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    Home » Whole Food Recipes » Best Desserts

    November 4, 2015 | By Jami

    Tutorial: The Best Homemade Pie Crust (Finally!)

    Jump to Recipe

    After years of searching and trials, this is the recipe that turns out the flakiest, tender, best homemade pie crust every time. This tutorial will walk you through it to get great pie crusts every time.

    Homemade pie crust tutorial- after years of searching and multiple tests, this is the pie crust winner! Everyone really does think it's the best pie crust, maybe due to it's 'secret' ingredient? #pie #piecrust #crust #recipe

    Ah, friends, you have no idea how happy I am to share with you this recipe for homemade pie crust! After years (years) of trying different recipes and techniques I really do think this is the BEST pie crust!

    It's made with real food (i.e., butter, not shortening) and some whole wheat flour yet is flaky, easy to roll and shape without much shrinkage, and most importantly, tastes great.

    Is pie crust easy "as pie?"

    I don't know about you, but I have never found the saying "easy as pie" to ring true, because pie crusts aren't easy! They just aren't - for me at least (any other hands raised out there?).

    But I couldn't do the pre-made crusts after looking at the ingredient list and realizing that with only inexpensive ingredients like flour, salt, and sugar, pie crust is super cheap to make from scratch. I shouldn't have to pay extra for ingredients I don't want to eat or serve to people, right?

    Searching for the pie crust.

    And so the search began for a good all butter pie crust (or 'shortcrust').

    I tried Martha Stewart's pâte brisée, the egg-and-vinegar 'no-fail' crust (really shrinks...), crusts with only egg or a ton of water, crusts made in a food processor, with a fork, or with a pastry cutter.

    I would weigh, measure, and 'knead' (weird when you don't want gluten to form…) - the list went on, but none were the one. They would be tough, shrink a lot, take days of planning, or be impossible to work with.

    It wasn't until I read an article about the science behind adding a bit of acid (in the form of vinegar, sour cream, etc.) and at the same time finally realizing what my dough should look like after adding water (still crumbly, no clumping) that it came together for me.

    I finally had a recipe that worked every time! I've been making this crust for a number of years now, taking it to holiday gatherings (usually filled with this decadent chocolate chip walnut pie or this make-ahead crumb-topped apple pie) and getting lots of compliments on the crust.

    It's not just me - this really is a winner crust.

    Best Homemade Pie Crust Tutorial

    Making the best homemade pie crust-steps 1-4

    Note: I find it easiest to start this crust in a food processor since we're cutting in hard butter and it takes forever by hand. If you don't have a food processor, I'd suggest grating frozen butter and then putting it back in the freezer for 10 minutes or so to get it back to cold and then mixing it gently in with the other ingredients with a fork before starting to add the wet ingredients.

    1. Add dry ingredients to the bowl of a food processor. I usually add the 1 cup of whole wheat pastry flour (the pastry part is important, the texture changes dramatically with regular whole wheat flour), but if I don't have any, it's of course fine with all regular white flour.

    2. Add butter, cut in cubes. I simply cut each 1/2 cup stick into 12 pieces and dump it in the dry ingredients. You can cut it smaller if you want.

    3. Pulse until it is mixed and you see medium-small coarse crumbs (12-15 pulses). I used to leave them larger (the typical "pea-sized" recommendation), but those large pieces of butter made it really hard to roll out later, sticking to the rolling pin.

    4. Add vinegar and the minimum amount of water and then process until you see dough start to hold together around edges but still look crumbly (10-14 pulses -you do not want it to form a large clump, that's what creates tough crusts, which apparently I had to learn over and over again...). Grab a small handful of crumbs and press together - when it stays together as pictured, it's good. If needed, add more water, 1/2 tablespoon at a time, until you can hold it together as shown.

    Note: I did add about 1/2 tablespoon water after the above picture was taken because the edges fell apart when I let it fall back into the bowl and I've learned that just a little bit more water at that point will make it easier to roll out later. Aim for a few more big crumbs among the smaller ones than this picture shows.

    5. Divide crumble dough into two pieces of waxed paper (or plastic wrap). This is where I always messed it up before - I never realized that it should really look more like crumbs, not dough at this point. But shaping from more crumbly dough was hard: when I used my hands to form into discs to refrigerate, it would warm up the dough too much, stick to my hands and be really irritating (who wants that?).

    Here's what I found to be the key to easy shaping with a crumbly dough:

    Best Homemade Pie Crust Tutorial steps 6-8

    6. Grab the edges of the waxed paper together and press and shape the dough into a disc through the paper. Perfection - clean hands and no overworked dough!

    7. Repeat with other disc and refrigerate both 30 minutes to an hour, usually the time needed to make your filling. You can make it ahead and refrigerate up to 2 days or freeze for a couple of months.

