Pie Crust {Step-by-Step}

Step-by-step instructions for a beautiful, flaky, traditional pie crust from scratch. With clear and thorough instructions, this recipe will help you have success with all your pie making needs.

I love me a good pie. Don’t you?

But sometimes the thought of making one from scratch can be a little intimidating. I already shared this pear pie – a delicious, simple, perfect-for-your-first-time-making-pie recipe that has a super simple crust. That’s a good place to start and that pie is truly one of my favorites.

But today I am walking you through step-by-step instructions for making a traditional pie crust from scratch so you are all set for the next time you find yourself in pie-making hang up.

This recipe’s history

This recipe comes from a sweet little lady named Gen B. who taught me and several other ladies from my church congregation how to make pies several years ago. She walked us through step-by-step and we all ended up with a beautiful pie crust to take home. And more valuable to me was the knowledge about how to do it.

I’ve been making Gen’s pie crust now for close to 12 years. I love it. It is simple and the recipe I go to for pie crust every time.

I hope today to help you feel as confident in pie crust making as Gen helped me feel all those years ago. It takes practice. But hopefully after today, you will have the skills to know how to start. And with practice, I have no doubt that you can become a pie making expert.

Lets dive in.

Perfect pie crust {Step-by-Step}

So first, a little caution. Gen taught me that the most important thing in making pie crust is to remember not to handle it with your hands until you absolutely have to. The heat from your hands will cause the pie crust to be tough. Which is not what we are going for. We are looking for a nice, tender, flaky crust.

Making the dough

Okay now lets begin. The first part of the pie making process involves combining 1 cup flour and 1/2 teaspoon salt together in a large mixing bowl. Then remove a 1/4 cup and setting it aside in a small bowl for later. Cut in the shortening (I like to use —this pastry cutter, aff. link) into the remaining flour/salt in the large bowl.

Cut in the shortening just until the pieces are pea-sized. You don’t want to over-cut in the shortening or you won’t have a nice flaky crust. Then in the small bowl with the flour and salt that you set aside earlier add 1/4 cup ice water and mix until a paste forms. Add this paste to the flour/shortening mixture in the large bowl and combine with a spoon or fork (remember don’t use your hands at this point).

Rolling out the dough

Flour a countertop or bread board and a rolling pin. Then working with your hands, quickly form the dough into a ball and place on the floured countertop. Again working quickly is critical when using your hands because the heat from your hands will toughen the crust. Don’t worry about making the shape look too nice. Just blob it together and stick it on the counter. Then roll it out a few rolls. To give it a little nicer edge (which enhances the “pretty” factor), quickly tuck the edges under so they are smooth.

Then roll out the dough into a 13 or 14-inch circle.

Putting the dough in the pan

Fold dough in half and place in a 9-inch pie pan. You can see in the picture that my counter wasn’t floured enough and the dough stuck just a little. Luckily I had my bench scraper (aff. link) handy to help it along. And it was on the bottom so it doesn’t show up in the final product. Gently place the pie crust into the pie pan. Don’t stretch it or it will be more likely to shrink. Just lift and place it down into the pan. Trim the edges to hang about an inch over the pie pan.

Crimping the dough

For this example I’m making a single crust blind baked pie. After it bakes and cools I will fill it with a pudding-type filling. Tuck the overhang halfway under itself along the edges of the pie. Then you can do your favorite crimping method to make it look nice. I used my thumb and pointer finger to pinch the pie on the inside of the pie while the pointer finger of my other hand pressed from the outside. For blind baking you will want to prick the pie with a fork on the bottom and the sides (I forgot the sides until later so the picture doesn’t show it here). This will keep the pie from bubbling up in the middle.

Preparing for baking

Cover the pie at this point with plastic wrap and refrigerate for an hour (or longer is fine too – probably not more than about a day ahead). This will help the pie hold its shape better during baking. When ready to bake, remove the plastic wrap and place on a baking sheet to catch any drips.

Cover the pie crust with a sheet of tin foil, gently pressing it in the crevices. The cheaper the foil the better (a heavy duty type really won’t work well). Fill the pie completely with pie weights. I use dry beans for this (they work great) and save them to reuse them every time I make pies.

