Master Pie Dough Recipe
This is our go-to dough for making all pies, from Apple to Quiche and Cheery Cherry. We mix it up at times, adding who wheat flour and a touch more water for an earthier crust, or subbing out a couple of ounces of butter with lard for extra flaky tenderness. The result, should you keep your butter cold and resist over working the dough, is a lovely, easy-to-roll dough, studded with butter, that will rival and pastry shops’. For a crimping tutorial, click on this link for step-by-step photos. This recipe will yield three bottom crusts OR a top, bottom and scraps for making hand pies (or another bottom crust).
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Ingredients
- 6 cups All purpose flour 720g
- ¼ cup Granulated sugar 50g
- 3 tsp Kosher salt 18g
- 1 lb Cold butter 454g
- ¾ cup Very cold water, plus more if needed 180g
Instructions
- If using a food processor, pulse your dry ingredients for a few seconds. If you’re doing this by hand, simply mix them to disperse the salt and sugar well.
- Add your butter and pulse until you no longer hear the large chunks bouncing around. This should take between 10-12 quick pulses. If doing this by hand, use your fingers to rub the cold butter into the flour or a pastry cutter to cut the butter pieces into the flour.
- Once the butter has formed pebble-sized pieces (about the size of your pinky fingernail), add the water. Pour into the food processor as you pulse, just until the dough starts to come together in clumps, adding a tsp or two of water, if needed, for the dough to barely form together. If doing this by hand, pour the water in and using your hands as large scoops, gather and incorporate the water to create a shaggy dough.
- Gather the dough into a flat disc and wrap tightly in plastic wrap or parchment paper. You can also flatten into a large plastic freezer bag. Chill for at least 45 minutes.
- Divide your dough into 1 lb. pieces (each top and bottom crust should weigh about one pound). On a well-floured surface, begin to roll out your dough. You’ll want the dough to be at least 2” larger than your tin, and 3” or more if you are using a deep-dish tin.
- Using your rolling pin, lift the dough and place it gently into your tin. Freeze this for 30 minutes for best results.
