How to make the Perfect, Flaky Pie Crust by Hand 

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When we make pie crust at the Flour Barn bakery, we use a large mixer with a cutter blade that cuts the butter into the flour.  It does a wonderful job, especially when you’re making lots of pie crusts every week.  However, when I’m in my home, and I want to make a pumpkin pie or a quiche, my favorite method is to make pie crust by hand.  It’s so straightforward and simple.  Even more than that, there’s something so satisfying about touching the flour and the cold butter and creating your own homemade crust.  I hope you enjoy this method as much as I do!

Homemaking notes for Pie Crust by Hand

In the summer months, when I want to make pie recipes, I tend to use my pastry blender method for making the flaky crust.  The kitchen temperature is generally hotter, and using my hands just makes the dough warmer.  However, as the fall approaches and the holidays are at hand, my kitchen is cooler and I’m looking for a more relaxing experience.  I like to play Christmas music and have an experience with my homemade pie crust recipe, rather than just get the job done.  Making pie dough by hand is just that kind of experience.  It allows me to feel very in tune with the dough, working the butter and shortening into the flour, and then forming it into discs when it feels just right.  

For me, baking just has to be more than completing a task.  I want to enjoy the experience, think about those who might enjoy what I’m making, or even pretend I’m the star of a cooking show!

Advantages of “pie crust by hand” method

Very little equipment:

For this method of making homemade pie dough, you really only need a big bowl (I love this one), a fork, a liquid measuring cup (this one is perfect for pie dough because it drizzles so nicely), and a pie dish. In addition, there’s no equipment to clean, like a stand mixer, food processor, or pastry cutter.

Minimizes gluten development:

When making delicious pie crust, it’s so important NOT to develop too much gluten.  Gluten is the wonderful matrix of proteins that allow for lovely rise in yeast breads, and chewiness in exceptional pizza crust.  However, in pie crust, lots of gluten development leads to toughness, which is the very opposite of what we want.  After all, we want a very tender, delicate end product every single time.  

Gluten development happens when we work the dough a lot.  That’s why we knead bread and work our pizza dough until it’s nice and elastic. For a pie dough recipe, on the other hand, it requires a light touch and minimal manipulation for a flaky homemade pie crust.  Using our hands to make it discourages overworking the dough because we can be very in tune with how the dough feels and looks.  

Simple Ingredients

Flour

For this easy pie crust recipe I generally use all-purpose flour for pie crust.  Sometimes, if I’m grinding wheat for some other baking project and I have some leftover, I’ll throw a little in, but never more than a quarter of the total flour.  Otherwise, all-purpose flour is just always in my pantry and always reliable. Remember you will need some for your lightly floured surface.

Salt

Salt is critical to a tasty pie crust, and don’t skimp!  There is something so wonderful about the combination of a salty crust and a sweet pie filling.  Even with your savory pies you want the crust to have enough salt. So often, when I buy a slice of pie at a bakery, I’m disappointed by the amount of salt in the crust.  You may look at my recipe and say, “That’s a lot of salt!”  But trust me, just trust me. And no, we do not use unsalted butter, embrace the salt. 

Fat

There is much debate on which fat is best for pie crust.  Butter? Shortening? Lard?  Well, my answer is they all have something to contribute.  Lard is a wonderful fat for pie crust, but I find that the lard available in most grocery stores has a slightly chemical taste to me.  Now, if you can render your own lard or can work with a local butcher to do so, then go for it!  

Shortening makes a beautiful pie crust.  In fact, my mother never used anything but shortening in her pies. It adds a nice tenderness to pie crust, as well as flakiness.  Because its melting point is higher than butter, it’s more resilient to warmer temperatures in your kitchen, so you don’t have to be quite so nervous about your pie dough getting warm.  It also allows for a smoother finish when you flute the edges of your pie crust.  

Butter in a pie crust recipe contributes flavor, flavor, flavor.  There is no substitute for butter when it comes to flavor, but an all-butter crust can be finicky to work with.  You simply have to be a little more in touch with the temperature of the dough when working with butter.  If it’s too warm, it gets fragile, and if it’s too cold, it makes the dough difficult to roll out.  

So what’s a girl to do to achieve the perfect tender pie crust?   I have found the best way is to use a combination of shortening and butter.  I generally use a half and half ratio, but for students in my class I start with a 3/4 shortening to 1/4 butter, because it’s just a little more user friendly.  That’s the easy recipe I’ll be using for this post.

Water

Cold water is important for pie crust so that whatever we add to the ingredients is cold.  I have a chilled water dispenser in my refrigerator, and that works really well. But if you don’t have that, simply add some ice to a big glass of water, and when you’re ready for it, measure the water into your measuring cup leaving the ice behind. 

Recipe Directions for making dough “by hand”

Working in the fat

First, measure your shortening and butter, and cut the butter into small cubes.  I usually put this back into the refrigerator to chill.  Next, in a large mixing bowl, sift together the dry ingredients (flour and salt).  You can use a fork to do this–we’re keeping it simple after all.  

Next, add the shortening and butter to the flour mixture, and with your hands begin to mix the fats into the flour by squeezing the shortening and butter pieces with your fingertips.  Continue until the pieces of fat are approximately the size of peas, with some pieces that are slightly bigger.  The mixture should look like coarse meal when you’re finished.  It’s important to avoid working the fats too far into the flour.  If this happens, it’s more difficult for the water to hydrate the dough, and you’re left with a crust that may be difficult to roll out.  In other words, error on the side of stopping too early rather than too late.  

Once your fats are worked in adequately, begin to drizzle the chilled water, one tablespoon of water at a time, over the flour mixture.  Using a fork, lightly stir in the water, and continue to drizzle until most of the dry flour is moistened.  Dump the dough onto the counter and knead it a time or two just to form a ball.  We are not trying to knead it like bread, but rather just shaping it up.  Divide the dough into two pieces and form them into discs.  Wrap in plastic wrap and place in refrigerator for at least 30 minutes, and up to 3 days.  You can also freeze it at this point for up to 3 months.  

Rolling out the pie crust (Video Included)

• When you’re ready to roll out the pie dough, remove from the refrigerator and allow to sit for about 30 minutes. Because this dough is made with butter, you must be patient and wait for it to be soft enough to roll out. If it’s too cold, it will crack when you roll it out. So just give it a little time to soften.
• While waiting, get your pastry cloth ready. This cloth, along with a pastry roller sock, was given to me as a wedding gift 32 years ago, and I still have the same one! I always use it to roll out my pie dough. When students use this in my class, they say that rolling out the dough USED to be the most frustrating part–until they used this cloth. You have to use it to see how life changing it can be for pie crust! Embed the cloth with plenty of flour, then roll your sock covered pastry roller across it to flour the sock. Now, you’re ready to go! I’ve included a video to show how easy it is to use.
• Start by hitting the crust disc with your roller and turning it and hitting it again just to get the disc softened a bit and start the circle formation. Roll the dough, turning it 90 degrees occasionally, to keep it from sticking, until the dough is approximately 1/8 inch thick and big enough to exceed the pie plate’s edge by two inches. This extra dough will give us enough to create a nice edge whether we’re making a double crust pie or a blind shell.
• Using your rolling pin, roll the dough up onto it and transfer to the pie shell, carefully. Gently, encourage the dough to fill in the pie shell. Trim the edges, if there’s excessive dough. Finally, leave one to two inches for folding over, if it’s a filled fruit pie, or decorating, if it’s going to be an open pie like pecan. Again, this will be clearer in the video.