Homemade Pie Crust doesn't have to be difficult. This easy pie crust recipe is foolproof and tastes great. Yes, going to the store and buying pre-made pie crust is easy, but there is a great satisfaction that comes with making your crust from scratch!
I love making homemade pies. I honestly feel pies are my all-time favorite dessert. Baking homemade pies bring such joy to my family and friends. There is something comforting and pleasing when bringing a homemade pie to the table at any meal or gathering.
If you need a pie recipe for this crust then make sure to check out my Dutch Apple Pie, It's my all-time favorite pie recipe!
How to make Homemade Pie Crust:
Homemade pie crust is very easy to make. You need to make sure your water and butter are very cold though. Ice water and butter from the fridge are best.
Whisk your dry ingredients and then smash in your sliced cold butter.
A very simple pie crust recipe to make that will make your pie making so much easier! Enjoy!
Ingredients:
- All-Purpose Flour
- Salt
- Sugar
- Butter (cold)
- Ice Cold Water
Directions:
Step One: Start by whisking together your dry ingredients then adding the sliced COLD butter. Make sure your butter is cold right out of the fridge.
- Tip: Cold Butter is essential to having a flaky crust.
Step Two: With a pastry cutter or your hands mash and crumble until you get a good crumbly with your dough.
Step Three: Then add ICE COLD water! Using cold water is important so your crust does not get warm and sticky.
- Tip: Don't add ice to the dough. You just want your water to be very cold.
Step Four: Knead bread on a surface that has been sprinkled with flour.
Step Five: Roll it out and your pie crust is ready.
How do you place a pie crust in a pie pan?
Step One: Place rolled dough in the center for the pie pan.
Step Two: Gently press dough into the pan from the center to the edges. Make sure there is some overlap on all the edging.
Step Three: Crimp the edges of the pie crust.
To crimp the dough, you want to use 2 fingers on the outside of the pan, and then pinch together with 1 finger from the inside of the pie pan.
The crimped pie crust should have a small indentation on the inside of the pie crust as seen below. Do the entire edge of the pie.
Step Four: Your pie crust is now ready to be filled.
How to store your pie crust:
To store roll your crust into a ball and wrap with plastic wrap. You can keep in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
To freeze this pie crust, place your wrapped crust in a freezer bag and place in the freezer for up to 3 months.
How to bake a homemade pie crust:
Bake with filling: If you are filling your pie with something that needs to be baked (apple pie, cherry pie) then make your dough, fill, and bake it according to the directions of that recipe.
Blind baking: Otherwise, you can bake the pie crust and fill it with a no-bake filling like chocolate pudding or no-bake peanut butter filling.
When blind baking your pie crust to use for a no-bake pie filling place parchment paper side then fill with dried beans or pie weights.
This will help your pie crust from rising. Another option would be placing several small holes in the bottom of the pie and around the edge to make sure it does not rise.
I used a fork and when around the entire bottom of the pie before baking it. Bake at 400 degrees for 14-15 minutes or until golden brown.
What are the different types of Pie Crust Tops?
There are a few different ways you can top your pies. Here are the most popular three ways to top your pie.
- Full Top Crust - Using your split pie crust, roll out the second half of the dough and place on top. You can crimp it with the sides of the bottom pie crust, or kind of "tuck" it into the inside sides of the pie. Cut a cross or X in the top center to allow air and steam to escape during baking.
- Lattice Crust - Using your split pie crust roll out the dough. Cut the crust into strips about a ½ inch wide. Then you want to layer them overlapping every other spot to make the lattice top.
- Open Top or Streusel Top - Some pies don't need a top. You can just let your filling bake as is in the pie crust or put a Streusel topping on it. Streusel topping is usually a sweet brown sugar-based topping.
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Homemade Pie Crust
Ingredients
- 2 ½ cup all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon sugar
- 1 cup cold butter
- ¼-1/2 cup ice cold water
Instructions
- In a mixing bowl add flour, salt, and sugar and mix together well. Slice butter and use a pastry cutter to mix in with flour mixture until you have a crumbly texture.
