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Homemade Pie Crust

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A delicious, flaky homemade pie crust is so incredibly special. Today I’m sharing my pie crust recipe that brings me down memory lane. Growing up our whole family looked forward to Thanksgiving. My grandmother would host the event and make everything from scratch, with so much love, including a beautiful buttery homemade pie crust for each and every delicious fruit pie.

Homemade Pie Crust

This pie crust recipe will rival any bakery’s pie crust. It really is that good. This homemade pie crust is made with a perfect combination of butter and shortening. Butter makes pie crusts flaky and scrumptious. Shortening helps a pie crust hold its shape in the oven. Although you can use salted sweet butter for this homemade pie crust recipe, I use unsalted butter as it allows me to control the salt content so it’s more exact.

Pie Crust

These are all the ingredients you’ll need to make a fabulous homemade pie crust. If you think you need mad baking skills like Martha Stewart to make a bakery-style pie crust, there’s no need to worry. Making a pie crust from scratch is not only simple, but it only takes about 5 minutes flat! Really. It’s that quick.

Pie Crust

This homemade pie crust recipe can be made using a simple mixing bowl and either a pastry blender or your fingertips to cut the butter and shortening into the dry ingredients. Although I often use my KitchenAid stand mixer to make a homemade pie crust, every now and then I like to change things up. Today I’ll show you how to make a pie crust from scratch using a food processor. Start by adding the flour, granulated sugar and salt to the main container of the food processor.

Pie Crust

Pulse twice to combine the dry ingredients.

Pie Crust

Add in the butter and shortening. Pulse a few times until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Don’t over mix.

Homemade Pie Crust

With your machine running, add in 6 tablespoons of ice water. Again, don’t over mix. This part is really quick. You can stop right now – you’re done when it looks like this! Or if you pulse again it will start coming together as a ball (see below), which is getting pretty darn close to over mixing the dough.

Pie Crust

Just as soon as the pie dough just slightly begins holding together it’s time to stop. This literally takes just a few short pulses. And that’s basically it! The pie dough for your homemade pie crust is complete. How easy is that? For me, it’s so much quicker than a walk or drive to my local market to pick up a refrigerated pie crust.

Pie Crust

Transfer the pie dough to a lightly-floured pastry board or cutting board. Gather it into a ball and then place it in a Ziplock bag. Refrigerate the pie dough for two hours – which is the preferred chilling time for a homemade pie crust. Chilling gives the gluten in the pie dough time to rest and relax. During this resting period the fat solidifies which will make your pie dough easier to roll out, and will help prevent shrinkage while baking. However, I must confess that sometimes I just don’t have two hours to wait around for my pie dough to get super cold. At times like that I just chill the pie dough for about 30 minutes and proceed with my recipe. My homemade pie crust doesn’t seem to know the difference – it turns out beautifully every single time.

Homemade Pie Crust

Cover your pastry board (or cutting board) with two overlapping pieces of waxed paper. Divide the dough into two pieces. Put one piece aside. This homemade pie crust recipe is enough for one 9-inch double crust, or two 9-inch single crusts. Roll out the first ball of dough with your favorite rolling pin until it’s a 1/8-inch thick round. Most times I use the wooden rolling pin my grandmother gave me. Today I used my double-sided rolling pin just because it’s fun to use! When your dough is the size you need to cover your pie plate, place the pie plate upside down on top of the pie dough. Put one hand on the bottom of the pie plate. Slip your other hand underneath the waxed paper and dough. Lift the waxed paper straight up with along with the dough and flip it over into the pie plate. Gently peel away the waxed paper and your pie crust will look amazing. Using waxed paper makes it super easy to transfer your pie dough over to your pie plate.

Homemade Pie Crust

With a knife or pastry cutter, trim away any extra dough around the edges of the pie plate. Crimp the edges of your pie crust with your fingers. Place the pointer finger and middle finger of your left hand on the rim of the dough, leaving a small space between your fingers. With the thumb and pointer finger of your right hand, pinch the dough that’s between the fingers of your left hand upward into a little triangle. Continue this process around the entire rim of the pie plate.

Homemade Pie Crust

Don’t worry if your crimping isn’t perfect. The little imperfections will make your homemade pie crust that much more beautiful and unique.


How to Make a Homemade Pie Crust > Shop This Post

I can’t say enough awesome things about my super helpful Breville Sous Chef Food Processor! Today I went from chopping red onion to making pie dough for a bakery-style homemade pie crust – all with one fabulous machine. What’s your favorite kitchen tool?

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Homemade Pie Crust

Homemade Pie Crust


Description

A delicious, flaky homemade pie crust is so incredibly special. Today I’m sharing my pie crust recipe that brings me down memory lane.


Ingredients

Scale
  • 2 + 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 teaspoons granulated sugar
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 8 tablespoons (one stick) unsalted butter*, chilled and chopped
  • 6 tablespoons shortening, chilled and chopped
  • 6 tablespoons ice water

Instructions

  1. Add flour, sugar and salt to the main container of your food processor. Pulse twice to mix.
  2. Add butter and shortening to the container and pulse a few short times to combine. Do not over mix.
  3. Add 6 tablespoons ice water to the container and continue pulsing until the dough just starts holding together. This happens pretty quickly. Do not over mix!
  4. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured board and gather it into a ball. Place the ball into a Ziplock bag and chill it in the refrigerator for 2 hours.
  5. Roll out your dough on a board covered with two pieces of overlapping waxed paper. Place pie plate upside down on top of the dough. Place one hand on the bottom of the pie plate and slip your other hand underneath the waxed paper and pie dough. Flip the pie dough into the pie plate. Crimp the edges as desired.
  6. Your homemade pie crust is ready to go!

