Flaky All Butter Pie Crust

Ultimate All-Butter Pie Crust Recipe! The perfect pie crust is both flaky and tender. Light flaky layers and a tender golden-brown crust that has a flavor good enough to eat on its own! The layers of dough are distinct and clearly seen.

Follow the step-by-step guide to make the best all-butter pie crust!

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Why You’ll Love This Recipe

The perfect all-butter pie crust is both flaky and tender. It has light flaky layers. A tender and golden-brown crust that has a flavor good enough to eat on its own. The layers of dough are distinct and clearly seen.

This simple pie crust relies on high-quality butter for both its flakiness and wonderful flavor. Once you try this recipe you will use it for all your pies whether they are double or single crust pies!

Recipe Ingredients

At its most basic, pie crust is nothing more than flour, fat, and liquid. But if that’s all it is, why is pie crust so notoriously difficult to make by hand? Let’s take a look:

Flour: Flour is there for strength, structure, and elasticity. It’s the binder that holds the other ingredients together and, well, makes the pastry a pastry! For pie crusts, we usually use regular all-purpose flour instead of cake or pastry flour because we want some gluten development for structure, but not too much.

Remember – mechanical action creates gluten, so it’s important not to over-handle the dough.

Fat: You can use butter, vegetable shortening, lard, or even oil in the pie crust, each to a different effect. Butter provides the most flavor and wonderful melting quality in the mouth, but it tends to not make the most tender pastry. Shortening and lard make a very tender pastry, but don’t always have the best flavor for a sweet pie.

Also, if the fat is left in large pieces, the crust will be flakier. If it’s incorporated into the flour more thoroughly, the crust will be tender and crumbly.

Liquid: The liquid in a pie crust creates the steam that lifts the pastry and creates flakes. It also gets absorbed into the flour, helping to create gluten. Too little liquid and the dough won’t hold together, but add too much and you’ll end up with a rock-hard crust!

Salt: It might sound odd to have salt in a sweet pie crust, but a pinch or two actually helps boost the flavor without making the crust taste salty.

Sugar: Not all pie crusts have sugar, but those that do will be more tender since sugar interferes with gluten development. In our experience, sugar can also make the pie dough so tender that it’s hard to roll out and transfer to your pan without breaking.

Egg: This makes the dough more pliable and easy to roll out. Eggs also make the crust more compact.

Acid and Alcohol: Both acid and alcohol tenderize pie dough, make it easier to roll out, and prevent it from shrinking in your pan.

There aren’t many ingredients in this all-butter pie crust recipe, so it’s important to use high-quality products. I prefer to use European butter for extra flavor in all our pie and cookie recipes. You likely have all of these other basic ingredients on hand to make the cookies.

• All-purpose flour
• Salt
• Butter
• Egg

See the recipe card for quantities.

What Better Is Best For This Pie Crust?

We’ve tried over 10 different kinds of butter and I 110% testify that you must use the Kerrygold brand, or else I can’t stand by this crust.

We’ve tried to find the reasoning for it, without boring you with too much science about butter, it just comes down to the fat content vs water content, color, and diet of the cows. What can I say, Ireland cows have got it going on in the butter department.

You can use this crust to make this Savory Easter pie this Easter Sunday or this Maple Pecan Pie for Thanksgiving!

Best Bursting Blueberry Pie Frozen Berries

How To Make All Butter Pie Crust

If you don’t have a food processor you can do this same process by hand. Make sure not to work the dough too much with warm hands. 

Use the food processor or whisk together the flour and salt.

Cut the butter into the flour mixture.

Pulse liquid with flour/butter mixture until it comes together and butter forms Blueberry/pea-sized chunks

Carefully and quickly (so as to not melt the butter with your hands) form the dough into a disc

Wrap the disc in plastic wrap and place it in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. 

Delicious Pie Recipes:

Make sure to try out my other pie recipes: Best Bursting Blueberry Pie Flaky Crust, Best Fresh Roasted Pumpkin Pie, Best Brown Butter Apple Pie, Classic Rhubarb Pie Recipe (Perfect Crust), and Best Blueberry Mini Pies.

