Greetings food adventurers! A rare post here – we are not traveling today but staying home to practice basics. January 23rd is National Pie Day so we are making pie crust! This pie crust works for savory pies like quiche or Turkey Pot Pie and sweet pies like Stedding Tsofu Carrot Pie.

The important keys to make this pie crust perfect are keeping all the ingredients COLD and doing the work as quickly as possible. There are some resting times but the actual crust-making is very quick.

The vodka in this recipe evaporates as the crust bakes, leaving behind flaky buttery layers of pastry. Use plain vodka. The fun flavored ones are tempting, but when this evaporates, the flavors go away too. They work just fine, it just doesn’t bring the flavor in. Other alcohols with similar proof to plain vodkas will work as a substitute.

Once the pie crust is rolled out, it is ready to bake! Blind-bake the crust for pies that do not get cooked after filling or that have very short cooking times, like lemon meringue or custard tarts. Fill the unbaked crust for fruit pies such as apple, peach, or berry, and the crust will bake at the same time as the pie filling. The rolled-out crusts freeze well too. If freezing, I recommend a metal pie tin rather than a glass or ceramic one, since metal is less fragile and can handle temperature fluctuations better. I have done it with ceramic pie plates, but it makes me too nervous putting cold things into the oven to suggest that others live dangerously too.

I will jump straight to the recipe – and there are additional photos and descriptions after the main recipe in case extra step-by-step tips are helpful.

Basic Pie Crust

Buttery flaky pie crust, perfect for sweet or savory pies on any world.

5 from 1 vote

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Course Dessert, Main Course

Servings 2 pie crusts (or top + bottom crust)

Equipment

• Food processor
• Rolling Pin
• Pie plate
• Plastic wrap
• Parchment paper (for blind baking)
• Pie weights (for blind baking)

Ingredients

  

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• 12 Tbsp salted butter cut into 1/2” pieces (1 1/2 sticks)
• 6 Tbsp shortening cut into 1/2” pieces
• 5 Tbsp plain vodka
• 4 Tbsp very cold water
• 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour plus extra for rolling
• 1 tsp table salt
• 1 Tbsp granulated sugar (skip this for savory pies)

Instructions

 

• Cut up the butter and shortening.
• Put the butter pieces in the FRIDGE, the shortening pieces in the FREEZER, and the vodka in the FREEZER for at least 1 hour or overnight.
• Combine 2 1/2 cups flour, 1 tsp table salt, and 1 Tbsp sugar (if using) in your food processor by pulsing 3 or 4 times.
• Add the butter and pulse 6 times.
• Add the shortening and pulse 4 times.
• Pop off the lid and sprinkle in the water and vodka.
• Replace the lid and pulse 13 to 15 times. If it looks like dough, stop immediately. You should see lots of specks of butter and shortening that are not blended. This is good.
• Pour the dough onto the counter and quickly form it into a ball (goal is to touch it as little as possible).
• Use a bench knife or butter knife to cut the ball in half.
• Shape each half into a disk, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 1 hour or up to overnight.
• Remove one disk of dough from the refrigerator. Let sit 10-15 minutes. (It will crack if it’s too cold).
• Lightly sprinkle the top of the dough with flour before rolling.
• Roll out into a 12-inch circle.

For Fruit Pie (uncooked crust):

• Move the oven rack to the bottom 1/3 of the oven. Preheat oven to 425 F.
• Roll out bottom crust and place into a pie plate. Put crust in the fridge while preparing top crust and filling.
• Roll out top crust and have it ready.
• If using a pie bird, put it into the center of the bottom crust before adding the pie filling.
• Pour prepared pie filling into the UNCOOKED bottom crust.
• Cover with top crust (or cover with streusel etc. depending on your pie). Crimp together around the edges. Add decorative holes to release steam.
• Put the pie shield on (yes, at the beginning).
• Bake for 60 minutes or follow the pie instructions. Let cool FULLY so the inside sets (at least 3 hours).

To Blind Bake for lemon meringue, custard tarts, etc:

• Preheat oven to 425 F.
• Roll out dough the same as for unbaked pie shell.
• Poke bottom of crust with a fork (“docking”) so the air can escape and not make bubbles in the crust.
• Place a large piece of parchment paper on top of dough and fill with pie weights, dry beans, or rice. Spread out evenly. If you need to trim the large edges of the paper, make sure to leave enough edge to be able to pick it up with the rice in it.
• Bake in the oven for 10 minutes.
• Carefully lift parchment with pie weights and place the whole thing in a METAL bowl. (Plastic melts! Let them fully cool before putting them away.)
• Put the pie shield on the pie, or a ring of aluminum foil over the edges so the crust does not overcook.
• Return pie crust to oven and continue baking until golden in color, approximately 10 to 15 minutes longer.
• Remove from oven and place on cooling rack. Let cool completely before filling.

Notes

You should see plenty of small pieces of butter and shortening that are not incorporated even when rolling this out.  If the butter and shortening specks disappear, it is over-blended and the pie crust will be tough.

Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

I have a few process photos to share since this can be a tricky one – but it does not have to be scary! Here is a photo of the rolled out crust with dots of un-mixed butter blobs. Perfect!

Use the rolling pin to carefully pick the crust up and transfer it to the pie plate. Roll the crust onto the pin so it’s draped over, then unroll it over the top of the plate. Let some of the crust hang over the edges, but not too much. If it did not roll out perfectly round, that’s okay. Just take some extra overhang and press it into place to fill in any gaps. Like anything else, this just takes practice. If you don’t leave enough overhang, the crust will shrink when it bakes. Too much overhang and the edges will melt in the oven and the pieces that fall off will burn.

Here is a crust ready for blind baking. Parchment paper technically has an oven range up to 420 degrees and this bakes at 425, so I like to cut off any corners or edges that stick out further than this. The photo is the “ready to bake” version with trimming already done. You do not need to purchase fancy pie weights! Rice (any kind) or dried beans work perfectly, and they are re-usable. I have been using the same rice for pie crusts for at least 15 years – not just the same brand, it’s the exact same rice. (just be aware that once rice or beans have been baked, they are no longer good for eating)

Finally, a baked pie crust! This one is destined for lemon meringue. You can see here that I did not leave enough extra overhang on part of the crust before baking, which is why it shrunk down and is no longer covering the pie plate edges. (note that this is a different crust than the unbaked one shown above!). If you don’t like the darker brown edges, those can be carefully trimmed off using a sharp knife.

Thank you all for joining me on this pie crust journey! I wish you all many amazing homemade pies!