Pie crust is one of those things that seems easy – it’s just butter and flour – what could possible go wrong? Yet so many people struggle with making a delicious, flaky pie crust, so here are my two recipes for a perfect pie crust, every time!
My Two Go-To Pie Crust Recipes
Basic Buttermilk Pie Crust: This crust has great flavor and a rich brown color when baked. The only downside is you usually have to make a special trip to the store for buttermilk (or maybe that is just me).
Easy Butter Pie Crust: This crust is easy and versatile, and you always have butter…right?!?
Now The Details
Both of these pie crust recipes are super easy and come out flaky, tender, and perfect every time. You can use either of these pie crust recipes for any dish that requires a short crust, such as a tart or a quiche. And…I always make a little extra dough so that I have enough for pie crust cookies (just add some cinnamon and sugar and yum happens when you bake these off).
One of my keep-it-super-easy tips for these recipes is to use the food processor with a metal blade to cut the fat into the dough. Flour contains gluten proteins that build when you “work” dough. This is a great idea when making bread because you need the strength of those gluten bonds to hold together and create air pockets in the dough as the yeast does its magic. The strong gluten bonds create a bread that has that wonderful chew that makes good bread so irresistible. However, chew is not what we want in a pie crust – we want light, flaky, buttery yumminess. In order to get this flakiness it is very important to agitate the gluten bonds in the flour as little as possible, this mean very little mixing or kneading. Using the food processor allows you to quickly mix the dough with very little hands on contact, and gives you a nice evenly flaky crust in the end.
Basic Buttermilk Pie Crust
Flaky, tender, flavorful crust. This recipe makes two - 9 inch pie crusts. Or enough for a double crust pie.
Ingredients
- 2 ½ cups all purpose flour
- 2 tbsp sugar
- ¾ tsp kosher salt
- 1 cup unsalted butter diced and very cold
- ½ cup buttermilk
Instructions
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Add flour, salt and sugar to a food processor bowl with the metal blade. Pulse a few times to blend dry ingredients.
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Add cold, diced butter to bowl. Pulse until mixture resembles coarse sand.
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Add milk via the liquid cup dispenser. Pulse until the mixture just starts to come together.
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Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and smooth any stray pieces together. Knead a few times.
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Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight. (At least 4 hours)
Recipe Notes
I always make this in my food processor. It is super fast and super easy. If you don't have a food processor then you can use a pastry cutter.
Ingredients
- 2 ½ cups all purpose flour
- 2 tsp sugar up to 2 Tbsp sugar
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 1 cup unsalted butter chilled and diced
- ½ cup ice water
Instructions
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Add flour, sugar and salt to food processor with metal blade attachment. Pulse a few times to blend dry ingredients.
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Add diced butter to bowl. Pulse until the mixture resembles coarse sand.
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Add ice water via the liquid cup dispenser. Pulse until the mixture just comes together.
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Turn out on a lightly floured surface. Smooth together and knead a few times.
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Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight. (At least 4 hours)
