Ok, as any baker knows, pie crust is an absolute PAIN to make from scratch. You can mess one small thing up and, OOPS, the crust is no longer good. It’s so complicated! I mean really, it’s made with four ingredients, what on earth is so hard about that???

A lot of things, apparently. Trust me, I know. I’ve had a love/hate relationship with pie crust since I started baking “all those years ago.”

But, like always, I don’t back down from challenges. And I don’t like to give up.

These days, my friends and family tell me I make a mean pie crust. Do I always? No. It’s on or off. All or nothing. Like I said, pie crust is a pain. It’s fickle. Inconsistent. You may think you’re doing the exact same thing every time, but really… You never know until it’s done.

So let’s share this recipe, shall we?

Pie Crust: The Recipe

Yield: 2 crusts

Time: About 20 min prep, 1+ hr chilling

Ingredients:

• 2 1/4 cups flour
• Pinch of salt
• 1 cup (2 sticks) of FROZEN butter
• 8-10 tbsp cold water

1. Add the flour and salt to a medium bowl. Cut in the frozen butter.
2. Use a pastry blender/cutter to mix together until it resembles a coarse sand. Sort of. I usually leave smaller chunks of butter. You can also probably use a fork, but don’t use your hands. Please. You’ll warm up the butter too much and you DON’T WANT THE BUTTER WARM.
3. Add the water a few tbsp at a time. I usually add 4, mix, 2, mix, 2, mix, 2 mix, until it gets lumpy but not sticky. Don’t use more water than you need.
4. Pour out the mixture onto your counter and form into a disk. Cut in half and wrap in plastic wrap.
5. Place the disks in the refrigerator. I like to pre-make my crusts the night before I make pies and let them chill overnight. You should let them chill for at least an hour if not overnight.
6. Take out your dough a minute or two before you roll it so it doesn’t crack/break when you roll it out.
7. Sprinkle some flour on the counter and on your rolling pin before rolling out your dough. Don’t add too much flour. Roll the dough into a circular shape.
8. Use your rolling pin to move the crust without breaking it by rolling it around the pin. Place in a greased oil pan.
9. I like to let my crust chill again for a little bit before I add the filling.
10. Add your filling and bake! You can use the other half of the dough for whatever you’d like – another pie, a design on the top of the pie, I don’t know. I like to do a lattice crust with my pies so I typically use it for that.
11. Enjoy!

Notes: KEEP YOUR BUTTER COLD. KEEP EVERYTHING COLD. THIS IS VERY, VERY IMPORTANT. The butter is what makes the crust flaky and it won’t do that if it’s already melted completely into the crust.