Master All-Butter Pie Dough
190
- Prep Time20 min
- Total Time2 h 50 min
- Makes1 double-crust pie
Produced by Sun Ngo; Photography by Christie Vuong; Food Styling by Sage Dakota; Prop Styling by Madeleine Johari; Recipe by Jennifer Pallian
A kitchen scale is vital for this recipe—a slight difference in flour volume can throw off the ratio.
Ingredients
384 g all-purpose flour
1 1⁄2 tsp kosher salt
256 g cold (not frozen) unsalted butter, cut in 1-in. pieces
128 g ice water
Master All-Butter Pie Dough
Place a large bowl on a kitchen scale and measure flour. Whisk in salt. Weigh in two-thirds of butter (169 g). Use fingers to pinch and flatten butter into flour, tossing it around as you go. Continue until mixture is uniform with no distinct chunks, like almond meal (you should be able to grab a handful, and it will hold together).
Add remaining butter and squeeze into flour mixture, until you see flattened pieces the size of a fingernail or bits the size of a pea. Place the bowl into the freezer for 10 min.
Put bowl back on the scale and weigh in ice water. (Fill a glass with ice and water, then pour into bowl through a sieve to prevent ice from falling in.) Using a large spatula, toss everything together (mixture will be very shaggy at this point).
Transfer mixture onto a large sheet of parchment. Use the paper’s edges to fold and press the mixture about 6 times until it holds together in a disc (texture will be a little shaggy). Cover and set aside at room temperature for 30 min (or in the fridge if your kitchen is very warm).
Divide dough into 2 pieces. Form 1 piece into a disc and top with a second piece of parchment.
Let a corner of the parchment hang off the counter, so you can pin it in place with your hip as you roll out dough. Roll out a circle 1 1⁄2 in. to 2 in. wider than the pie plate. (When rolling, rotate it a quarter turn with each pass of the rolling pin, and once you’ve done the full circle, flip over dough to repeat rolling and quarter turns on the other side.)
Repeat process with the second piece of dough, then stack and cover both sheets of dough tightly with foil. Chill them in the fridge for at least 2 hrs, preferably overnight.
Follow pie filling recipe as directed (try our Pumpkin-Spiced Apple Pie recipe). Once you’ve filled the pie and added the top crust, freeze it for 30 min while preheating your oven to 425F with a baking sheet placed on the lower-third rack.
Place the prepared pie on the hot baking sheet. Bake for 20 min, then reduce the heat to 350F and continue baking until done.
There's a lot of science-y push and pull when it comes to baking pie pastry, but don't bang your head on the wall just yet. Here are five tried and tested tips for nailing the perfect all-butter pie crust.
Jennifer Pallian is a food scientist, recipe developer and blogger at Foodess. She lives in Vancouver.
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