    TIP: if you freeze it in this disc form, you'll need to thaw it a day in the fridge before rolling out. Your other option is to roll and shape the dough into a pie plate, freeze it like that, unbaked, and then just fill and bake it from frozen by adding 3-5 minutes to the total cooking time.

    Best Homemade Pie Crust Tutorial-rolling out

    8. Roll out 1 refrigerated disc. Don't be afraid to add flour to the surface - it's better than having it stick to everything. I just sprinkle handfuls as I go along. You should be able to see the butter throughout the dough, but no huge pieces.

    I'll be really honest and say this isn't a super easy dough to roll (though it's not hard!) - because it has less moisture than the egg-water or 1/2 cup-water dough recipes it tends to break more along the edges. But it's worth it for the tender, flakier end result, I promise!

    It's okay to pinch and press the edges together and roll again, pinching and pressing as needed. It's also okay, too, that it doesn't look perfect, as you can see in the 'final' rolled result above - we're cutting off or rolling under those ragged edges, so no worries!

    Best Homemade Pie Crust Tutorial-transferring crust

    9. Transfer rolled dough to pie plate. I simply fold it in half and center it on the plate before unfolding.

    Some like to roll it up on the pin to transfer, but I find this crust breaks more if I do that, so this is easiest for me.

    Best Homemade Pie Crust Tutorial-trimming

    10. Trim edges to be fairly even, pressing crust together along sides and making sure it's firmly pressed into the bottom and corners (leaving the dough 'stretched' on the bottom causes it to shrink).

    It's not pretty at this point - who cares?

    Best Homemade Pie Crust Tutorial-fluting

    11. Shape edges. Roll under remaining dough, filling any areas that need thickening with trimmed pieces, pressing all around the edges to make a uniform smooth edge.

    Then shape however you want: fluting like I did (I use my knuckle on the inside, pressing between two fingers on the outside edge), using a fork or attaching shapes with any leftover dough (attach with a beaten egg wash).

    12. Refrigerate shaped dough 15-30 minutes (or longer if you can).

    Best Homemade Pie Crust Tutorial-filled

    13. Finish pie according to your recipe. At this point you can proceed with whatever recipe you are using - prick the bottom of dough and bake for a cream-filled pie, or fill with a filling like the apples above for a baked pie.

    Crumb-Topped Apple Pie with Best Pie Crust

    You can see above when baked (with a yummy apple filling and 'big crumb' topping) that the shaping remained with little shrinkage - some butter crusts shrink so much that you can't even see any shaping.

    You can also see that it's a nice, flaky crust that browns evenly.

    This is NOT the crust you'll want to leave on your plate after eating the inside of the pie, trust me.

    Best Pie Crust Tutorial-filled
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    The Best Homemade Pie Crust

    After years of searching and trials, this is the recipe that turns out a real food, flaky, delicious, homemade pie crust every time!
    Prep Time1 hr 30 mins
    Total Time1 hr 30 mins
    Course: Desserts
    Cuisine: American
    Yield: 2 crusts
    Author: Jami Boys

    Ingredients

    • 1½ cups regular unbleached or bleached flour*
    • 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour**
    • 1 tablespoon sugar
    • 1/2 teaspoon salt use 1 tsp. if using unsalted butter
    • 1 cup butter
    • 2 tablespoons vinegar
    • 4 to 5 tablespoons ice cold water***

    Instructions

    • Add the first 4 ingredients (flours, sugar, salt) to the bowl of a food processor. Cut butter into 12 pieces and add to dry ingredients. Pulse until coarse crumbs (medium-small) form, about 12-15 pulses.
    • Add vinegar and 4 tablespoons ice water to mixture and pulse only until the dough starts to form along the edges of bowl but is still crumbly (about 10-14 pulses).
    • Grab a bit of dough and squeeze to see if it holds together - if edges are still crumbly, add a bit more water - 1/2 tablespoon at a time - as needed. The dough in the bowl should still look fairly crumbly.
    • Divide dough onto 2 pieces of waxed paper (or plastic). Grab the edges of one of the paper squares to bring dough together into a flattened disc, using hands to press & shape through the paper as needed. Wrap paper around the disc, repeat with other dough and refrigerate 30 minutes to an hour (or up to 2 days).****
    • Roll out one disc at a time onto a well floured surface. Don't worry about the edges splitting - just pinch back together, press edges into a circle and roll again. (The drier crust won't look as pretty rolled as wetter crusts, but that will be fixed in the shaping and the end result is worth it).
    • Transfer the rolled dough to a pie plate and fit into plate, making sure the crust is touching the entire bottom of the plate (press down on the sides as needed to make sure the bottom is not stretched). Trim any edges that are a lot bigger than others - just here and there. You'll want 1 to 1½ inches overhang to roll and shape nice edges.
    • Shape edge by rolling under the overhang, filling any areas that need it with extra dough, and smoothing edge until even. Shape with desired technique: fluting, fork edge, etc.
    • Refrigerate shaped dough 15-30 minutes (or longer) before proceeding with your pie recipe.
    • Prebake: To bake for a cream pie, preheat oven to 400 degrees, prick bottom of dough and bake for 15 minutes or until browned (using pie weights or not - it's up to you).

