Pie lovers, rejoice! A recipe for the ultimate NO FAIL Pie Crust — with easy instructions and all the tips you need to make a perfect pie crust, every time!
As fall swings into full gear, it’s officially my favorite season: PIE SEASON!
Even though summer fruit makes amazing pies, there’s something about fall that calls for a freshly baked pie. Apple pie. Pumpkin pie. Pecan pie. Sweet potato pie. I’ll take a slice of each, please!
So in order to prepare for pie season, let’s talk about the most basic ingredient for pies — the pie crust. And I’m going to share my absolute most favorite, super easy, practically guaranteed no-fail pie crust.
I’m going to start out by stating that there is nothing wrong with using a store-bought crust, be it the frozen-in-an-aluminum-pie-plate crust or a rolled refrigerated circle of dough crust.
These are both solid options – no one is going to stop and comment that the crust is especially delicious, but inversely, you also know you’re not going to wind up with some soggy monstrosity full of holes, either.
But rolling out your own pie crust really isn’t difficult; honestly, I find it incredibly relaxing to gently roll out the dough, slowly stretching the sides, feeling the chilled, stiff dough slowly give way.
It’s similar to my love of kneading bread, and why I will never own a bread machine – getting my hands in there is what I love so much about baking, and so rewarding, too.
Now, while I’ve mentioned that rolling out a pie crust isn’t difficult… choosing the right recipe can be. And this is where I’m going to save you the hassle of trying all the dud recipes because I’ve already done it for you!
Many years ago, I set on the quest to find the perfect rolled sugar cookie recipe, and low and behold – I found the perfect rolled sugar cookie recipe. Since then, I’ve turned my attention towards a perfect pie crust. And now, I’m here to share my recipe for a no fail pie crust, and super helpful pie rolling tips, with all of you.
I’ve tried LOTS of recipes, ranging from all butter to all shortening, using vodka instead of water, freezing and grating butter, freezing and thawing the dough, rolling the dough out warm and then chilling, chilling the dough and then rolling it out, freezing the crust before baking, etc.
And this crust recipe right here? It comes out perfectly every time. So much so that I’m deeming it a No Fail Pie Crust.
The biggest debate of ALL in terms of finding the perfect pie crust recipe? Whether to use butter or shortening!
(Other options are lard, but it’s hard to find rendered leaf lard, and oil, but this creates a more crumbly dough than tender, so we’re leaving those options out.)
So let’s talk about what each does, and what actually makes the best pie crust!
Butter provides the best flavor and flakiness to pie crusts. Because it contains 15-20% water (unlike shortening, which is 100% fat), the water evaporates as the pie bake bakes and this steam separates layers in the dough, creating a classic flaky crust. However, butter has a lower melting point and is hard to work with — too soft and the pie dough will tear, but too hard and the dough is hard to roll out.
Shortening, on the other hand, has a higher melting point than butter, making shortening-based dough a dream to roll out. These pie doughs hold their shape beautifully in the oven but aren’t as flavorful as a crust made with butter.
So how are going to choose? We’re going to use BOTH to get the best of both worlds!
This No Fail Pie Crust recipe uses butter for flavor and water content to make a delicious, flaky pie crust. But we’ll also include just enough shortening to make the dough easy to roll.
Whether you opt to use butter or shortening (or my suggestion, both!), you’ll want to make sure that it is cold!
Cut your butter and shortening into small pieces and freeze them before starting to make the dough.
This serves two purposes: one, it makes the dough easier to handle. Two: it helps increase the flakiness of the finished crust. Why is this? It’s time for my favorite subject… kitchen chemistry!
Kitchen Chemistry
When cold butter is placed into a hot oven, the water in the butter evaporates, creating a perfectly flaky crust. If room temperature butter or shortening is added to the oven, however, it rapidly melts and separates out from the flour mixture, resulting in a soggy crust.
If you find the dough gets too warm while you’re rolling it out, pause and set it back into the refrigerator for 15 minutes before finishing. Working with dough that is just the right consistency and temperature is essential for the best pie crust!
Without further ado, here are my top tips for baking a great pie crust, regardless of what recipe you use:
Absolutely! Just be sure not to overmix – using a food processor increases the risk of overmixing, which doesn’t happen when butter is cut into the flour by hand. There should still be small pea-sized balls of butter or shortening visible in the mixture.
Pastry flour has less protein than all-purpose flour and thus results in a lighter and flakier crust. The trade off, however, is that it’s harder to handle and roll because it’s so delicate. I make my pie crusts with all-purpose flour but you can absolutely experiment with pastry flour if you’d like.
This trend was kicked off by Cook’s Illustrated, which states that because alcohol doesn’t promote gluten formation, pie crusts will stay flakier even when a little extra moisture is added, making it easier to roll out the dough. I personally haven’t noticed a difference, but if you’d like to try, substitute half the water with vodka (using 3 tablespoons vodka).
Yes! Pie dough can be frozen before rolling out the pie (wrapped in plastic wrap and stored in a freezer bag) or after rolling out the crust and placing it in the pie plate (wrap the entire pie dish with plastic wrap and two layers of aluminum foil).
Now that you have the perfect pie crust, what should you do with it? Here are some of my favorite suggestions, both savory and sweet!
The ultimate no fail pie crust — make a perfect crust, every time!
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This recipe was originally posted in July 2015 and updated in October 2017.