All butter flaky Pie Crust, with easy to follow concise steps AND a short video so you can nail your pie crust every. Single. Time!!! With a food processor, the dough is done in 1 minute. I exaggerate not.
This is a shortcrust pastry recipe that is perfect to use for sweet and savoury pies and tarts.
Pie Crust
There’s no magic ingredient in this pie crust recipe, it has the same ingredients as 99% of other recipes out there. But it’s presented neatly, easy to follow, and it’s simple if you just follow the recipe steps incorporating all my little small-but-important tips! 🙂
This is my “go-to” pie crust that I use for all things sweet such as Pecan Pie and Pumpkin Pie. It’s buttery and flaky, it’s tender enough to cut through with little effort with a fork yet doesn’t disintegrate into crumbs when cutting slices of pie. Nobody wants that piece of pie with no pie crust! 😩
It’s made with just butter, no shortening. Which may immediately deter some people who are loyal to pie crusts made with shortening – but before you run away, let me say this:
Yes, shortening yields a very flaky pastry – but it’s tasteless. And a well made pastry using butter is certainly flaky enough – but more importantly, tastes so much better. Even doing 50/50 of each lacks flavour.
So all-butter it is. And always will be!
What you need to make a pie crust
Here’s all you need:
- Very cold butter – your goal is to end up with tiny little bits of butter in the dough rather than melted or creamed butter mixed through the dough. The little bits of butter melt in the oven and create air pockets which makes the pastry flaky.
- Very cold water – for the same reason as above
- Flour, salt and if making pastry for a sweet filling, sugar.
PART 1: 1 minute pie crust dough
I feel like I’ve paid my dues over the years, making pie crust dough by hand – either rubbing the butter in with the tips of fingers or using a pastry cutter. Nowadays, I opt for the simple, foolproof, 1 minute method using a food processor.
- Pulse flour, sugar and salt twice just to combine, then scatter butter over;
- Chickpea size butter – Pulse 5 times until the largest butter bits are chickpea size;
- Ice cold water – With the motor running on low, drizzle 2.5 tbsp of water in.
- Crumbly dough – after 10 seconds, it should look crumbly but when you pinch it together, it should stick and form a dough. Crumble = good = leads to flaky pastry. If it stays sandy, add another 1/2 tbsp cold water and blitz again;
- Tip out crumbly dough on work surface;
- Bring together with your hands – no kneading. Crumbly dough will stick together!
- Pat into disc shape;
- Refrigerate – Wrap with cling wrap and refrigerate. This makes the teeny tiny butter bits cold again = flaky pastry.
OK, so maybe that takes you 90 seconds. Or 2 minutes. It’s still super duper fast!
Part 2: Rolling it out
You’ll find this dough is pretty easy to work with because it’s not insanely short, like pastries used by high end patisserie chefs. (Rule of thumb: higher butter to flour ratio = more crumbly rich pastry = indulgent = pastry very hard to work with = let’s leave that to the professionals).
So here’s how to roll pie crust dough out:
- Start rolling out – Place chilled disc on floured work surface and roll out into a circle. Shift dough around / flip as you roll it out to ensure it’s not sticking to work surface – if it is, slide to the side, sprinkle more flour on the work surface then continue. Sprinkle the top of the pastry and the rolling pin if needed (sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn’t);
- Roll out BIG – Roll out into a circle 10cm / 4″ larger than the pie dish. Sounds large – but you need to fit it into the pie dish and want at least 1.25cm / 1/2″ excess around the rim. Patch cracks as you go – just pinch a bit off scraggly edges;
- Roll onto rolling pin – Gently roll the dough onto the rolling pin. Use a large knife if needed to get the edge started;
- Transfer to pie tin – Roll the pastry completely onto the rolling pin, then transfer to the pie tin;
- Unroll over pie tin then slide the pastry around as needed so it’s centred;
- Drape into pie tin, don’t stretch and pull – this causes shrinkage;
- Trim edges leaving 1.25cm / 1/2″ excess;
- Tuck overhang under for neat edges.
Crimping!
There’s loads of ways to decorate a pie crust edge. You really can get creative! Here’s one classic way to do it – large crimps.
If you do decorate the pie crust edge, it’s best to refrigerate for 20 minutes prior to baking just to re-chill the butter in the dough (because crimping takes extra time during which that butter is softening!).
PRO TIP: Thicker pie crust on edge = crimps maintain shape better when baked. Thin pastry = floppage.
