Dear Test Kitchen

How to Make Perfect Pie Crust, According to a Professional Baker

November 15, 2018

Erin McDowell is one of the best bakers in the country. Lucky for us, she’s been boosting our butter confidence and banishing our sugar fears for years. As Food52’s Baking Consultant at Large (dream job? You bet), she’s taught us everything from fine-tuning glazes to adapting bread recipes with preferments to blueberry-ifying any muffin.

This week, Erin guest-starred in our latest video series, Dear Test Kitchen, and answered all of our questions about how to make the butteriest, flakiest pie crust. (Your Thanksgiving can thank her later.)

What’s the very best way to get better at making pie? Practice. Consider this your excuse to bake a pie (or two or four) between now and Thanksgiving. You’ll learn a lot along the way. And who doesn’t want extra pie?

Beyond practice, though, Erin’s handy hacks and pro tips have you covered. In her lesson, she brought, I don’t know, a million of these. Here I’ve collected my favorites in one place. Consider it your pie crust cheat sheet or survival guide or personal cheerleader. And consider these words from Erin as your mantra:

You won’t fail. I’m here. I’ve got you. We’re going to make awesome pie dough together. I promise.

1. All the butter, all the flavor. Of all the fat possibilities, butter brings the richest flavor. Erin swears by her recipe for All Buttah Pie Dough—and we do, too.

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Top Comment:
“I tried thinking in terms of fat content, adding more water to somehow mimic American butter's higher water content and the like, but that just gave me a tougher crust, even though it kept its shape better. I've searched high and low for advice on how to use European butters to make American-style pie crusts -- what is the secret? ”
— gj
Comment

2. But, shortening or lard have their own benefits. These fats have higher melting points than butter, which means you’re even more likely to get that flaky crust. For the best of both worlds, do a combo of butter and shortening or lard.

3. Incorporate the butter by hand for the most control. Erin likes to smush 1/2-inch butter cubes between her fingers, a method that makes it near impossible to cut the butter too small. (Too-tiny butter bits lead to a denser crust.)

4. Or, use a food processor to avoid meltage. Some people have warmer hands (or kitchens!) than others. If you’re worried about the butter melting, blitz the flour and butter in a food processor, using quick pulses and checking frequently.

5. Refrigerate or freeze your supplies beforehand. For even more meltage insurance, stick your mixing bowl or the flour in the fridge or even freezer overnight (or longer!). This will keep everything ultra-cold and melt-free.

6. When in doubt, chill out. If you’re cutting the butter into the flour and it seems like the fat is starting to soften or melt, stick the bowl in the fridge, wait 20 or so minutes, then keep going. Same goes for when you’re rolling out the dough and crimping the crust.

7. Flaky crusts are dreamy for fruit pies. For a flaky crust, the incorporated butter pieces should be the size of walnut halves. (If this sounds big, it is! Just trust.)

8. Mealy crusts are A+ for custardy pies. For what Erin calls a “mealy” (less flaky, more sturdy) pie crust, the incorporated butter pieces should be the size of roughly chopped walnuts.

9. Every brand of flour hydrates differently. That’s why water measurements in a pie ingredient list are always estimates—for instance, “Add more as needed.” Start with a little. Toss. Add a little more. Toss. If you’re unsure if it’s ready, stick it in the fridge and give the flour a chance to soak up that water.

10. Err on the side of under- versus over-mixing. Gluten formation is why you do want to knead bread dough and don’t want to knead pie dough. Bread should be highly structured and chewy. Pie dough should be crispy and tender.

11. What if the dough comes together unevenly? Sometimes, you’ll have a blob of perfectly-held-together dough and a bunch of dry, powdery bits at the bottom of the bowl. Just remove the good stuff (that perfect blob) from the bowl and add a little more water to the rest. Then combine the two before wrapping and chilling.

12. Don't pour water. Flick it. If you want to add the tiniest amount more water, just dip your hands into the measuring cup and flick the water onto the pie dough. This gives you the most control and avoids any risk of oversaturating.

13. Dough cracks are cool. When your dough is good to go, it shouldn’t be totally cohesive; it should hold together, but still have a “shaggy” vibe. Don’t fret if it looks cracked and rough—that just means you didn’t overwork your dough. (Good job!)

14. How to troubleshoot a too-wet dough. Chill it thoroughly, then roll it out with more flour than you’d usually use. This will balance the excess liquid in the dough.

15. Make dough in advance. Just store it in the right place. You can keep well-wrapped dough in the fridge for up to 2 days. (Any longer than that and the butter will start to oxidize and turn gray.) You can also keep it in the freezer for up to 3 months.

16. Rotate while you roll. Erin’s rolling strategy: Roll the pin front, then back, then turn the dough slightly clockwise. Repeat until it’s the right diameter. Not only does this lead you to a circular shape, but it also prevents your dough from sticking to the counter.

17. Wait, what’s the right diameter? Turn your pie pan upside down on top of the dough round. The dough should be at least 1 inch wider than the pie pan.

18. And how about the right thickness? Figure 1/8 inch. This is the standard measurement in most recipes. Erin errs a little thicker, just to make sure the crust isn’t too thin or fragile.

19. If you do roll your dough too thin, there’s a fix. Just fold the dough in half, then in half again. Rewrap in plastic, re-chill, then re-roll. See? It’s like nothing happened.

20. Use scissors to trim the excess. After you set the pie dough into the pie pan, trim the excess dough from the perimeter with a pair of scissors. This is way easier than a knife. You want to end up with about 1/2 inch of overhang.

