Flaky Pie Crust

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With a buttery, golden brown crust and eight flaky layers, this easy flaky pie crust recipe is just what you need for your pies this holiday season!

Prep Time15

Cook Time50

Resting time4

Total Time5 5

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Servings: 9 inch / 23cm pie crust

Calories: 1515kcal

Author: Katalin Nagy

Equipment

Ingredients

Pie dough

375 g All purpose flour
½ teaspoon Salt
1 tablespoon Sugar
225 g Unsalted butter 82% fat, use it very cold
120 g Water use it very cold
30 g Apple Cider vinegar

Metric - US Customary

Instructions

Prepare the dough

In a large bowl, mix the flour, sugar, and salt until fully combined and place it into the freezer for 5-10 minutes.
Cut the cold butter into small chunks and place it into the freezer for 5-10 minutes.
Measure the water and vinegar separetely, and place them into the freezer as well for 5-10 minutes.
Once all ingredients are nicely chilled, add very cold butter chunks into the bowl of flour and rub the mixture between your fingers until it becomes a sand-like consistency.
Leave some bigger butter chunks in the mixture - this will encourage flaky pie texture on the pie crust - no need to fully incorporate the butter into the flour.
Add very cold water and apple cider vinegar into the dough, a small amount at a time, and stir with a spatula or wooden spoon after each addition. Once about 75% of the liquid is used, take out the part of the dough from the bowl, that is already well hydrated, and only keep adding the water to the rest of the dry dough. You might need to use all the water, or slightly less, or very slightly more depending on the flour you are using and how neatly you hydrate the dough. What we want to achieve at the end is a dough that is evenly hydrated, but not too wet, neither too dry with loose flour in it.
Now, on a lightly floured surface (or silicone making mat), start working the dough with your hands. First, it will look crumbly but it should come together in the next minute or so. Do not knead the dough as such, stop mixing, as soon as the dough comes together. Remember, leave in some butter chunks, do not overwork the dough, and do not use a mixer.
Form a disk, cover it with plastic wrap and let it rest in the fridge for a minimum of 2 hours.

Start the lamination

After 2 hours, take the pie dough disk out of the fridge and let it rest few minutes on the kitchen counter. The dough should stay cold but slightly warmed up to be able to roll it out without breaking it.
Transfer the disk to a silicone baking mat or a lightly floured surface and start rolling it out, make sure you turn the dough with your hands after each rolling so it will become even. No need to add too much flour while rolling, the pie dough should be cold enough not to stick to the kitchen counter. If at any point the dough gets too warm, pop it back into the freezer for a minute to chill then continue
The goal is to roll the dough out into a rectangle of 11x17 inches / 28x43 cm relatively quickly without warming it up.
Then, apply the following fold: Fold the left half over the right half. Then, you will get a 5.5x17 inches / 14x43 cm rectangle. Then, fold this long rectangle into half by folding the bottom half over the top half. You now have a 5.5x8.5 inches / 14x21.5 cm rectangle. Lastly, fold again the the bottom half over the top half, so you will end up with a 5.5x4 inches / 14x11 cm rectangle. That´s it, the folding is done, and you have 8 wonderful layers.
Cover the dough with plastic wrap and let it rest in the fridge for a minimum of 2 hours.

Blind Baking

The dough makes two 9-inch / 23 cm single layer pies. So, after the resting time, divide the dough into 2.
If you are using a 9-inch / 23 cm pie dish, roll the dough to 10inch / 26 cm in diameter. Remember, do not force the dough. After rolling, it should stay smooth and cold, and easy to work with. The most common reason for pie crust shrinking is forcing and stretching it.
Then, proceed with baking, as explained in my tutorial: how to blind bake pie crust.

Notes

All ingredients, including butter, flour, and water, should be very cold.
Making this flaky pie crust will take less than 5 minutes. If you are assembling the dough for more than 5 minutes, you are overworking it and risking warming the ingredients up too much with your hands.
Resting the dough in the fridge is a must - you won't be able to roll it out without appropriate resting time (minimum two hours).
When it comes to rolling, again, it can be done when the dough is at the right temperature. If it's too cold, it can crumble. If it's too warm, it can tear and stick.

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