender, work the butter into the flour until you see small pea-sized pieces of butter throughout.
   
2. Remove the ice cubes from the water and pour about half of the water into the bowl. Using a spatula, start stirring and folding the dough together. Add in the rest of the water (you may not need all of it) a little at a time until the dough comes together into a ball.
3. Lay out two pieces of Saran wrap and add half of the dough to each. Fold up the Saran wrap around the dough and then press & roll the dough until a nice ball forms. Then flatten each ball of dough into a 1 inch-thick circle and refrigerate a minimum of 4 hours and up to overnight.
4. After the dough has chilled, lightly flour your countertop and remove each ball of dough from the Saran wrap. Using a rolling pin, roll the dough out to fit your pie pan. Trim off any excess crust with a pair of kitchen scissors though I usually leave an extra 1/2 inch or so of crust to adjust for shrinkage while baking. Use a fork to poke holes all around the crust in the pie pan (to prevent it bubbling and rising up) and press the fork around the edge to make a pretty design, if desired.
5. Tip: Prebake the crust at 350 degrees F for 15-20 minutes until lightly golden. Then add your filling and bake the recipe and crust completely from there.