This basic butter pie recipe bakes up wonderfully into a flakey dough. It works well for sweet fruit pies, savoury pies, and handheld pies. When using it for a sweet pie, increase the sugar quantity to ½ cup/90g.
notes
- Use high-quality butter and flour. Poor-quality butter has higher water content and less fat, and low-quality flour can vary in protein structure, which can affect your final pie crust.
- Combine the butter and flour evenly so the butter is the size of a pea and no bigger than a marble.
- Work with very cold ingredients, especially the butter. Soft butter will not allow your dough to come together evenly, resulting in a tough dough. Cold butter creates lovely flakey layers.
pie dough
This is a very good post on basic butter pie crust.
ingredients
350g flour (250g white & 100g whole-wheat)
½ tsp rock salt
1 tsp sugar
200g unsalted pure butter
100ml very cold water
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
preparation
- Place the flour, sugar, and salt in a bowl and mix. Then, cut the butter into pea-sized pieces and add to the flour, making sure all the pieces of butter are well coated with flour. Cover and place in the freezer for a minimum of 1 hour or overnight.
- In a food processor with the S-blade attached, add the cold flour and butter, process for 20 seconds (the mixture should resemble fine meal), then stir the vinegar with the cold water and pulse in short bursts. The dough will still look crumbly, but pressing it between your fingers should become smooth. If the dough is too dry and is not coming together, add ice water—a tablespoon at a time. Do not over-process!
to make the dough by hand
Use your fingers to pinch the butter and flour together, making thin, floury disks of butter. Continue working until the butter has broken down into pea-size beads and then into a sandlike consistency. Drizzle in the ice water, mixing until the dough comes together in a crumbly mass.
- Turn the dough out onto a clean work surface. Gather and press the dough together to form a unified mass, then divide and press into two round discs. Wrap tightly in plastic, and then use a rolling pin to roll out the dough and flatten it so it fills any empty space, making it airtight. Refrigerate for at least 2 or 24 hours (ideal).
- When ready to roll out, you may need to let it rest for 5 – 10 minutes. You want it to warm up slightly so it is easy to roll out. If it is too cold, it will crack when you roll it out. However, if it is too warm, it will be sticky and fall apart when you bake it. On really hot days, you may need to put it back in the fridge or freezer for 20 minutes and then continue to roll.
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