If you’re going to memorize one recipe, let it be a pie crust. Mine is an all-butter crust that I can pull together at a moment’s notice. It’s simple, requires few ingredients, not a heck of a lot of time, and being able to make a flaky, buttery pie crust will lead to more friends. It’s a fact.
This recipe is my go-to. During the spring and summer, I fill it with whatever I can find at the farmer’s market. The Tuesday night before Thanksgiving, I make five or six of these babies for the marathon pie baking that happens mostly the next day but a little bit on Thanksgiving Day, despite my mama’s insistence that I be out of the kitchen. It’s a quick and easy recipe that results in perfectly flaky, golden crusts that are so great it almost doesn’t matter what is inside them (except one has to have pumpkin filling or my little cousin Annika would be heartbroken).
You must must must keep your butter cold, and I don’t worry about getting the buttery pieces too small. I always use a pastry cutter (or two knives if I’m in a friend’s kitchen) until the very shaggy dough stage. Then I switch to kneading with my hands. This will smear some of the bigger butter pieces. Add the cider vinegar and water just a little at a time, and only as much as is necessary to bring the dough together. I shape the dough into a disc and stick it in the fridge, at least overnight. You can also make the crust a couple days ahead and stick it in the freezer (move it to the fridge the night before you want to use it). After rolling out the crust, I put the whole pie plate in the fridge while I’m making the filling to re-chill the butter and to keep the crust from shrinking. Another tip (this one’s from Grandma Bloom): dab a little bit of cold water along the edge of the plate before your crimp your crust, especially when par-baking, to keep the crusts from sliding down the plate in the oven.
all-butter pie crust
for 1 pie crust
1 ¼ cups ap flour
1 tbsp sugar
¼ tsp salt
1 stick unsalted butter, cold and cut into cubes
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
4-5 tbsps ice water
- In a large bowl, stir together the flour, sugar and salt
- Drop the butter cubes into the flour mixture and, with a pastry cutter or two knives, cut the butter into the flour until you have pebble-sized butter pieces.
- Add the vinegar and 3 tablespoons of ice water to the mixture and combine with either the pastry cutter or a wooden spoon. Add the remaining water 1 tablespoon at a time, kneading the dough with your hands until the dough just comes together.
- Gather the dough into a ball or mound, flatten into a disc and wrap in plastic and chill at least 1 hour, but preferably overnight.