Baking the pie crust

Then bake in a preheated 350 degrees F oven for 45-50 minutes. For best results, rotate pan part way through baking time for an evenly browned crust.

So there you have it. Beautiful pie crust. Ready to be filled with your favorite pie. I’d love to hear your pie making success stories (or failures – let’s be honest we all have them) so shoot me a comment. Until next time.

Happy pie making!

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Pie Crust

Step-by-step instructions for a beautiful, flaky, traditional pie crust from scratch.

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Keyword Pie

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 45 minutes

Chilling Time (if applicable) 1 hour

Total Time 1 hour 5 minutes

Servings 1 9-inch pie crust

Author Heather @ thecookstreat.com

Ingredients

• 1 cup (5 ounces) all-purpose flour
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ¼ cup (2 ounces) ice water see note
• ½ cup (3.25 ounces) shortening see note

Instructions

1. Place flour and salt in a large mixing bowl and stir together. Remove ¼ cup flour/salt mixture and set aside in a small bowl.
2. Add the shortening to the large bowl and cut in with two knives or a pastry cutter until shortening in pea-sized. Make sure NOT to handle with your hands until step 4. The heat from your hands will make the pie crust tough. Over-mixing will do the same thing, so be careful to set aside your perfection tendencies and mix as little as possible.
3. Add the ice water to the small bowl you set aside with the flour/salt mixture. Stir together to make a paste. Add the paste to the large bowl and stir together with a spoon until it comes together.
4. Flour the counter and rolling pin well. Using your hands quickly form into dough into a ball.

5. Place on floured counter and roll out just slightly. Tuck the ends under to make a smooth disk (this step is not necessary but will add to the “pretty” factor of your pies).

6. Roll dough into a 13 to 14-inch circle. Fold dough in half and place into the pie pan.

7. Trim edge to hang about 1-inch over the pie pan (I love using kitchen shears for this).

Single crust pies with baked fillings:

1. If you are baking a single crust pie (like pumpkin) tuck the overhang halfway under itself along the edges of the pie pan. Crimp around the edges as desired. Fill with the filling, then bake according to the recipe for the pie you are making.

Single crust pies for blind baking:

1. If you are making a cool filling that does not need to be baked (like lemon or a pudding type pie) you will want to blind bake the pie and cool it completely before filling it. To do this, tuck the overhang halfway under itself along the edges of the pie pan and crimp around the edges as desired.
2. Prick the bottom and sides with a fork so they don’t bubble up while baking. Then cover pie crust with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.

3. Before baking, remove the plastic wrap and gently cover completely with tin foil (the cheap kind works best –not heavy duty). Push the tin foil gently into all the crevices of the pie and fill completely with pie weights (I use dry beans). Place pie pan on a foil-lined baking sheet to catch the fat drips. Bake in a preheated 350 degrees F oven for 45-50 minutes. For best results, rotate pan part way through baking time for an evenly browned crust.

Double crust pies:

1. If you are making a double crust pie, put the filling in the bottom pie shell. Then follow steps 4 through 7 again for the second crust (making sure you double the recipe in the first three steps, i.e. you would remove twice the amount of flour for the paste). Both the top and bottom crusts will then hang over the edges about 1-inch. Then fold the top crust over the bottom crust halfway around the edges. Crimp around the edges as desired. Then bake according to the recipe for the pie you are making. You can also get fancy and make things like lattice or decorative crusts, but those are beyond the scope of this post.

Recipe Notes

1. This recipe is easily doubled or tripled as needed. To make a double crust pie, simply double all of the ingredients in the recipe.

2. For the ice water I usually fill a cup with water and 5-6 ice cubes when I start making the pie crust. Then I let it sit for about 10 minutes while I am doing the other steps until it cools off the water. If all the ice melts into the water, you know you didn’t put enough ice in.

3. I have made this pie crust recipe with lots of different kinds of shortening: butter flavored, plain, palm shortening, lard, etc. All of them will work. You can experiment to find out what you like best. I am partial to the butter-flavored shortening, but I’ve been making pies lately with palm shortening for the health benefits.

Recipe Source: Adapted from a recipe shared with me by Gen B., with blind baking tips influenced by one of my favorite blogs @ Mel’s Kitchen Café

All images and text ©The Cook’s Treat

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