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I have a LOT of thoughts on pie dough, but first and foremost is that homemade will always be better than store bought. I know I say that a lot, but pie dough is something I will actually never buy again because not only is it so much better homemade, it is ridiculously easy and requires 0 special equipment – just a little patience.

A recommendation I make near constantly – make double, triple, quadruple even the recipe to stash pie dough in the freezer for a rainy day galette (a simple, flat, freeform pie). Some of my favorites include my fig, goat cheese, & caramelized onion galette, pistachio plum galette, or miso apple galette. Some other uses include hand pies, quiche, pot pies, savory pockets, or of course, a pie!

I credit my love of all-butter pie dough to Claire Saffitz. Her recipe, which this is a variation of, is unbelievably flaky, buttery, and at the same time, beautifully tender. Now, I know some prefer shortening based pie doughs because they are a bit easier to shape and bake a bit more reliably when trying to do an ornate crust, but the flavor of all butter crust is worth the aesthetic imperfections 10 times over.

Lets talk method. The most important part of pie dough is keeping it cold as you work. You want the butter to stay in little pieces throughout, and not melt and incorporate into the dough. This is what is going to give us beautiful, flaky layers. To do this there are a few tricks I recommend.

-Slice your butter and place back in the refrigerator until the moment you are ready to use.
-Once your dry ingredients are mixed, place in the freezer for 10-20 minutes.
-ALWAYS use ice water over just cold water
-try to keep your kitchen as cool as possible
-if your hands run warm, use a bench scraper to bring together instead
-if the dough is warming up and getting sticky, pop in the fridge to firm back up

I know a lot of people like to get out the food processor to make their dough but I am begging you, try it by hand just once. When you make the dough by hand you are able to create an array of uneven pieces of butter throughout your dough – some very small, some smaller, and some in a little bigger. The variation in sizes will yield a tender AND flaky crust, with the small pieces melting into the dough and making it tender, and the larger pieces creating shatteringly flaky layers. It is truly a symphony of buttery goodness.

Now, lets talk about the potential pitfalls of a pie dough, and how to avoid them. Commonly, one of three not so great things can happen when making pie dough: one, the dough is too dry and cracks when rolling and baking, two, the dough is overworked, or three, over hydrated and sticky. All three options can make the dough have a tough texture, but are easy to avoid!

For dough that is too dry: you want to hydrate the dough just to the point that it all sticks togther when pressed, but it should not be floury still. If you have floury pieces, separate them and drizzle ice water by the 1/2 tsp over them just until they can come together, and then add back to the dough. If you try to roll out your dough and it is too dry and cracking, drizzle a teaspoon or so of ice water, fold the dough over itself, and let rest another hour or so before rolling out again.

Avoid overworking the dough. You want to bring the dough together just enough that it forms a clump when pressed together, this is not a recipe where you want to be kneading at all. Overworking the dough will work the butter in too much and prevent flaky layers while also making the dough overly tough and unpleasant.

Dough that is too wet will be sticky and hard to work with, is more susceptible to shrinkage, and becomes tough. It is the trifecta of unpleasant for pie dough. Avoid this by very slowly incorporating your ice water little by little, just until the dough sticks together in a clump.

Another potential pitfall you may face here is shrinkage. All-butter crusts are more prone to shrinkage while baking, resulting in unfortunate slumped sides. This can happen for a few reasons: stretching the dough instead of rolling when lining your pie dish, overworking the dough, or insufficient resting time. Like a lot of things in baking, pie dough requires resting time, and it cannot be skipped. In this time the gluten is able to relax, preventing it from springing back in the form of shrinkage.

The last note, and one on most of my baking recipes – I have the below recipe in grams/weight and I HIGHLY encourage you to weigh your ingredients!! It is far more accurate – did you know there is not even a standard “cup”? So there really is no way to know you have the proper amount of whatever ingredient without the weight. This is especially important in baking where just a few dozen grams in the wrong direction could have a big impact. Here is the scale I use.