Simple and Easy Pie crust

This post contains affiliated links in the highlighted words, these links may give me a commission and I am required to disclose this fact.

Makes two flaky and crispy 9” pie crusts

2 (4oz) sticks of Cold unsalted butter
2 2/3 cup all purpose flour (we use Einkorn) with extra for rolling
1 teaspoon Salt
1 cup Cold Water

Use a grater to shred the cold butter into a bowl
Add flour and salt, and gently combine with a fork, making sure to coat each piece of butter, but not squish them together.
Add water all at once and gently stir with the fork until the dough starts to clump into a ball. Form a ball with your hands pressing any remaining flour into the ball gently. Divide the ball in half.
Flour a clean surface, use at least a half cup of flour so the dough doesn’t stick. Place one of the two pieces of dough on the surface and pat down.
Add flour to the top of the dough and onto your rolling pin. Gently roll the dough to desired size, folding the dough back in if necessarily to make sure it is an even thickness all over. (make sure it’s not sticky, add flour if it is)
Roll dough into itself gently, place in your pan and then unroll it, pressing gently into the sides to help it stay. Use as directed for your recipe.
Repeat for the other half of the dough.

I use pie crust for so many things, not just the classic pie. Recently I made a quiche in the Vitamix, and I love to put that in a nice crispy pie crust!

For this recipe I prefer to use the Einkorn variety of wheat flour. You can use any all purpose flour, but here is what will happen in the recipe:

Einkorn: crispy stable crust
Bleached white: gooey, possibly under baked crust (definitely pre-bake and expect shrinkage)
Un-bleached white: chewier texture
Whole wheat: possibly crumbly, may need more water
Spelt: will be powdery instead of flaky

Cold butter is important in this recipe because when it holds its texture it will create the flaky crispiness. Grating the cold butter saves you from having to ‘cut in’ the butter, which could result in overworked dough.

After you add the salt and flour, be very gentle with the fork as you coat the butter. if you simply lift the butter with the fork slowly, after putting flour and salt on top, the flour will fall into place easy enough. Overworked dough will result in a chewy crust, but underworked will have big spots of butter which will melt and become holes in the crust.

Add your cold water all at once, then (gently!) mix the flour and butter in. It will quickly become a ball. Once this happens you should use your hand to roll the ball and press it into the flour left in the bowl.

Flour your surface. I usually use my counter, making sure it’s clean and very dry. If I’m pressed for time I sometimes use parchment paper so cleanup is easier. Once you have a good layer of flour gently press the dough down so you can sprinkle the top of the dough with flour. Roll out the dough gently, making sure you get a nice, even thickness.

For the prettiest pies you should really try to get a nice circle shape that will fit your pan. To make sure it will fit you can turn your pan upside down onto the dough and make sure the dough is LARGER by about the height of the pan. When I was making this particular crust I was making a quiche in a casserole dish, and was not concerned too much about the appearance.

Once the dough is how you’d like it you can transfer it to your pan easily by simply rolling it up!