Everything you need to know
about making delicious,
seasonal pies from scratch
all year round.

Perfect Homemade Piecrust

The first step to making a delicious pie from scratch is mastering
homemade pie dough. Our Test Kitchen cooks like to use butter for its rich
flavor, and they avoid overworking the dough for an ultra-flaky crust.

The Best Piecrust Recipe

11⁄4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 Tbs. sugar
1⁄4 tsp. salt
8 Tbs. (1 stick) cold unsalted butter,
cut into 1⁄4-inch cubes
3 Tbs. very cold water

In a large bowl, stir together the flour, sugar and salt. Using a pastry cutter or 2 knives, cut the butter into the flour mixture until the texture resembles coarse cornmeal, with butter pieces no larger than small peas.

Add the water and mix with a fork just until the dough pulls together. Transfer the dough to a work surface, pat into a ball and flatten into a disk. (Though many dough recipes call for chilling the dough, this dough should be rolled out immediately for the best results.)

Lightly flour the work surface, then flatten the disk with 6 to 8 gentle taps of the rolling pin. Lift the dough and give it a quarter turn.

Lightly dust the top of the dough or the rolling pin with flour as needed, then roll out into a round at least 12 inches in diameter and about 1/8 inch thick. Makes one 9-inch pie crust.

The 3 Most Common Pie Mistakes

And how to avoid them at home

LETTING THE
DOUGH GET WARM
Use cold butter and ice water, and refrigerate the dough before you roll it out. If
the butter warms it will be absorbed by the flour, become sticky, and make for a
tough crust.

ROLLING IT OUT WRONG To get an even, round crust, begin rolling from the middle of the dough round, pushing outward and stopping the pressure 1⁄4 inch from the edge. Then lift the round, give it a quarter turn and repeat.

A TRICKY TRANSFER To transfer your pie dough from the rolling surface to the pie plate, lift it with a bench scraper, gently drape it over a rolling pin, then place it in the pie plate.

LEARN MORE ABOUT HOW TO MAKE FLAKY PIECRUST >

Pie Videos

Pretty Piecrusts in Seconds The Secret to a Flakey Piecrust

Get Creative with Your Crust

Food stylist and photographer Judy Kim, who edits the
Pie Crust Inspiration feed at digital cooking hub thefeedfeed.com,
shares her tips for making the prettiest possible piecrusts.

SEE HER TIPS > Follow her on Instagram @thejudylab >