Flaky Pie Crust
Using a few simple ingredients and an easy folding technique, you can make super flaky pie crust at home. This recipe yields a flavorful puff pastry-like flaky pie crust that will leave everyone impressed. Be sure to check out the full step-by-step article above for a more in-depth analysis and instruction of this recipe, or watch the video for a visual overview.
- Prep Time: 00:15
- Total Time: 15 minutes
- Yield: 2 (9") pie crusts
- Category: Pie Crust
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup ice water, more or less as needed (see note)
- 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- 3 cups (360 grams) all-purpose flour, more for work surface
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
- ½ teaspoon coarse kosher salt
- 18 tablespoons (255 grams) cold unsalted butter
Instructions
- In a liquid measuring cup, combine the ice water and vinegar and set aside in the refrigerator.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, combine the flour, sugar, and salt. Mix on low speed until combined.
- Dice the cold butter into 1-tablespoon pieces. Add the butter to the mixer bowl and turn the mixer on low (cover the bowl with a towel if flour starts to spill out). Let the paddle cut the butter into the flour for 30 seconds. There should still be large chunks of butter visible in the flour, with most of them the size of a walnut. Do not overwork the butter.
- With the mixer running, slowly stream half of the chilled water mixture into the dough. Mix until most of the dough comes together around the paddle, adding more water as needed, and then immediately shut off the mixer to avoid overworking the dough. Remove the dough from the mixer bowl and transfer it to a work surface. The dough should hold together easily when handled. Quickly shape the dough into a 1-inch-thick rectangle and wrap tightly in plastic wrap.
- Transfer the dough to the refrigerator and let it rest for at least 2 hours. If your kitchen is warm, you may want to let it rest for a longer period to fully chill.
- Unwrap the dough and place it on a lightly floured work surface. Use a rolling pin to roll the dough, dusting with flour if necessary, into a 16-by-10-inch rectangle. Brush off any excess flour from the surface of the dough with a dry pastry brush.
- Fold the dough in half from the long side, forming a long, skinny rectangle. Then, fold one of the short sides over by about ⅓. Repeat folding over the opposite short side to form a thick, mostly square, layered piece of dough. Please see the step-by-step photos above or the video for a visual tutorial, if needed.
- Roll out the dough into a rectangle about 8 inches in length. Cut the dough in half to form two pieces of pie dough. If desired, the dough can be shaped into a circle at this point or left as a square. Wrap each piece tightly in plastic wrap and let the dough chill for at least 30 minutes or up to 2 days. It is easiest to roll out the dough if it has chilled and rested overnight.
- When ready to use, roll out each piece of pie dough to a thickness of about ¼ inch and use as desired or as directed in a recipe. Refer to the notes in the post above for more information on how to store, freeze, use, and bake with this flaky pie dough.
Notes
This recipe was tested using Diamond Crystal coarse kosher salt. If you use Morton's kosher salt or fine salt, decrease the volume by half.
Weighing your flour is the most accurate way to measure. If you aren't going to weigh it, spoon it into the cup, and then level it off. If you scoop the flour out with the measuring cup and then level, it could change the outcome of the final product.
You can store this flaky pie crust in the refrigerator for about 2 days or the freezer for up to 3 months. If you plan to store it for an extended period of time, than wrap it up twice!
Some readers have needed less water than 3/4 cup. This is likely due to how much the butter is worked into the flour. If too much butter is incorporated into the flour, it affects the flour's ability to absorb water. Do your best to work the butter in just barely (as the recipe instructs, for 30 seconds) so that the flour can absorb the prescribed amount of water. However, start with half the amount at first, and see where your dough is. If it's still dry, add in the full amount of water. When I make this recipe, I usually add more than 3/4 cup, because my butter is barely worked into the flour, which makes for a flakier pie crust.
Looking for baking instructions for this pie? See section titled: How to Bake a Flaky Pie Crust, or check out this How to Bake a Double Crust Pie.
Find it online: https://everydaypie.com/flaky-pie-crust/