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5 from 4 votes

All Butter Pie Crust Recipe

By: Elena Davis

Servings: 6 -8 servings

Prep: 20 minutes mins

Total: 20 minutes mins

The Ultimate Pie Crust! The most flaky pie crust you will ever taste! 

Ingredients 

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• ▢ 2 cups all-purpose flour, 260 grams
• ▢ ¾ teaspoon coarse salt
• ▢ 2 sticks cold salted butter, 227 grams,(HIGHLY recommend Kerrygold brand), cut into small pieces(freeze the cut butter for 15 min on a baking sheet)
• ▢ 1 large egg, cold out of the fridge
• ▢ 2 tablespoons ice water, plus more if needed 
(you may add more up to 4-5 tablespoons)
• ▢ 1 tablespoon distilled white vinegar

Instructions 

• Place flour and salt in a food processor. Add butter and pulse until mixture resembles coarse meal with some cherry-size clumps. Start with big chunks so that when you add the liquid they chunks get slightly smaller. You don’t want to start with too small of clumps before adding the liquid.
• Beat together egg, ice water, and vinegar in a small bowl. Add to flour mixture and pulse just until incorporated, about 10 times more. The chucks of butter should end up to pea size after liquid is added. Squeeze a small amount of dough to make sure it holds together. If dough is too dry, add more ice water, 1 tablespoon at a time.
• If making a full pie divide dough in half and wrap each half in plastic wrap, forming each into 1 disk. If making galette only make one large disk with the dough.
• Refrigerate the dough at least 30 minutes and up to 2 days

Blind Baking Pie Crust:

• While the crust is chilling, preheat oven to 375°F (190°C).
• Roll out the dough and place in a pie dish. Line the top of the crust with parchment paper. Crunch up parchment paper first so that you can easily shape it into the crust. Fill with pie weights, or dried beans. Make sure the weights are evenly distributed around the pie dish.
• Bake until the edges of the crust are starting to brown, about 20 minutes. Remove pie from the oven and carefully lift the parchment paper (with the weights) out of the pie. Prick holes all around the bottom crust with a fork. Return the pie crust to the oven.
• If you’re making a no-bake pie like the Banana Cream-Dream Pie and need a fully baked pie crust, bake until the bottom crust is golden brown, about 15-18 additional minutes. For a partially baked pie crust (if you’re baking the pie crust once it is filled- like the Easy French Apple Tart or the  Frangipane Tart) bake until the bottom crust is just beginning to brown, about 8-11 minutes.

Notes

Makes 1 full pie- bottom and top crust. Crust will keep in the fridge for 2 days or freezes up to 1 month.

HOW TO Blind Baking Pie Crust

1. While the crust is chilling, preheat oven to 375°F (190°C).
2. Fill with weights: Line the chilled pie crust with parchment paper. (Crunch up the parchment paper first so that you can easily shape it into the crust.) Fill with pie weights, dried beans, or my sugar method found in this recipe. Make sure the weights are evenly distributed around the pie dish and filled to the very TOP.
3. Bake: Bake until the edges of the crust are starting to brown, about 15-16 minutes. Remove pie from the oven and carefully lift the parchment paper (with the weights) out of the pie. Prick holes all around the bottom crust with a fork. Return the pie crust to the oven.
4. Blind Bake Pie Crust: If you’re making a no-bake pie like the Banana Cream-Dream Pie and need a fully baked pie crust, bake until the bottom crust is golden brown, about 15-18 minutes. For a partially baked pie crust (if you’re baking the pie crust once it is filled- like the Easy French Apple Tart or the  Frangipane Tart) bake until the bottom crust is just beginning to brown, about 8-11 minutes.

Nutrition

Calories: 434kcalCarbohydrates: 32gProtein: 6gFat: 32gSaturated Fat: 20gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 8gTrans Fat: 1gCholesterol: 112mgSodium: 546mgPotassium: 65mgFiber: 1gSugar: 0.2gVitamin A: 986IUCalcium: 20mgIron: 2mg

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

Additional Info

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

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