Make Your Best Pie Crust Ever With These Tips From Martha's Longtime Baking Expert

 Main Ingredients

I use our basic Pâte Brisée recipe for pie dough. Sometimes, I tweak it, and I will tell you why and how later. The recipe is very simple and results in a flaky, buttery crust you’ll adore. Here’s what you need to know about the ingredients:

Flour: Use good unbleached all-purpose flour like King Arthur or Hecker’s, which you can find in most grocery stores. Don’t use bleached flour; the color and texture of your pie dough will not be right. I use 2 ½ cups of flour for two discs that make one 9-inch double-crusted pie or two 9- or 10-inch tarts or single-crust pies. 

Salt: Don’t forget the salt! I use salt to season everything, including pie dough. It’s very important to enhance the flavor of the butter and give your crust character. If you are using Kosher salt, use 2 scant teaspoons of Diamond Crystal Kosher salt or 1 ½ teaspoons Morton’s kosher salt. If you are using fine sea salt or table salt, use just 1 teaspoon. 

Sugar: I like a full tablespoon. It adds flavor and contributes to color development. I even use sugar when making savory tarts and pies with this pie crust. You can leave it out for savory recipes if you want but don’t skip it for desserts. 

Butter: The most important component in pie crust is the fat, in this case, butter. The butter is what creates the flakes and adds the flavor and color. It should be of high-quality, fresh and—this is vital—cold. You need two sticks (which is also one cup), and it should be cut into pieces. You can use salted or unsalted butter, but if you use salted butter, reduce the salt you add to the recipe by half.

Water: This is what holds your dough together! It should be icy cold water—but with no bits of ice. Get your water nice and cold, and then strain the ice out of it right before you add it to the dough.  

Making Pie Crust: The All-Important Technique

Is it better to make pie crust by machine or by hand? I almost always make my crust in a food processor. It needs to be a large 14-cup food processor; a smaller machine doesn’t work quite as well for my go-to recipe, which yields two crusts. So, if your food processor is smaller, I recommend mixing half the recipe at a time.

You might be surprised that I use the food processor because I often advocate making things by hand. But for pie dough, the food processor is fast, efficient and (if used properly) it makes an extremely flaky yet sturdy yet also somehow tender crust. It is a life changer. 

In a food processor, you really need to watch the mixture after you add the butter so you don’t work it so much that the pieces disappear into the flour. The butter needs to be incorporated in such a way that some of it gets worked into the flour to coat and tenderize, but most of it is left in pieces. The pieces should range in size from crumbs to small peas. These pieces get rolled out and flattened, and in the heat of the hot oven, the moisture in them evaporates, lifting the dough and creating pockets, which creates flakiness. If you have no butter bits because you overmixed, you will have no flakes. So pulse your dry ingredients in the machine (or mix them together in a bowl) before adding the butter.

And, if you are new to making pie crust, I think It is worthwhile to make your first one or two batches by hand. This method is slower and less prone to overworking. I find the texture of crust made by hand a bit softer, and sometimes you need to add a bit more water as the butter doesn’t coat the flour quite as much. 

Adding the Water

 

 People always caution against adding too much water. You definitely should be careful about that, as if you add too much water, the pie dough will be hard to roll out and could be tough. But, you want enough water: if you don’t add enough you end up with a dry pile of crumbs that you need to work too much to form a dough—and that will make your dough tough and not flaky. My secret is to add just enough water and process (or mix by hand) just enough that the mixture forms what looks like curds. They should be evenly moistened and hold together when pressed between two fingers. Then, divide the dough into two and form it into discs. Wrap each in plastic and chill for an hour. Or you can freeze it to use later—I always have frozen dough in the freezer. 

Rolling Out Pie Crust 

I am not afraid of flour; we often say to lightly dust the surface so you don’t work in too much flour when you are rolling, which can result in a tough crust. Experience tells me this is pretty unlikely, and I would rather you not have your dough sticking and tearing than be extra cautious about flour on your surface. So I suggest:

1. Place the chilled dough, on a nicely floured surface, bang it a couple times with your rolling pin to soften it a bit.
2. Roll, starting in the center of the dough and working outwards. Do this a couple of times.
3. Turn the dough 1/4 turn and roll. Keep turning a 1/4 turn after every few rolls, this will help keep the shape intact (round). Flip the dough over once or twice during the process, brushing off excess flour as you do.
   

 TIP-

The key is to rolling pie crust is to roll it quickly and efficiently, and not allow the dough to get too warm. If you are a beginner, roll on parchment paper; that way if it gets too warm you can lift it up, place on a baking sheet, and chill it a bit until it firms up again. Then start rolling again.  

 

Rolling Pins

On the subject of rolling: what kind of rolling pin should you use? It's your choice; just make sure it’s long enough to roll with ease. Should you be curious, I use a dowel pin. But sometimes, if my wrists hurt, I use a ball-bearing pin.

Pie Plates

After you've rolled it out, the dough is ready to be fitted into a pie plate or tart tin or whatever you are using as your mold. When making pies fruit pies I recommend glass pie plates (more on that below). After you’ve fitted the pie crust into the dish, chill it.

Baking Pies

Please bake your pies long enough. Here's what to look for to know it's cooked properly:

• If it’s a fruit pie, the juices should be vigorously bubbling in the very center. The main reason I recommend using a glass pie plate is so you can lift the pie up and look at the bottom. You should be able to see the juices bubbling.
• The crust should be golden all the way to the center—this is the key to avoiding a soggy crust. If there is any unbaked crust, it will definitely get soggy from the pie juices. Even thickened juices can sog up a crust. 

Blind Baking

If you are making a custard pie of any kind (like pumpkin!) please blind bake your crust, this is the only way for the bottom crust to be crisp. Line your chilled dough with parchment paper and pie weights or beans or rice. Bake at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for 25 to 30 minutes, the sides of the crust should be set and lightly golden. Remove the pie weights and paper. Bake until golden on bottom. Then cool before filling.

 

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