Making a Pie Crust

For novice bakers, a light, flaky pie crust can seem like an elusive grail, but following a few simple principles can make this goal easier to achieve. First rule: keep the ingredients cold —doing so not only makes the dough easier to handle; it helps ensure a toothsome crust. Cold, hardened butter disperses into the flour more evenly, promoting the creation of tiny pockets of steam during baking, which, in turn, create layers in the crust. It's not enough to start with chilled butter, though; you have to keep it cold as you work the dough. Using ice-cold water and working quickly on a cool marble work surface help accomplish this; so does chilling the dough once it's made. For full recipes, see our collection of Thanksgiving Pies and Desserts »

Credit: Andr� Baranowski

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1. Mix 3 cups flour and 2 tsp. fine salt into a mound on a marble surface; add 14 tbsp. chilled, cubed butter.

Comments (1)

by JUICYLIMES on 2011-12-26

This pie crust came out perfect! I needed a recipe that used only butter (I was out of shortening); I decided to add ingredients from other comments or recipes/tips found on Good Eats.
I added 3 Tbl organic sugar and used 1/4 Apple Brandy (local produce) and 1/4 cup of cold water. I used the food processor and used a Ziplock bag to store and roll my crust. I made the perfect crust for the first time EVER! It went well with my pumpkin pie with apple brandy whipped cream!