Perfect Flaky All Butter Pie Crust

How to make a Perfect Flaky All Butter Pie Crust. This recipe is my absolute favorite and I have included step-by-step photos with detailed instructions to give you guys a visual of what it should look like!

Aaaah, pie. Is there any other baked dessert that says “made with love” like a homemade pie does? Today I’m going to teach you guys how to make a homemade pie crust along with my go-to recipe for no-fail crusts every time! Making a pie crust from scratch can be tricky, but if you follow my easy-to-follow instructions + step-by-step photos, you’ll be a pie crust making pro in no time!

Before I begin, I do have to say  that there is totally nothing wrong with using a store-bought pie crust but to me, nothing compares to a crust made from scratch. The taste, the texture, everything is 100% better – at least in my humble opinion. This pie crust is my absolute favorite and I use it in all of my pie recipes. Some people use all shortening, some a mixture of butter + shortening but I like to use all (salted) butter. I love the flavor butter lends and you will still get a perfectly flaky crust every single time without having to use shortening. That stuff sort of freaks me out so I tend to try to stay away from it, but I do use it occasionally.

A basic pie crust recipe uses very basic ingredients – flour, salt, fat – in this case, butter – and cold water. To ensure your pie crust comes out successfully, your butter and water need to be VERY cold. I leave my butter in the refrigerator right up until I am ready to use it to ensure it stays completely cold. For the water, I like to fill up a measuring cup with water + ice and use my measuring spoon to scoop out the water when I need it, this way I know that my water is ICE cold.

Okay, now that I talked a little bit about the ingredients of my perfect flaky all butter pie crust, let’s move onto the good part! If you are just here grabbing the recipe, you can find it below. If you are here for the step-by-step-photos, you can find them with detailed instructions under the recipe since it is rather lengthy.

*This recipe creates enough for a double pie crust. If you only need one, feel free to just cut the recipe right in half. Instructions will be for a double crust pie.*

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Place flour and salt in your food processor and pulse a few times to combine. Add COLD cubed butter.

Pulse until fine crumbs form – you want to see little pieces of butter.

Add 1 tbs of water at a time and pulse until a dough-like consistency forms. You do not want your dough to be wet in he slightest so only add as much water as you need to form a dough.

Pat dough into a ball-shape and cut in half. Set the other half to the side and work on your first half.  At this point, you may also freeze the dough for later use. To do so, flatten each half into a disk, wrap them tightly in plastic wrap and place them in a freezer-safe ziploc bag. Dough will keep in freezer for up to 3 months.

Roll the first half of dough out into a 10″ circle on a lightly floured surface. Make sure you measure your pie plate because some are 9″ or 10″. Depending on which size you have, roll your dough out 1″ more than your size pie dish to ensure there’s going to be enough to go up the sides.

Grease your pie plate. Roll your dough up with the help of your rolling pin for an easy transfer (see photo above).

Lift the dough over the pie plate and unroll the rolling pin on top. Gently press and smooth the crust down and up the sides until it fits snug in the dish. Place it in the fridge and allow to chill for at least 30 minutes while you get the rest of your ingredients ready.

Now it’s time for the second half of dough, if you are using it. Roll it out on a lightly floured surface into a 10″ circle (or 1″ greater than the size of your pie dish) exactly like the first half of dough – sorry, no photo. You are going to be chilling this dough also, so I like to roll it out on the surface I am going to place in the refrigerator so I don’t have to handle the dough after rolling it out. I usually roll it out on parchment paper on top of a large baking sheet. Place dough in the refrigerator and chill it for at least 30 minutes while you prepare the filling you are making.

Fill the crust with your pie filling of choice, my choice pictured below is a blueberry + strawberry mixture (recipe coming soon!). Take out your second top pie crust and you can either lay it on top of the bottom crust, crimp the edges with your fingers to meet the bottom and poke some vent holes in the middle or you can make a lattice crust. Lattice is always my first choice because I think it looks adorable finished! To make a lattice crust, cut the cough into strips like in the photo above with a pizza cutter about 1″ wide or to your desired thickness. Arrange the strips in a lattice pattern, one over the other until the pie is covered. If you have a couple left over strips that is okay.

Before I bake my pie, I usually brush it with a little eg/milk mixture and sprinkle some sugar (HA! That was not on purpose) on top for a little extra sweetness + crunch. Also before putting it in the oven, you may want to cover the edges with a pie shield to prevent over-browning since the crust is always the first to start browning. If you are like me and don’t own a pie shield, you can improvise with a few small pieces of aluminum foil and crimp it around the edges to cover the crust.