Perfect Pie Crust

Learn all the secrets to making perfect pie crust crust at home with this easy tutorial and lots of step-by-step photos. This crust always bakes up perfectly flaky and can be used in so many pie recipes!

Grab your rolling pin, roll up your sleeves, and prepare to become the queen of pies! We’ve got the ultimate pie crust tutorial on tap for you today.

A lot of people are nervous at the idea of making homemade pie crust, but I’m here to tell you that it’s SO easy to make at home and honestly, the difference between homemade pie crust and pre-made is like night and day.

Our homemade recipe always bakes up so flaky with that signature real butter flavor you and know and love about pie crust. Everyone ALWAYS compliments this pie crust, no matter the flavor of pie it’s used with!

Nothing’s off the table today, y’all, I’m spilling all the juicy pie secrets and you’re about to become 100% confident in the world of pies!

This Pie Crust features…

• A perfectly buttery, flaky, and tender texture
• A blank canvas for so many different kinds of pies
• Only 4 basic ingredients needed with make-ahead options

Making the Pie Crust

(scroll down to the bottom of the post for the full recipe)

Ingredients You Will Need

• All-purpose flour
• Granulated sugar
• Kosher salt
• Unsalted butter
• Ice water

Choosing Your Butter

We always recommend using unsalted butter for baking and pie crust is no exception. Using unsalted butter allows you to control the amount of salt in the dough and prevents extra moisture from forming in the dough resulting in a tender and flaky crust texture.

Tips for Perfect Pie Crust

1. Measure flour correctly – we use the spoon-and-level technique for measuring flour as this will prevent over-measuring your flour. Use a spoon to scoop flour into the measuring cup, then level with the back of a knife.
2. Use cold butter – pie crust relies on cold fat to build the flaky layers while it bakes so it’s important that your butter is as cold as possible. I recommend grating your butter on a box grater and throwing it in the freezer for 30 minutes.
3. Use ice water – again, we want all the fats and liquids as cold as possible.
4. Lightly handle dough – over stirring and kneading of the dough will cause gluten to form resulting in a tough crust. If you find your dough is a little too dry and crumbly during this step, add a few extra splashes of ice water.
5. Chill pie dough twice – again, you want everything as COLD as possible prior to baking. Chill the dough at least 30 minutes before rolling out and then chill it again once it’s shaped in the pan.
6. Flour surface well for rolling – this will make it much easier to remove your crust once it’s rolled out.
7. Wrap crust around rolling pin for transfer – this is an easy little trick for a seamless transfer to your pie pan.
8. Give yourself a few inches of overhang in pie pan – pie crusts tend to shrink while they bake, but we can prevent this from happening by folding the overhang under and then crimping to create a thick edge around the pie pan.
9. Crimp edges – you can go as simple or extravagant as you want with this part. We typically do a classic crimping edge, but feel free to get creative with other decorative edging!

Types of Pie Baking Methods

There are 2 types of pie baking methods: fully-baking, par-baking, and blind-baking. Each method will require a bit of a different cooking process, so make sure you fully read the instructions and make sure you know exactly which baking method the pie recipe you are using calls for. We always recommend you refer to your pie recipe’s guidelines for specific baking instructions.

Fully-Baking: this method is typically used for fruit pies, pumpkin pie, pecan pie, etc. This method does not typically require any pre-baking of the crust and you’ll bake your crust and the filling at the same time.

Blind-Baking: this method is typically reserved for no-bake pies and involve fully baking and cooling the pie crust before adding a filling. To blind-bake your crust, line the bottom of pie crust with parchment paper, fill with pie weights, and bake crust at 375F 15-20 minutes. Remove pie weights and continue baking crust 10-15 minutes until golden brown. Allow crust to cool completely before filling.

Par-Baking: this method is usually used for dishes such as quiche that have a liquid filling that will continue baking. To par-bake your crust, you will follow the same procedure as blind-baking, only after you remove your pie weights and return the pie crust to the oven, you will bake it for a shorter period of time of 5-10 minutes until crust is only a very light brown. The crust will continue cooking once you add your filling and return to the oven.

Storing Pie Dough

This pie dough stores well in refrigerator up to 6 days and can also be frozen up to 1 month. To use the frozen dough, thaw completely in refrigerator, then roll out and proceed with recipe.

Lattice Topping Tips

If you wish to do a lattice topping with this pie crust, I would recommend doubling the recipe and reserving half of the pie dough for rolling and cutting out strips for a lattice crust.

You may not use all of the dough, but you can always freeze any leftover scraps you have or use them for decorative cut-outs to garnish your pie.

Once you try homemade pie crust, I guarantee you will never go back! This recipe really is tried-and-true and always bakes up SO incredibly flaky and compliments any flavor pie its paired with.

Speaking of compliments…you just wait for all of them to start rolling in (no pun intended) on your pie skills!

Save this recipe using the ‘save to recipe box’ button below. If you make it, please let us know! Leave a comment + star rating below, or take a photo and tag it on Instagram with #wholeandheavenlyoven.

Watch this pie crust made step-by-step on Google web stories.

Try these favorite pie recipes with this pie crust!

• Maple Pecan Slab Pie
• Orange Ginger Cranberry Galette
• Best Dutch Apple Pie

This post was updated with new recipe adjustments and photos on 10/6/23.