Dorothy Kern
This All Butter Pie Crust is my absolute favorite pie crust recipe. It works EVERY time and produces flaky, buttery homemade pie crust that will make your pie recipe perfect!
With this easy tutorial you will get the perfect pie crust every time.
I’m going to break down my favorite all butter pie crust recipe for you, step-by-step, with photos and a video.
I’ve been using this all-butter pie crust recipe the entire time I’ve been blogging. I always try other recipes but I come back to this one because it’s so easy and so good.
To make a good pie crust you need just 4 ingredients: fat, water, flour, and salt. You can use a few different kinds of fats for pie crust, the most popular being butter, shortening (Crisco), or lard. I’m going to go against the grain and tell you, my crust is all butter. I love butter (who doesn’t?) and I find that the taste of an all butter pie crust is so much better than any other recipe.
That’s right: only 4 ingredients to the perfect easy and delicious pie crust!
A pie crust recipe with butter is such an easy pie crust to make. There are two ways I make this crust: in a food processor or by hand. You can do either one! This really is a no fail pie crust made with butter!
How do you make the perfect pie crust?
You just need to remember a few simple important tips:
- Make sure your butter is COLD and your water is ICE WATER. Cold ingredients yield a better crust.
- Make sure you chill the crust before you fill and/or bake it. Cold crust bakes better than any other kind, especially since this is an ALL BUTTER pie crust.
This crust makes one 9-inch pie crust. If you want to make a double crust pie, just double the recipe.
My all butter pie crust recipe is quick, fast, easy and delicious! It’s the perfect vehicle for ALL your pie recipe needs.
(The photo tutorial is below the recipe. Or watch the video instead!)
My Favorite All Butter Pie Crust {step by step photo how-to}
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter diced and chilled
- 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2-4 tablespoons ice water (I always use 2 tablespoons)
Instructions
- Make sure your butter is diced and cold before starting. Make sure you're using ice water also.
Using a food processor:
- Combine flour and salt in food processor. Pulse once to mix.
- Add butter and process until it resembles coarse crumbs. Add 1 tablespoon of water and pulse, a few times. I always add a second tablespoon of water and pulse until the dough forms a ball. This takes a few seconds. If you find your mixture is too dry, you can add another tablespoon of water, one teaspoon at a time.
- Turn the dough out onto a silicone baking mat, if you have one. If you don't, you'll need to flour your surface. Press the dough ball into a disk and roll to about 1/4" thickness. If it sticks to the rolling pin, place a sheet of wax paper on top of the dough so you don't have to add more flour. Be sure to flip and rotate your dough as you go so it does not stick to your surface. Roll out the dough to a few inches larger than your pie plate (about 12" for a 9" pie plate).
- Place in pie plate and press to fit. Tuck under any overhang and crimp or use the tines of a fork to decorate the edges. Chill until ready to fill.
By Hand:
- Add flour, butter, and salt to a large bowl. Cut your butter in using a pastry cutter. Work in one tablespoon of water at a time. I find I need to use 2-3 tablespoons of water when I'm doing this by hand.
- Turn the dough out onto a silicone baking mat, if you have one. If you don't, you'll need to flour your surface. Press the dough ball into a disk and roll to about 1/4" thickness. If it sticks to the rolling pin, place a sheet of wax paper on top of the dough so you don't have to add more flour. Be sure to flip and rotate your dough as you go so it does not stick to your surface. Roll out the dough to a few inches larger than your pie plate (about 12" for a 9" pie plate).
- Place in pie plate and press to fit. Tuck under any overhang and crimp or use the tines of a fork to decorate the edges. Chill until ready to fill.
- This pie crust is great for filling and the recipe makes 1 crust that fits comfortably in a 9" pie plate. For a bigger pie plate or for a double crust, double the recipe.
- Make sure to chill the pie crust at least 30 minutes before filling or baking. If you're blind baking the crust, chill at least 2 hours or freeze 30 minutes.
- The crust can be wrapped well with plastic wrap and stored in the refrigerator up to 2 days or frozen for up to one month before baking.
Recipe Video
Recipe Notes
Nutrition Information
Nutritional information not guaranteed to be accurate
When you start making an all butter pie crust, you need to think ahead a little. Everything needs to be COLD. Cold butter and ice water are the keys to a successful crust. Before you start, dice your butter and then put it back in the refrigerator. Then fill a measuring cup with ice and water.
Add your flour and salt to your food processor. (Remember, if you’re using unsalted butter, add an extra 1/4 teaspoon of salt.)
Now, if you don’t have a food processor, don’t fret. You can do this by hand with a pastry cutter. I’m just really, really lazy. If you’re using a pastry cutter, just whisk the flour and salt first.
Add your butter. It’s COLD, straight from the fridge. Don’t touch it too much. Don’t go answer the phone. Cold, straight from the fridge to the food processor!