- Next, add cold water slowly until you get the right consistency (you don't want your dough to wet and hard to roll). I added the full ½ cup to mine. When rolling the dough, sprinkle cutting board with flour.
- Use hands to knead the dough then separate the dough in half.
For filled and cooked pies (like apple or cherry):
- Roll out both sections of dough place one on the bottom of the pie pan, fill, and top with the 2nd rolled out dough. Seal and bake according to directions.
For no bake pies (blind baking):
- Roll out and place in a the pie pan. Place parchment paper and weights or dried beans inside crust and bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes. Allow to cool then fill and refrigerate according to directions.
Nutrition
I used this recipe to make chicken empanadas! They came out much better than when I use store bought pie crust. My kids liked it better too! Thanks for the recipe!
So happy to hear that!
I can never make a good pie crust until I came across this recipe! The EASIEST recipe EVER! Thank you!
Yahh!!! So happy to hear that!
I Absolutely love this recipe I’ve made it about four times now and I’m learning how to perfect it I tweak it a little bit to add sometimes cinnamon in the piecrusts because I like the extra cinnamon taste but this morning I just made it again and I feel like I perfected it so thank you so much for this recipe it truly is amazing. Wish I could show you a picture of my almost perfect piecrusts
So glad to hear that!!
If you have Instagram tag me in a picture I would LOVE to see it @thediaryofarealhousewife
How would you cook this if you freeze the dough?
If you freeze the dough you would want it to thaw overnight in the fridge then once at the fridge temperature you can bake it the same as in the directions.
Howdy Jennie,
Will make this pie for sure. But I wanted to let you know that you wrote "ass" instead of "add" in the Pie Pan Section 🙈, sorry just thought you should know 😝
It's not a criticism just thought you should know.
Have a great day 💕
Haha!! Oh my, that made me laugh out loud. Thank you so much for letting me know!
Do you use salted or unsalted butter?
Hi Morgan, yes I prefer to use unsalted butter for this recipe. Hope you enjoy it!!
I love this recipe. I have tried so many others and he always turned out touch and not flaky. This one was easy, quick, delicious, flaky and WONDERFUL. Thank you so much.
Yah!! Thank you so much for the review, I'm so glad you enjoyed the recipe!
How long do you bake 2 crust apple pie using Crock-Pot apple pie filling?
Hi Judy! I would bake with the fill at 375 degrees for 20 minutes or until your crust is golden brown. Remove it at 20 minutes to see if if needs more time. If it does I would wrap the edges with some foil to keep them from burning then bake for another 10 minutes. If you refrigerate your filling then you will want to bake closer of 40 minutes to make sure everything is warm though our.
Hope that helps and you enjoy the recipe!!
Do you use all purpose flour?
Yes, sorry for any confusion I will update the recipe!
I want to try this crust sounds yummy. I'm thinking about using it to make a pot pie and just omitting the sugar.
Yeah! I have used this recipe for pot pie even with the sugar, just whatever your preference is. Hope you enjoy it Laura!
Can I use shortening instead of butter for the crust?
I have not tried but I think if you use it cold it should work. The butter needs to be firm so just make sure the shorting is also =)
Can I make the dough and put it in the fridge over night?
Yes you can. Just place in an air tight container and use it wen ready. Hope you enjoy it Nicole! =)
When you say mix it together, should I use a mixer or just mixing with my hand ?
I just mixed by hand. Just whisk the flour and salt and sugar. Then use a fork (or your hands to add in the cold butter until it's nice and crumbly! Hope that helps Cheron!
Hi, I want to make this recipe with your dutch apple pie recipe. For filled it says to use half for the bottom and half on top. Since I am making a dutch apple pie do I use the entire dough for the bottom or should I make half the recipe? Thank you.
Yes this recipe will make 2 pie crust. So for the dutch apple pie you would only need one and can half the recipe. =) Hope you enjoy it Valerie!