How To Make A Buttery Flaky Pie Crust: A blog about how to make a pie crust.

Introduction

Pie is a staple in my house. The kids love to help me make it (and lick the bowl) and they always beg for seconds. I often make my own pie crust, but there are times when I need a quick fix that doesn’t require hours of chilling and rolling out dough. That’s why I love this buttery flaky pie crust recipe! It’s easy, fast and delicious and can be used with any pie filling you like!

Step 1: Cut the Butter Into The Flour and Salt

You’re going to want to cut your butter into small pieces. There are a few ways of doing this:

• Use a pastry blender and fold the two together, until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
• Use your food processor (or stand mixer) and pulse it until you get the same result.
• If all else fails, use a knife and cut it up into small pieces by hand!

Step 2: Add The Vinegar, Water and Ice to the flour

• Add the vinegar to the flour. Vinegar is used to make the dough more pliable, so it’s helpful if your hands are cold and you’re rolling out thin crusts.
• Add water. The water helps bind all of these ingredients together, which will make for a flakier pie crust. After you’ve added all of the dry ingredients together, add about 6 tablespoons (3/4 cup) of ice water until you can form a ball with your hands. You don’t want too much or it’ll be too sticky!

Step 3: Start Forming The Dough

Once you’ve floured your work surface, roll out the dough into a disk. Depending on the recipe and how thick or thin you like to make your crusts, this can be done by hand or with a rolling pin.

Once it is about 1/4 inch thick, place the disk in between two sheets of wax paper (or parchment paper) and roll over it with a rolling pin until it is about 1/8 inch thick.

Step 4: Chill the Dough

Next, you’ll want to chill the dough. Chilling helps keep your pie crusts flaky and easy to work with when rolling out and shaping. It also adds a bit of time for the fat in your butter or shortening to get nice and cold, which will allow it to stay solid when mixed into the flour mixture.

Chill your dough for at least 30 minutes before rolling it out on a floured surface (if using parchment paper or silicone mat) or between two sheets of plastic wrap (if using waxed paper). This will help prevent sticking as well as make sure that there are no holes in its structure when baking—another thing that contributes toward flakiness!

Step 5: Chill before filling and shaping.

Now you’re ready to fill and shape your pie. Chilling the dough is important for three reasons:

• It allows the gluten in your flour to relax and make a more tender crust. This is especially important if you’re using less gluten-heavy flours like whole wheat or rye.
• It helps the dough hold its shape when it bakes, which means there will be no embarrassing tears in the crust when it comes out of the oven!
• A longer chill time also helps create a flaky, buttery texture in your baked crust by allowing ample time for water molecules trapped between layers of pastry dough during mixing to evaporate before baking heat solidifies them into an impermeable layer that traps steam instead of letting it escape back into your pie filling as before (see photo above).

That was easy!

You’re done! You have a delicious, buttery flaky pie crust that you can use for savory pies or sweet pies. If you’d like to try another recipe, there are many online, including this one from Good Food. If not, go ahead and enjoy your homemade pie!