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November 18, 2022 BASICS

The Best Pie Dough for A Flaky Pie Crust (+VIDEO)

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a close-up of a flaky pie crust

Follow some simple steps and make the best pie dough for a perfectly flaky crust. It gently flakes in your mouth! It is everything I use for all types of sweet and savory pies from apple hand pies to classic quiche.

Jump to Recipe Print

In this post, you'll learn some baking skills such as this:

  • Key tips to make your pie dough very flaky
  • How to make pie dough with both a food processor and hands.
  • How to wrap your dough so that you can roll easier later

... and so on!

Jump to:
  • 📌 What makes pie dough so flaky?
  • 📌 Frequently asked questions
  • 📌 Learn how to make it visually!
  • 📌 6 Ingredients to make flaky pie crust
  • 📌 How to make pie dough
  • 📌 Step 1: Add flour, sugar, salt, and butter to a food processor and pulse until the butter is cut into very tiny pieces.
  • 📌 Step 2: Add water and oil and mix until it forms a ball.
  • 📌 Step 3: Wrap a pie dough and chill it in a fridge for 30 minutes to a few hours or more.
  • 📌 How to enjoy this pie dough
  • 📌 The Printable Recipe
  • The Best Pie Dough For A Flaky Pie Crust

📌 What makes pie dough so flaky?

The simple answer is pieces of butter in the dough.

💡 The tiny pieces of butter in the pie dough melt in the oven and creates hollows which lead to layers of crust.

On contrary, when your butter is soft, it gets pasted into the flour. You will not get the same flaky texture with this.

💬 So, the key focus is to keep the pieces of butter cold as you mix the dough to make a flaky pie crust.

📌 Frequently asked questions

How should I store pie dough?

Wrap tightly and store in a fridge for up to 5 days or a few months in a freezer.

What flour should I use to dust on a working surface when I roll the dough?

I recommend bread flour. It does not get absorbed into the dough as much as cake flour and all-purpose flour. Also, it's easier to spread thin since it's less lumpy!

Should I blind-bake with this pie dough?

It depends on the recipes or what filling goes into the crust. (If you only need to bake your filling for short time, you'll need to blind-bake the crust ahead.) Just follow the instructions of the recipe you are using!

📌 Learn how to make it visually!

Check out this video to see how you can make this pie dough using a food processor. * I added shredded cheddar to it but everything else is the same.

And check out this video to see how you can make it by hand.

📌 6 Ingredients to make flaky pie crust

  • All-purpose flour: 375g | 13.2oz (2.5 US cups)
  • Granulated sugar: 1 Tbsp
    • It is not a must but a small amount is added today to add a slight sweetness.
  • Salt: ½ tsp
  • Unsalted butter: 226g | 8oz (2 US sticks)
  • Ice water: 120g | 4.2oz (½ cup)
    • The cold ice helps to keep the butter cold.
    • Plus, add up to 2 more teaspoons if you need to. 
  • Oil: 2 Tbsp
    • Today, I used olive oil but you can use any other regular oils

👩🏻‍🍳 It is a secret ingredient to make the pie crust. By adding oil, less gluten gets created which makes the crust feel lighter. The key is not to add too much.

📌 How to make pie dough

Preparation

  • Add ice to the water to create very cold water.
ice water in a bowl

The 3 simple steps:

  1. Add flour, sugar, salt, and butter to a food processor and pulse until the butter is cut into very tiny pieces.
  2. Add water and oil and mix until it forms a ball.
  3. Wrap a pie dough and chill it in a fridge for 30 minutes to a few hours or more.

📍 The printable recipe with instructions is at the very end of this post.

Jump to Recipe

Check out below to see the steps with more detailed tips and images👇🏻


📌 Step 1: Add flour, sugar, salt, and butter to a food processor and pulse until the butter is cut into very tiny pieces.

cutting butter in small pieces

Use very cold butter and cut it into pieces.

butter, flour, sugar and salt in a food processor

Pulse.

💬 The butter should be the size of apple seeds or whole peppers. Check with your hands and squish if you find some big pieces.

pulsing butter, flour, sugar and salt in a food processor

💡 Once you cut butter too much, you can not fix it. Check the size when you are not sure and pulse little by little, especially toward the end.

dried ingredients and pieces of butter in a bowl

When you do it by hand:

If you don't have a food processor, no worry! You can still make it by hand. You can use a dough blender to cut butter faster than a knife.

👩🏻‍🍳 But it still takes a lot more time with the blender than with a food processor. I recommend cutting your butter into very small pieces in advance and freezing or chilling it in a fridge until right before you use it so that the butter is not getting soft while you are cutting it!