    Notes

    *This is the recipe you'll want to measure carefully for: spoon flour into measuring cup evenly and then use a knife to level. Scooping and shaking can result in too much flour and a tough dough.
    **Alternately, use the full amount regular all-purpose flour (2 1/2 cups)
    ***To a small bowl add a couple ice cubes and cold water - let sit for a bit and use this to measure out the water.
    ****You can freeze the discs for a couple of months, though you'll need to thaw it a day in the fridge before using. You can also roll and shape the dough, freeze it in the pie plate unbaked, and then just fill and bake it from frozen by adding 3-5 minutes to the total cooking time.
    Nutrition was calculated for crust only on a double crust pie (cut in half if using only a bottom crust).

    Nutrition

    Calories: 231kcal | Carbohydrates: 20g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 16g | Saturated Fat: 10g | Cholesterol: 41mg | Sodium: 233mg | Potassium: 58mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 473IU | Calcium: 10mg | Iron: 1mg
    Did you make this recipe?Mention @anoregoncottage or tag #anoregoncottage!

    Here are some recipes to use your homemade pie crust with:

    Crumb-Topped Apple Pie

    Crumb-Topped Apple Pie (bake now or freeze unbaked)

     

    Chocolate Chip Walnut Pie_AnOregonCottage

    Chocolate Chip Walnut Pie

     

     

    About Jami

    Since 2009 Jami Boys has been helping readers live a simple homemade life through whole food recipes, doable gardening, and easy DIY projects on An Oregon Cottage. From baking bread, to creating a floor from paper, to growing and preserving food, Jami shares the easiest ways to get things done. She's been featured in Cottages and Bungalows, Old House Journal, and First for Women magazines as well as numerous sites like Good Housekeeping, Huffington Post, and Apartment Therapy.

    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. April says

      August 18, 2019 at 5:30 am

      Have you been able to make a great gluten free crust? That’s what we need so my son can eat it. Thanks!

      Reply
      • Jami says

        August 19, 2019 at 5:11 pm

        No I haven't, April. I've heard good things about Bob's Red Mill's pie crust, though. Google it for the recipe!

        Reply
    2. Riza says

      August 14, 2018 at 11:18 am

      This pie crust was pretty good, I made it yesterday for a chicken pot pie i was making. The pie crust recipe has too much vinegar. The vinegar is overpowering and you can still taste it a bit after it’s baked. I think 1 or 2 teaspoons would have been better. Otherwise it was tasty 🙂

      Reply
      • Jami says

        August 20, 2018 at 3:54 pm

        Gosh, I haven't noticed that at all, Riza - maybe my tastebuds are tainted or something. 🙂 Now that I think about it, I've never used it for a savory pie - maybe that's the difference? Hopefully the smaller amount will still give you the flakiness.

        Reply
    3. Kat says

      November 22, 2017 at 3:07 pm

      Thank you for having a recipe that doesn't use plastic wrap! I know it's silly, but I was never sure if waxed paper would keep the dough moist enough. Can't wait to try it! (SO not happening for THIS Thanksgiving though!)

      Reply
      • Jami says

        November 25, 2017 at 11:06 am

        You're welcome! I do find waxed paper easier to work with dough like this, although if I'm freezing the disc to use later, I do place the wrapped dough into a freezer baggie.

        Reply
    4. Janet says

      December 05, 2016 at 5:56 pm

      Can't wait to try this as I've also been on a crust quest! Will this recipe be sufficient for two 10" crusts? Thanks!

      Reply
      • Jami says

        December 07, 2016 at 12:35 pm

        Yes, it makes two crusts Janet. 🙂

        Reply
    5. Christina in FL says

      December 03, 2016 at 3:36 pm

      Jami!!!! Your recipe is going to take my pie crusts to the stratosphere! :))) I made a really "good" crust for Thanksgiving pumpkin pie. .... .yet I knew it could be a LOT better. (I have a crust frozen that I will still have to use.) I'll be adding some things to my Monday grocery list.
      Thank you for all the photos, they REALLY help!!!
      You are ah-MAZ-ing, thank you!!!

      Reply
      • Jami says

        December 05, 2016 at 9:56 am

        Oh, I'm SO glad to know this, Christina! As I've make it more, I've found I do need to add the higher amounts of water just to make the rolling out easier and it hasn't seemed to affect the finished product (I have the water ranges in the recipe but always tried to add the least amount - now I go for the bigger amount). I love how it doesn't shrink much so my fluted edges look good after baking.:)

        Reply

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