Easy no-knead recipe for the flakiest homemade butter pie crust, perfect to make sweet or savory pies.
Have you ever wondered how to get a flaky and perfect pie crust? The answer is butter! And with this buttery pie crust recipe, you are going to get the most perfect crust every time.
With so many different pie crust recipes out there, I’m sure it can seem overwhelming to look for the perfect crust recipe, but this one right here, is it, so stop searching. Made with butter and egg yolk, this crust is fabulously perfect and so simple to make too!
The Perfect Pie Crust
This pie crust recipe is very forgiving and easy. Not only that but it’s versatile too! If you want to make it sweet, savory, or even vegan- it’s all possible with a simple switch or substitution (more on that later). So go ahead and find the perfect pie filling recipes you can because the crust is covered.. or will be soon.
Pie crust ingredients
-Butter: You will need 7 tablespoons of cold cubed butter (3 ½ ounces). This is almost a full ½ stick of butter. To make this pie crust vegan or dairy free simply swap it out with shortening.
-Egg: To make the pie crust taste richer and be more malleable (meaning able to hold together better without breaking) you’ll need an egg yolk. You could also just use 2 more tablespoons of water if eggs aren’t an option.)
-Flour: You will need ½ cups of a good all purpose flour for the base of the dough recipe.
-Powdered sugar: If you plan on making your crust sweeter for a dessert, add in 3 tablespoons of powdered sugar. Otherwise, you can use salt instead of sugar for a more savory flavor.
-Salt: Add in a pinch of salt to enhance your pie crust’s flavor well.
-Water: You want to use very cold water (like ice water cold) to help moisten the ingredients and bind everything together. You will need about 2-3 tablespoons of water.
How to make an all butter pie crust
Combine the flour, salt, powdered sugar, and cubed butter in a bowl.
Use your clean hands or a pastry cutter to blend the ingredients together until they form balls that are the size of peas. Be careful not to overwork the butter. Leaving little bits of butter that haven’t been broken down is good for creating a flakier crust.
Once you have gotten that consistency, add in the egg yolk and mix the dough.
One by one, add in tablespoons of cold water while mixing the dough together. You want to add it slowly because you can always add more but once too much has been added, you can’t take it away.
Your goal is to get the dough to come together into a smooth bowl that pulls away from the bowl, leaving you with a “clean” bowl.
Form your dough into a disc and wrap it well with plastic wrap. Place in the fridge to chill for about 30 minutes or more.
Once the dough has been chilled, you can begin rolling it out onto a floured surface.
The best way to do the rolling is like this:
Roll it a bit, and then turn it 90 degrees. Roll again, and turn it another 90 degrees. Repeat.
Continue until your dough is about ¼ inch thick. Roll, turn, repeat.
Transfer the dough to your pie plate and mold it into the pan with your hands, remove air bubbles as needed and make sure that the pie is well adjusted to the mold especially in any corners.
Cut off the excess dough around the sides or leave it there to make a nice border if desired. You can make a nice border by using your fingers to pinch together the dough around the edges or use the back of a fork to crimp them together.
Bake as needed for your recipe or bake completely at 350 degrees F for 30-35 minutes. Enjoy!
ALL BUTTER PIE CRUST RECIPE
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour 7.1 oz
- 7 TBSP cold unsalted butter cubed (3 ½ oz)
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 3 TBSP powdered sugar
- 1 egg yolk
- 2-3 TBSP ice-cold water
Instructions
- In the bowl, put the all-purpose flour, a pinch of salt, the powdered sugar, and the cubed cold butter.
- With your clean hands, start mixing the butter with the rest of the ingredients. You want to break down the butter until you get small pea-sized pieces, it doesn't matter if some are bigger than others. Be careful not to overwork the butter. These bits of un-mixed butter will help to create the flakiness of the crust. You can do this step with a pastry cutter or a food processor.
- Once you achieve said consistency, add the egg yolk and mix.
- Add one by one the cold water tablespoons and mix. You want to achieve a consistency that is not too wet. It needs to stay barely together when pressed and should not stick to your hands. It’s best to add the very cold water one tablespoon at the time, and check if the dough needs more water or not. Remember you can always add, but never take out.
- Keep mixing until you form a ball of dough, you should end up with a “clean” bowl.
- Form a disk, wrap it in cling wrap and let it cool in the fridge for 30 minutes. This will allow the flour to hydrate and drop the temperature of the dough a bit.
- Once it has cooled down for 30 minutes, roll on a floured surface, like this: Roll one direction several times, then turn 90 degrees. Roll again and turn 90 degrees. Repeat.
- Transfer the dough into the pie mold using your hands or your rolling pin and adjust to the mold. Make sure there are no air bubbles, and that the dough is well adjusted to the mold, especially in the corners.
- Cut the excess dough or leave a bit to create a nice border by pinching it or marking it with a fork.
- Bake as needed for your recipe or at 350F (180C) for 30-35 minutes.
Notes
Nutrition
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Why are cold ingredients important for pie crust?
To create a flaky pie crust, we need to work with very cold ingredients, so gluten does not develop, and we end up with a very light and incredibly flaky crust.
How to blind bake homemade pie crust
You can blind bake it for 15 minutes at 350F (180C) to prevent the crust to go soggy with the filling. For this make tiny holes with a fork to prevent it from going up and use oven paper and uncooked beans or baking marbles on top.
Can I make pie crust in advance?
This pastry can be frozen for up to 8 weeks. If you want to use it frozen, just defrost in the freezer for 2-3 hours or until the dough is soft enough for your finger to leave a mark.
There’s always room for pie, check out these great pie recipes!
- NO BAKE KOOL AID PIE
- CHOCOLATE CARAMEL TURTLE PIE
- APPLE HAND PIE RECIPE
- CREAMY BANANA PECAN PIE
- EASY LEMON CHIFFON PIE
- TURKEY POT PIE RECIPE
- NO BAKE PEACHES AND CREAM PIE
- STRAWBERRIES AND CREAM PIE
- EASY CHICKEN POT PIE
- SNICKERDOODLE APPLE PIE
- CRUNCHY CARAMEL APPLE PIE
- HOW TO MAKE APPLE PIE FILLING
- CREAMY PEACH PIE
- BANANA CREAM PIE
Easy no-knead recipe for the flakiest, homemade all-butter pie crust, perfect to make sweet or savory pies.
Lauren Lewis says
I made a 1 crust pie as I normally do for an apple pie – I make a butter/brown sugar/flour crumb topping. My husband and brother loved it!! My husband asked if he were to peel and slice apples if I would make this more often, so definitely a winner! As suggested, I mixed the ‘sauce’ with the apples prior to putting them in the pie crust. Turned out beautifully!
Jessica says
So great to hear, Lauren!