Notes

  • If using salted butter, reduce the salt from 1 teaspoon to 3/4 teaspoon and you’re ready to go.
  • Prep Time: 120 minutes
  • Cook Time: 20 minutes
  • Category: Dessert
  • Method: Oven
  • Cuisine: American, French

Keywords: homemade pie crust, pie crust recipe, best pie crust

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Homemade Pie Crust

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How to Make a Homemade Pie Crust > Your Thoughts

What do you think of this homemade pie crust recipe? It produces a buttery, flaky, bakery-style crust. Share your thoughts in the comments below. I’d love to hear from you!

61 thoughts on “Homemade Pie Crust”

  1. Worked out perfectly first time, I went with all butter but followed your instructions to the letter. Turned out amazing. Thank you

    Reply
    • Good morning Susan! For an all-butter crust, try this pie crust recipe: 2+1/2 cups all-purpose flour, 1 teaspoon salt, 1 tablespoon sugar, 1 cup unsalted butter (chilled and diced), 6 tablespoons ice water. Just follow the same preparation instructions as the original recipe and your pie crust will be beautiful, flaky and just a little bit sweeter than the original recipe. :-)

      Reply
    • Every time a make a pie crust I think of my own grandmother too! There’s something magical about a freshly-made pie that stirs up beautiful feelings of nostalgia.

      Reply
  2. Pie crust is something I have never even thought about making. I just buy the premade ones. But I never like them. This post makes me feel like I may actually be able to make a crust I love myself. Can’t wait to try it.

    Reply
    • Oooo, yes! You can absolutely make a fabulous homemade pie crust that will turn out lovely each and every time. I hope you’ll try this scrumptious pie crust recipe for the holidays.

      Reply
  3. I love homemade pie crust, there is really nothing else that compares to it! Using wax paper to transfer the rolled pie dough is a great tip!

    Reply
  4. There is nothing like a homemade pie. I love to bake and have not been able to do as much baking because of the heat. I am excited for fall to come so I can get baking again.

    Reply
    • Fall is just around the corner! This pie crust recipe is perfect for the holiday season. Thanks so much Claudia for popping by for a visit here at Confetti and Bliss. :-)

      Reply
    • Elizabeth, I can’t even imagine baking without Crisco! Four generations of women in my family have used Crisco. I wonder if you can order it online from Amazon? Fingers crossed you can import it that way!

      Reply
    • Buddy, the great part about this homemade pie crust recipe is that it’s easy for all skill levels. And if you pair it up with my quick and easy recipe for fresh strawberry pie you’ll absolutely amaze your family and friends!

      Reply
  5. For some reason I’m not very good at making pie crust? This recipe looks great and easy enough for me to try.

    Reply
    • Refrigerated pie crusts are convenient, but making a pie crust from scratch is not only easy and quick to do, but it’s so satisfying just knowing that you did it yourself. And the taste – so incredibly delicious! Thank you Amber for stopping by and leaving a comment. :-)

      Reply
  6. Thank you so much for sharing this recipe. I’m bad about just grabbing ready made pie crust from the grocery store. This sounds a gazillion times better and now I’m without excuse! :)

    Reply
    • Aww…you’re welcome Holly! I’m so happy you discovered my homemade pie crust recipe. When it comes to baking holiday pies it’s a real game changer!

      Reply
  7. I have this weekend for myself and I will definitely be trying this. I love banana tart and using your recipe for the crust will be really helpful. Quite easy to follow too!

    Reply
  8. I was just thinking about trying homemade pie crusts this year, thanks for sharing. Pinning this recipe so I can try it for sure.

    Reply
    • Angie, you are so sweet! I’m so happy you found this homemade pie crust recipe. Thanks a million for sharing the love by pinning it to Pinterest! :-)

      Reply
    • Woo-hoo!!! Maggie, I’m so excited that you’ll soon be baking again. Your family and friends will be so excited too! I’m sure they’ll be ready, forks in hand. :-)

      Reply
  9. I have never made my own crust, I have always been lazy and got premade, but I should totally try making my own I bet it would be a wonderful feeling of yes I’ve done this.

    Reply
    • Lynn, you are so welcome! Once you try this recipe, you’ll smile at just how easy it is to make a beautiful, buttery, flaky pie crust from scratch. You’ll love that it’s easy to replicate the results time and time again. :-)

      Reply
    • Melanie, you’re absolutely welcome! Luckily there’s plenty of time to practice before the holidays. You’re family will love eating your “practice” batches of homemade pies. :-)

      Reply
    • I love that homemade pie crusts are really easy to make. As soon as you try this recipe I know you’ll agree. Making your own pie dough at home is not only satisfying, but it’s time saving and money saving too!

      Reply

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