Pulse a couple of times. If you’re using a pastry cutter, now is the time to hope you’re been working your arms. Put some muscle into it!
This is what it will look like:
Add your ICE water. Not the ice, just the cold water. Start with 2 tablespoons.
Pulse a few times, let it run a few seconds. I always add a third tablespoon of water at that point, always. But, depending on altitude and humidity and your kitchen and the star alignment, you might not need the third…or you may need a fourth. Run the processor and your mixture should go from this:
To this:
If it’s not coming together add more water, but wait to see if it comes together. You do not want a wet dough. It takes a few seconds for it to turn into the ball.
At this point, I do something unconventional: I don’t chill it yet. *gasp*
I hate rolling chilled dough. Like, I’d rather eat beets. So instead, I roll out my dough, put it in my pie plate, THEN chill it while I make my filling. This dough is sturdy enough to roll right away, and if it’s rolled out, it chills faster. Win-win, in my book.
(FYI, I do the same thing when I make sugar cookies!)
Okay, so now you have a ball of all butter pie crust dough.
Turn it out onto a cutting board or a silicone baking mat (like a roul’pat or a silpat) that’s been dusted with flour. FYI, if you’re using a cutting board or marble slab, you’ll need more flour. Silicone is better if you have it – less sticking with minimal flour, which is your goal. The more flour you add, the tougher your crust is going to be.
Press it into a disk with your hands, flour your rolling pin and roll it out into a circle. If you find that the rolling pin is sticking, you can add a sheet of wax paper so it won’t stick.
I like to pick mine up and flip it over and around every few rolls until it gets too big to do that. This is important because that way you know it’s not sticking to your surface. There is nothing worse than rolling out the perfect dough and have it crack and break when you go to pick it up.
Roll it until it’s about 1/4″ thick. Or, well, this thickness:
The easiest way to transfer your all butter pie crust to your pie plate is to roll it up on the rolling pin. If you’ve moved your crust around a bit, it should roll up no problem.
Put it in your pie plate. Press it to fit, gently. This crust fits best in a 9″ pie plate. Beware: not all pie plates are the same size. Some are 9 1/2″, some are 10″, some are 7″. Be sure what size you have before you start. If I’m using a 10″ pie plate I double the recipe and use 2/3 of the dough.
I like to lay the overhang flat around the pie rim, then fold it under if possible. It won’t be overhung that much around the whole pie plate. Some will be flat, some will have enough to fold under.
On the left I had enough to fold over, there in the center, not so much. That’s okay!
Now you decide how you want your edges. Crimped? Forked? (I’m sure there’s an official word for “forked” but whatever, I like making up my own vocabulary.)
This is what your crimped pie looks like:
Or make it pretty with a fork:
And it will look like this when you’re done:
Another way I like to dress up my pie edge is to make a second all butter pie crust and use small cookie cutters to cut shapes and put them around the edges.
Then all you have to do is fill your pie and bake it! Here’s a tip so your pie crust isn’t too brown after baking (I hate a dark crust!): Use a pie shield or tear off strips of foil that are about 1 1/2″ thick. (No need to measure, just guesstimate.) Tear those in half and wrap them around the pie.
Then bake the pie, as directed. About 10-15 minutes before the pie will be done, remove the foil. So many recipes say to add the foil if the pie is getting too brown, but how are you supposed to do that without burning your fingers? (Um, you can’t. That’s a fact.) Make a preemptive strike – cover first, then remove so the edges can brown to a normal color.
And hey, all you crust haters who eat the filling and throw away the crust: this will make you like it, I bet. You probably hate it because it’s brittle and burned…if you follow that tip, it won’t be! 🙂
So, that’s it. My Favorite All Butter Pie Crust. What will you fill yours with?
I hope you love this pie crust as much as I do!
Check out all of my pie crust recipes for even more inspiration!
Need some pie ideas to fill your crust with? Check out my Pie Recipe Collection!
Snickerdoodle Chess Pie by Something Swanky, Peanut Butter Pie with White Chocolate Ganache by Wine & Glue, or Blueberry Crumble Cream Pie by I Wash, You Dry or some of my favorites:
Aunt Tootsie’s Lemon Meringue Pie
My favorite crumb apple pie recipe
All text and images © DOROTHY KERN for Crazy for Crust. Please do not use my images without prior permission. If you want to republish this recipe, please re-write the recipe in your own words, or link back to this post for the recipe. Disclaimer: Nutrition information shown is not guaranteed to be accurate.
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Published on: September 30, 2018
This came out perfectly. I used 1 cp whole wheat flour and 1/4 cup white flour. It rolled out easily was not overly sticky like some recipes I have tried. This is a keeper!
great recips and presentation. Inplan to use and revisit.
Awesome, easy recipe!!!! Thanks!