EASY TIP: Skip the crimp, just press a fork on the rim to get nice imprints all the way around.
Blind Baking
Blind baking refers to when you pre bake the empty pie crust so it doesn’t go soggy filled with a wet filling. It’s an extra step that I like to do just for extra crispiness in the base (you’ll see in the recipe video).
Do you have to blind bake? No, it’s optional. This pie crust won’t go soggy even if you don’t blind bake as long as the total bake time is 40 minutes or more (which depends on the filling you use). I personally don’t know of any pies that require less than 40 minutes bake time – but I’ve added that as a cautionary note having observed this once during a period of intense pie making (don’t ask😂).
- Prick the base with a fork to help stop it form bubbling up;
- Place large sheet of parchment / baking paper over the pie tin;
- Place another piece over it to form 90 degrees across the other one;
- Fill pie tin with baking beads, dry rice or beans or sugar – this weighs the pastry down to stop the base from bubbling up and the sides from sliding down;
- Bake for 15 minutes at 220°C / 425°F (180°C fan);
- Remove pie weights using paper overhang. Be careful here – nobody wants hot beads bouncing all over the kitchen!!
- Return to oven for just 5 minutes to “set” the base;
- Remove from oven and voila! Ready for your favourite filling! This particular crust was filled with Pumpkin Pie Filling.
I should’ve gotten closer to the Pecan Pie so you can really see how flaky and delicate that pie crust is! You’ll get a good look in the Pumpkin Pie and Pecan Pie recipe videos though (they’re short and to the point!).
I hope you found this to be a concise but complete post on how to make pie crust. It’s hard to get motivated to document let alone film a pie crust when there’s so many other visually exciting foods to film!! But finally I’ve buckled down and done it.
Now from hereon, I can focus on the fun part – the FILLINGS!! – Nagi x
Watch how to make it
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1 Minute Pie Crust
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cups (185g / 5.6 oz) flour (plain / all purpose flour)
- 2 tsp white sugar (skip if making savoury pie)
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 115g / 1 stick unsalted butter, cold, cut into 1cm/ 1/3" cubes (Note 1)
- 2.5 tbsp ice cold water (+ more as required)
Instructions
Make Dough:
- Pulse Dry: Place flour, sugar and salt in food processor. Pulse twice to combine.
- Cut in butter: Scatter butter across surface. Pulse 5 times until the largest pieces are the size of chickpeas.
- Add chilled water: With the motor running on low, pour 2.5 tbsp of water into the tube feeder.
- Form crumbs: Keep blitzing for 10 seconds until crumbs form (also see video). Pinch between fingers - they should stick and form a dough.
- HAND option: Whisk flour, sugar and salt in large bowl. Rub butter into flour with tips of fingers until it resembles crumbs - it should look the same as using a food processor. Then mix in cold water with rubber spatula, then proceed with steps below.
- Form disc: Tip crumbs out onto work surface, bring together into dome (don't knead), pat into 2cm/ 4/5" thick disc.
- Chill: Wrap in clingwrap then refrigerate 1 hour (up to 2 days, otherwise freeze).
Rolling out:
- Dust with flour: Sprinkle work surface with flour, unwrap dough and place on the flour. Sprinkle top with flour, dust rolling pin with flour.
- Roll out: Roll out into round that's 10cm/4" larger than 22.5cm/9" pie tin. Patch up and roll over cracks as necessary
- Transfer to pie dish: Gently roll the pastry so it wraps around the rolling pin. Unroll it over the pie dish.
- Drape pastry into pie tin (do not stretch/pull, causes shrinkage) then trim edges with scissors leaving a 1 cm / 2/5" overhang.
- Tuck excess under. Then crimp or decorate edge as desired. Refrigerate 15 minutes (while oven heats up).
Blind bake:
- Preheat oven to 220°C/425°F (200°C fan).
- Line & weigh down: Place 2 large pieces of parchment/baking paper crosswise over the pastry, then fill with baking beads or lots of rice or dried beans to weigh it down. (Note 2)
- Bake 1: Bake for 15 minutes, then remove from oven.
- Bake 2: Use excess paper to CAREFULLY remove hot beads, then return to oven for 5 minutes or until base is light golden (doesn't need to be 100% cooked though).
- Remove from oven. Cool 15 minutes before filling (cool pastry absorbs less liquid).
Fill:
- Fill and bake per directions of chosen pie filling - such as Pumpkin Pie, Pecan Pie, Meat Pie. The pastry will not be 100% cooked, it finishes cooking with the filling. It's cooked enough so the crust will not go soggy.
