We believe making your own pastry crust is worth the effort. Sure, store-bought stuff will do in a pinch, but it just doesn’t taste the same. It doesn’t flake and it isn’t made with real, unsalted butter. It’s kinda like the difference between a bag of microwaved popcorn and popcorn popped on the stove with real butter and salt. Again, the microwaved, store-bought stuff is passable, but why just pass when you can have the real thing? Trust us. Make your own pie crust.
Note: while this recipe yields two 8” pie crusts, the dough can stretch to accommodate a 9” or 10” pie.
Pre-Bake Pie Crust
Author: Salty Fig
Yield: Two 8" pie crusts
Ingredients
- 2½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon salt, kosher
- 1 Tablespoon sugar (for savory pies, quiches, etc., omit the sugar)
- 1 cup unsalted butter
- ½ cup ice water measured after it is chilled without the ice
- extra flour, for rolling the dough
Method
- Place flour, salt, and sugar in a large bowl, mix well.
- Cut the cold butter up into ¼ inch cubes.
- Using your fingers or a pastry cutter, press or cut the mixture until the flour is incorporated into the butter in pea size pieces.
- Add ice water. If you make this dough in the summer it will require less water (about ⅛ cup less) due to the humidity. When you add the ice water, gently mix it into the butter/flour mixture with your hands until dough a ball is formed. Pie dough will not be fluffy like cookie dough. Do not overwork the pastry or you will have a tough pastry.
- Using a scale or your eyes divide the dough into 2 equal pieces.
- Wrap each piece in plastic wrap, flattening the dough into a disk.
- Allow dough to rest for 30 minutes in the refrigerator.
- Roll the dough out and press it into a greased and floured pie pan or a 8" x 2" high tart pan with a removable bottom. Make sure the sides are built up a bit over the sides of the pan.
- Place the pan in the fridge for 20 minutes until chilled, as this keeps the crust from shrinking when it is baked.
- Remove the tart pan and crust from the refrigerator and line the dough with parchment paper. Add pie crust weights or rice to the parchment paper to weigh the dough down as it bakes. Bake for 20 minutes. Remove the parchment paper and weights. Continue baking until the crust looks dry and is beginning to brown.
- Your pie crust is now Pre-baked and ready to fill.