📌 Step 2: Add water and oil and mix until it forms a ball.

adding water and oil to flour and butter

When you mix them, follow the 2 steps:

  1. Rub the surface and flip and repeat it until you see that the liquids are spread evenly in the flour.
mixing pie dough in a bowl
  1. Press well by hand all over the surface and flip. Repeat it until it forms a ball.
    • It'll look very powdery at the beginning but slowly come together as you repeat this process.
pressing pie dough by hand

(Add up to 2 more teaspoons of cold water if you need to.)

adding water in pie dough

🙅🏻‍♀️ Do not add any more water than that since more water creates more glutens which makes the crust extra crunchy.

How to judge if it's done:

  • It still looks slightly powdery but comes together.
  • Stop before it starts getting sticky. (That means the butter is melted partially.)
DONE!
flipped out from a bowl

💬 This recipe is enough to make 1 10-inch pie with a double crust or 2 10-inch pies with a single crust.


📌 Step 3: Wrap a pie dough and chill it in a fridge for 30 minutes to a few hours or more.

When the dough is just made, it is too soft to roll. And also, the gluten in flour needs to rest so that you can roll easier.

How to wrap and chill the pie dough

  1. Roll it over the plastic wrap to make a round or square shape with even thickness.
    • By doing this, it'll be easier to roll the dough evenly later.
  1. Pinch all around the edge and smooth it out by spinning it by hand.
    • By doing it, the edge is going to crack less as you roll the dough later.
Pinch the edge.
Smooth it out.
Done!

📌 How to enjoy this pie dough

This is the only pie dough I use for all kinds of pies - from desserts to savory food.

Last year on Thanksgiving, we had bacon & spinach quiches, chocolate pecan pies, apple crumbles, and a big caramel rum apple pie, all made from this one dough.

Also, try my easy apple hand pies using this pie dough. It's so simple to make yet so delicious!

circle apple hand pies

If you tried the recipe and enjoyed it, please share your feedback. I'd love to hear how you enjoyed it at home!

📌 The Printable Recipe

a close-up of a flaky pie crust

The Best Pie Dough For A Flaky Pie Crust

ayacaliva
The best pie dough for a perfectly flaky pie crust. Follow all the tips to make it successful at home!
Print Recipe Pin Recipe Share on Facebook Share by Email
Total Time 20 mins
Course Pie
Cuisine Baking
Servings 2 crusts for 10 inch pie plate
Calories 1643 kcal

Equipment

  • Knife
  • Food processor or a dough blade/cutter with a bowl
  • Spatula
  • Plastic wrap

Ingredients
 
 

  • 13.2 oz All-purpose flour 2.5 US cups
  • Granulated sugar
  • Salt
  • Unsalted butter 2 US sticks
  • 3.9 oz Cold water Plus, add up to 2 more teaspoons if you need to. (110g+10g=½ cup in total.)
  • Oil I use olive oil but any regular oil works.

Instructions
 

Preparation: Combine ice and water to make ice water.

    Pie dough

    • Add flour, sugar, salt, and cold cubed butter into a food processor and pulse them together until the butter gets small pieces like seeds of apples or whole black peppers.
      13.2 oz All-purpose flour, Granulated sugar, Salt, Unsalted butter
      butter, flour, sugar and salt in a food processor
    • Move it to a bowl, add water and oil and mix until it forms a ball:
      First, rub the surface, flip, and continue until the liquids go around evenly.
      Next, press the surface well, flip, and repeat it until it comes together. (Add up to 2 more teaspoons of water if needed.)
      Stop when it is still slightly powdery but can form a ball by hand.
      Oil, 3.9 oz Cold water
      pressing pie dough by hand
    • Let it rest:
      Cut the dough in half, wrap them individually, and roll them to make an even circle or desirable shape.
      Pinch the edge and smooth it out so that the edge won't crack too much as you roll it later.
      Chill in a fridge for 30 minutes to a few hours or more to rest the dough before you roll it.
      wrapped pie dough

    Nutrition

    Calories: 1643kcalCarbohydrates: 149gProtein: 21gFat: 108gSaturated Fat: 59gPolyunsaturated Fat: 8gMonounsaturated Fat: 33gTrans Fat: 4gCholesterol: 245mgSodium: 106mgPotassium: 246mgFiber: 5gSugar: 7gVitamin A: 2826IUVitamin C: 0.04mgCalcium: 59mgIron: 9mg
    Keyword Pie, Pie crust, Pie dough
    Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

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