Classic Pie Dough
November and December are my favorite months for pie. I know some people love a berry or peach pie for the brightness and the punch of flavor. But I am partial to the hearty, custardy pies that always shine in the fall and winter. They’re luscious and smooth, full of complexity and richness, and are best served with my two favorite things: a heaping pile of whipped cream or toasty, fluffy meringue. Pumpkin, pecan and apple pie are all staples in my house, but finding a pie crust that was light and flaky for the custard, but sturdy enough to withstand a fruit pie is always a worthy challenge.
But here we are.
It’s almost Thanksgiving and I am finally sitting down to write a post about pie. Why is pie so hard for people to master? My reasoning is twofold.
First, pie dough varies based on humidity. And how are we supposed to control that? It’s hard, and it takes time to understand how a proper pie dough is supposed to feel. That said, I’m going to do my best to walk you through it!
Second, we all want instant results. Our current world expects perfection, and smoothness and homogeny, and pie dough is anything but that. Like the real world, the best things take a little extra patience, elbow grease, and trust in the process. Again, I’m going to explain to the best of my ability how to let go of how you think pie dough should look or feel, and welcome you to the world of flaky, perfect, all butter pie crust.
Who’s ready to get started?
Classic Pie Dough
Ingredients
2 1/2 cups (10.6 ounces or 300 grams) all-purpose flour
16 tablespoons (8 ounces, 226 grams) unsalted butter, frozen and cut into 1-inch cubes
2 teaspoons white sugar
1 teaspoon Kosher salt
4-8 tablespoons ice water
Egg wash (one egg and 1 tablespoon of water, whisked until homogenous)
Turbinado sugar
Tools
Kitchen scale
Rolling pin
Plastic wrap
Aluminum foil
Pie pan, 9-inch
Pastry brush
Bench scraper, optional
Process
Yields two custard pies, or one double-crust pie.
In a large, wide bowl, whisk flour, sugar and salt. Wash hands with cold water. I know this part is awful, but it helps prevent the butter from spreading and melting! Sprinkle butter cubes into flour mixture and using your thumb, pointer finger and middle finger, start crumbling and flattening butter until texture is like wet sand, making sure to keep several flat, chunks of butter visible in the mixture.
Add three tablespoons of ice water and using fingers, work dough and water together. Mixture will start to become shaggy. Continue adding ice water one at at time until all dough is shaggy and there’s no more loose flour. It’s important for the butter to still be visible and for the dough to remain a bit rough, so don’t overwork!
Work dough until it just comes together into a ball. Using a scale, weigh dough and split in half. Flatten each ball slightly, cover with plastic wrap and then aluminum foil to keep refrigerator or freezer smells out. If making days ahead of time, store in the freezer. If you’re making pie that day or the next, let pie dough rest in fridge for at least one hour.
To roll out your dough, take out of fridge about 20-30 minutes (1 hour if frozen) prior to rolling. Lightly flour a large, smooth surface and rolling pin and set slightly chilled pie dough in the middle of the floured surface. Roll out your dough a couple times until it’s a thick disk and then begin laminating 2-3 times and tuck it under so you create a smooth ball. This will help you roll out a perfect circle.
Roll dough from the middle to each edge. If the pie dough were a clock, roll from the middle to 12-o’clock, then to 3, 6, 9 and back to 12 again, over and over until thin, somewhere between 1/8- and 1/6-inch. Since pie dough tends to be thickest in the middle, press a little harder from the middle and as you work your way out, ease up on the pressure to ensure an even roll. Sprinkle flour over pie dough and using a bench scraper, lift edges to loosen the rolled dough. Lift one side and fold pie dough in half, just resting it atop the other half so it’s a half circle. Flour the edge of the flat side of the pie dough and fold again, creating a quarter circle.
This is where you grab your pie dish and set the corner of your quarter circle of pie dough in the middle so the rounded edge is facing out. Gently unfold the pie dough until the edges are evenly draping over the pie dish. Using your fingers, being very careful not to stretch the dough, gently push the pie dough towards the middle so that the pie dough touches each crease of the pie dish.
There are two methods for creating the edge of a pie. You can fold the edges of the pie crust under and tuck them evenly through out and create a crimp or use the prongs of a fork to create a lined edge. I use this method when the draped edges are very uniform.
Alternatively, if your edges are not more evenly distributed, you can cut the draped pieces of the pie crust off until it’s just settled on top of the pie pan. With the extra dough, roll evenly cut into strips, which you can then press into the edges of your pie to create a more even thickness.
To do a classic crimp, use your pointer knuckle of one hand and thumb/pointer finger of the other, crimp your pie edges. Since all-butter pie dough spreads a little more, I like to keep the height pretty low and go for a dynamic lateral crimp so that the baked crust is really beautiful. Something that will help keep this shape is even edges and very firm, and very cold pie dough.
Set pie shell in freezer to firm up for about 20 minutes and preheat oven to 400F.
If making a fruit pie
Fill pie with filling of choice. If baking a double-crust, add top crust, being sure to cut slits in the pie so heat can escape (or it will explode!) and freeze for another 20-30 minutes. You can freeze a fruit pie like this if it’s well-wrapped for up to 3 months!
Just before baking in oven, brush visible pie shell with egg wash and top with turbinado sugar until edges are coated.
Bake pie for as long as the filling recipe calls, usually somewhere between 75-90 minutes (or more!). Check at 30-45 minutes and if pie dough is getting too brown, cover with aluminum foil or pie crust shield and drop temp to 375F for remaining time.
Let cool to room temperature throughout. For best results, serve with heaping amounts of whipped cream, ice cream or meringue!
If making a custard pie
You’ll likely need to blind bake your crust so that the bottom of your crust fully cooks.
Brush edges of the pie that will be visible once filling is baked with egg wash and top just the crimped or pressed edges with turbinado sugar until edges are glittering. Using a fork, carefully poke the bottom of the pie with the prongs so it creates some air flow to keep bubbles from forming.
Gently press aluminum foil into bottom and sides of the pan and fill an even bottom layer with whatever you have available — pie weights, dry beans, or flour all work to hold the pie down so it doesn’t rise or bubble up.
Blind bake pie for 30 minutes until bottom is lightly golden brown.
Add filling and cover pie edges with aluminum foil or a pie crust shield and bake for time suggested on pie filling, usually between 45-60 minutes for custards like pumpkin or pecan.
Let cool to room temperature throughout. For best results, serve with heaping amounts of whipped cream, ice cream or meringue!