How to Make Pie Crust

A good, tender, flaky pie crust is a wonderful thing. Thankfully it's easy, even for a double crust pie.

Perfect for Poached Pear Pie.

Step 1 Gather tools and ingredients

Ingredients
2 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 sticks cold butter, cut into small chunks
or replace 2-4 tablespoons butter with lard or shortening
1/4 cup cold vodka¹ (or other alcohol 80-proof or higher - it will all cook off)

Tools
food processor with chopping blade
plastic wrap
refrigerator
rolling pin
pie plate

And, of course, the pie filling of your choice.

¹The vodka allows you to work the dough just like you'd used ice water, but all the alcohol evaporates in the oven leaving a better-textured crust.  There's less gluten aggregation, so your pie crust will be more tender.

Comments

[mutantpoptart]

This is the best pie crust I have ever eaten! Flaky and delicious...

[margrove]

Good instructable, thanks!
Please tell: what is the weight of a "stick of butter"?

[gauch]

a stick of butter usually weighs 90g

[sandtigger]

In the States a stick is 1/2 cup or 1/4 pound.

[cherishcherub]

how many grams of pastry will this make? thanks!

[I_am_Canadian]

Mmmm....<br/><br/>I just used this in <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.instructables.com/id/French_silk_pie_1/">this</a> pie. Its a tad hard to work with, but thoroughly delicious. Thanks very much!<br/>

[cowscankill]

do you know what ingrediants are used in apple pie?...hmm...cinamon,apples...uhuhuh...

[Tobita]

Butter with te apples for a savory taste

[Big Bwana]

Blackberries and ginger are a great addition to a apple pie as well

[cowscankill]

ok. thanks

[canida]

Basically the same thing you see here.

Apples, spices, sugar, lemon juice, maybe a bit of cornstarch if they apples are juicy.

[cowscankill]

how can you tell if the apples are juicy?

[canida]

I recommend biting them to find out.

[cowscankill]

Oh wow these are old comments. But thanks for the reply :D

[cowscankill]

thanks canida!

[notker]

mmmmhh yummy.... nice Instructable in two weeks I try this one

[GorillazMiko]

Wow... that looks delicious.

[zachninme]

What pies were those? I spotted some blueberries and pears (Although I only knew they were pears from the description... I thought they were apples...) I see zest, and I think those are peaches?

[canida]

Blueberries + D'Anjou pears Poached Bosc pears Nectarine + ginger More Instructables forthcoming with specific pie recipes.

[zachninme]

Wow, those sound good... *waits for more pie ibles*

[lisarea]

I just learned a pie crust magic trick, where you use half water and half vodka for the liquid. Because gluten can't form in alcohol, the vodka lets you add more liquid so the dough is more pliable and easier to work with, without making it too tough. This came from a recipe in the current issue of Cook's Illustrated, but I just adapted the vodka trick to my regular pie crusts. I've made two that way so far and the crusts were perfect both times.

[canida]

Cool! Thanks for the tip- I haven't had time to read the most recent CI. I'll try it, and add it to the list above!

[T3h_Muffinator]

PIEEEEEE! Seriously.... why do you guys have all the Pie AFTER I leave?

[zachninme]

Sorry, but nobody loves you... you poor creature! They made muffins... change your name to T4h_Pieinator, and you'll get some.

[arbitrarylogic]

Just out of curiosity, is there any possible workaround to create this wonderful dough if a food processor is nowhere to be found?

[canida]

Exactly what zer0vector said.

You can also use two table knives to cut against each other. The idea is to literally cut the fat into layers of smallish flattish pieces.

[zer0vector]

You can "cut" the fat into the flour using a variety of methods, the food processor is just the fastest and involves the least elbow grease. You can use a pastry cutter, a fork, or I've even used a potato masher in a pinch. Make sure the biggest chunks of fat are about the size of a pea.