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
Life of Dozer
Post-Pie snooze. Isn’t this what we all do??
I just had a hopeless disaster trying to convert an american recipe for pie crust as part of a pie recipe to our available ingredients (shortening) and it went straight in the bin. So I immediately went to your blog to find a crust recipe instead, and this worked perfectly!! Thank you so much for your amazing recipes, I have made so many of yours now and they always get rave reviews 🙂
I love hearing this!!! Thanks so much Kj! N x
Hi Nagi,
I’ve used this for a quiche base and it came out perfectly. I was wondering if I could use the sweet version as the base for a chocolate tart?
Nagi what’s the difference between this crust and another of your posts stating to bake 20” at 390F, then 10” at 350 (after removing wts)? When would you use one over the other? Tks!
Hi Nagi can I just omit sugar to make this savoury?
Hi Libby, yes as per the ingredients – skip if making savoury pie. N x
Hi there!
I just LOVE your recipes- chicken Biryani is the BEST! Wow!
Anyways ..first time making this recipe I tried a famous chefs recipe last week for pumpkin pie- it was a disaster.
The dough was fine but the filling was … not good. Keep posting your recipes they truly are keepers!
… and maybe….Hopefully you will make French fries??????? 😉
Hi Diana, fries are on my list! N x
Hi Nagi! I Want to make this for thanksgiving dessert! Could I make this crust ahead of time? If so, how much in advance and fridge or freezer?
PS. Huge fan of all your recipes!
Hi Linda, I would make the pie crust in advance and bake fresh on the day – or you could bake a day in advance and store in an airtight container at room temperature.
Hi! I followed the recipe exactly, it went together quicker than you show and describe. Chilled it over night and now it won’t roll out, it’s so cold, I can’t budge it one bit. Thanksgiving day Here in Canada -help!
Hi Suzanne, soundalike your fridge is SUPER cold – just leave out on the bench to come more to room temperature – N x
Amazing recipe! Family said it was the best pie crust ever. Even ate the crust bit.
It’s great, so easy. Have always failed with pastry dough so this is the farthest I’ve come so far. But the dough still cracks a bit and sticks when I roll it. Could it be because of the weather in Malaysia? Or could it be because I froze it, then kept in fridge the night before I wanted to use it? I left it out around 10 mins before rolling
Hi Mashy, cracks because it’s dry or just because it’s too soft? N x
It’s too soft
I have made your tiramisu and it’s. Hit with all family and friends . Thank u .
For the pie crust can we use hand mixer grinder if we dont have a processor.
Hi Divya – I’m not sure what a hand mixer grinder is – but you can definitely do it by hand 🙂 N x
Nagi what’s the difference between this crust and another of your posts stating to bake 20” at 390F, then 10” at 350 (after removing wts)? When would you use one over the other? Tks!
Hi Nagi.
I just wanted to ask a question before I make the pie crust.
Would I be able to make it tonight and bake it etc and then leave it in the fridge until tomorrow when I plan to make an apple pie.
Thank you.
You sure can Julie!
Love this crust and how easy it is to make. No more store bought crusts for me now!!!
WOOT! You wont look back now!
I’ve been making pie crusts for years, with a pastry blender/cutter. I saw your recipe a few weeks ago and pulled it out this evening when my Christmas Eve became stressed. What a GREAT recipe! So fast, so easy, and rolled out like a dream!
Do you grease the pie tin before putting the dough into it or is that not necessary?
Hi Cm – it’s not necessary 🙂
I have never bothered doing the whole rub cold butter into flour business and just used store bought instead but now that Nagi says it’s easy… it’s a different ball game altogether!! My other workaround has been to make David Lebovitz’s French tart dough. Have you tried it? It’s a melt and mix recipe…. so easy and sooo buttery.
And it’s sooooo much better! I haven’t tried that one, will have to give it a go Saritha – N x
Great, now I “need” pie!! My mum has always made pastry this way and it always works. That pecan pie looks so, so good!!!
You do need it – you must do it! 😂
I gave up on making pie crush year ago because it is so much work and it did not turn out good every time. But this recipe gives me hope. My family loves chicken pot pie but the store bought dough is terrible.
Do I need to bake the dough first before I add the chicken filling? Would it be still 40-60mins bake time for chicken pot pie?
Thank you Nagi.
Can’t wait for your cookbook .love your recipes and the dozer updates.