Perfect All-Butter Flaky Pastry Crust

Every baker and home cook should have at least one pie crust recipe in their
repertoire. This basic flaky butter pastry crust is one of my absolute
favorites, with a tender crumb and lots of flaky layers in the dough.

Best of all, one batch of this pie crust recipe makes four crusts- enough for
two covered fruit pies or four open topped pies or quiches. You can halve the
recipe, but they keep for months in the freezer, so make the whole batch!

This is THE recipe you'll find yourself reaching for again and again for holiday
pies or for other festive occasions, or to freeze and have on hand for quick and
easy pies, pastries, and quiches on a whim.

Servings: 4 crusts

Author:

Prep Time
15 minutes

Chilling Time
30 minutes

Course:

Dessert Breakfast & Brunch Baking Basics

Cuisine:

American

Keywords:

baking holiday quiche Dough savory baking hand pies filled pastry

🧂 Ingredients

5¼ cups all-purpose flour

(sub pastry flour or 50/50 blend for an extra tender crust, or up to 50% whole wheat flour for a heartier crust)
17 oz cold unsalted butter, divided
1 tbsp kosher salt

(sub 2 tsp fine sea or regular salt)
1 cup ice water
1 tbsp distilled vinegar or vodka

Instructions

1 Add the flour and salt to the bowl of the mixer, and stir on low to combine with
the paddle attachment.
2 Next, add the first addition of 12 oz of cubed butter (three sticks). Mix on low
speed, stopping to scrape the bowl and pulse the mixer, until the butter is well
cut-in. The flour and butter mixture should begin to look crumbly, with a
texture ranging from coarse meal to small peas. This butter is the "shortening"
for the dough, coating the flour and preventing long gluten strands from forming
when you add the liquid, which will give the dough a tender crumb.
3 Next, add the remaining 9 oz of cubed butter (one stick plus two tablespoons)
and mix just enough to break it into small irregular pea-sized pieces. Do not
overmix. These larger pieces will give your dough the lovely flaky layers when
baked.
4 Combine the ice water and vinegar or vodka and drizzle this over the surface of
the mixture. Pulse the mixer on the lowest setting just until the dough starts
to combine. It will look rough, shaggy, and almost dry and crumbly- this is ok.
5 The dough will become more cohesive as it rests, but at this point it should be
only just damp enough hold together when pressed. If it's still too dry, add
additional ice water by the teaspoon.
6 Divide into four balls (roughly 12 oz each) and wrap each with a square of
plastic wrap or reusable food wrap, pressing them together into a cohesive
circle about 6" in diameter and 1"-2" thick. Place these in the fridge or a cold
place for at least 30 minutes to rest and come together before rolling out or
freezing the dough for later use.