21. For the easiest crimping, use a fork. While you can crimp several styles with your fingers, if you’re feeling unsure, let a fork take over. This creates a striking pattern—and eliminates any chance of your warm fingers melting the butter in the dough.

22. Always cut vents in double-crusted fruit pies. When fruit cooks down, its water content evaporates. But if it’s inside a double crust, where is all that steam going to go? The upper crust. By cutting vents, you let the steam escape out of the pie, yielding a crispy, not soggy, crust.

23. Just make sure to do this before egg-washing and sugar-sprinkling. Those highly-encouraged final touches can close up your vents. Not what we want.

24. Wait, why use an egg wash and sugar sprinkle? Egg wash encourages browning. In other words: makes pie crust extra pretty. Here’s a go-to formula: 1 egg yolk to 1 tablespoon heavy cream, milk, or water. And think of raw sugar (also called turbinado or demerara) as mandatory sprinkles: They add an extra pop of sweetness, a lil’ shimmer, and a crunchy texture to your crust.

25. To sidestep soggy bottoms, par-bake. This is baker-speak for “partial bake.” In other words, give your crust a head start in the oven before adding your filling—especially liquidy ones, like pumpkin custard. Just dock (fancy word for poke) your crust with a fork, line with parchment, then fill with dried beans (about 2 1/2 to 3 pounds per pie). Bake for 12 to 15 minutes until the crust barely starts to brown.

26. Ceramic vs. glass pie pans. Erin loves ceramic for its heat-conducting powers, but appreciates glass, too, because you can check the coloring on your crust.

What are your best pie crust tips and tricks? Sharing is caring in the comments!

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Emma was the food editor at Food52. She created the award-winning column, Big Little Recipes, and turned it into a cookbook in 2021. These days, she's a senior editor at Bon Appétit, leading digital cooking coverage. Say hello on Instagram at @emmalaperruque.

31 Comments

kerry D. November 23, 2020
i made this recipe by hand exactly as demonstrated in the video. my butter chunks were about the size of walnut halves with some being slightly smaller. sadly my pie crust basically melted when it was blind-baked. final product was not flaky at all and the bottom looked like an oil slick. i used the proper amount of butter. the butter chunks were the size as in the video. what went wrong?? i read online that my butter chunks were most likely too big. thoughts??
 
themadblonde June 12, 2020
This is insane. If you leave the butter blobs the size of half walnuts, it looks like you're trying to roll out cottage cheese. Worst crust I've ever made.
 
sccritesRN82 April 27, 2020
What temperature should this be baked at to Par bake or Blind bake?
 
Emma L. April 30, 2020
Erin actually has a great guide on this! Hope it's helpful: https://food52.com/blog/10858-everything-you-need-to-know-about-par-baking
 
gj April 12, 2020
Love all of Erin's videos -- love all the explanations and tips! I have a question about butters (I read your article comparing butters -- another reason to love Trader Joe's...but like we needed anymore reasons!). When I'm in the States, I make pie pastry pretty regularly. I love the long and short flakes. For the life of me, I cannot reproduce this with European butters. At first, I thought it was also a European thing where they tend to like or have a tradition of having their the pies/tarts with a more crumbly/mealy texture so that's all you got in bakeries (at least in the UK/Ireland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, and Italy), but I've tried so many different butters and tried different butter-shortening combinations, but I just cannot get that short-long-flake thing going. Sometimes I get flaky crusts, but it's still not the same quality, and there's so much fat (they also taste greasier) that they are almost always deformed (I lose all the crimping and patterns). I tried thinking in terms of fat content, adding more water to somehow mimic American butter's higher water content and the like, but that just gave me a tougher crust, even though it kept its shape better. I've searched high and low for advice on how to use European butters to make American-style pie crusts -- what is the secret?
 
Emma L. April 12, 2020
Hi gj! I personally prefer American-style butter in pie crust (like you said, it more reliably delivers those flaky, but not greasy, results). That said, if you want to master pie crust with European-style butter, the first place I would start would be a pie crust recipe that was developed with European-style butter—for example, this one from Sister Pie: https://food52.com/recipes/78709-sister-pie-s-salted-maple-pie.
 
Amy S. February 21, 2020
I see you also use a wooden cutting counter to roll yours on. I have purchased the large mats on here with the leveler. My pie dough still sticks. It appears easier to use the counter top similar to yours?
 
[email protected] December 10, 2019
Can you tell me where to find the baking instructions for this please? At what temperature to preheat the oven to, and then at what temperature to bake it at, and for how long do I bake it for?
 
Emma L. January 6, 2020
Hi there! You can put Erin's all-butter dough (https://food52.com/recipes/24928-all-buttah-pie-dough) toward most pie recipes, which should include their own baking temperature/instructions (the specifics of those usually depend on the filling, whether you're doing a single- or double-crust, etc).
 
Qui November 27, 2019
Qui] Hi. How do you defrost the dough after taking it out the freezer?
 
Sandy S. November 28, 2019
Take it out of the freezer and put in the fridge the night before you plan to use. Take it out of the fridge about 15 min. before you plan to roll it out. If it's too cold when you roll it out the edges will crack.
P.S. I always have a extra dough disc in my freezer. Well wrapped the keep about 3 months.
 
Kristi11 August 24, 2019
Is it possible to make decorative lattice with this same pie crust recipe? How will the different vent holes effect the apple pie? Is it possible to have too much ventilation?
 
Emma L. September 1, 2019
Hi! Yes, you can use any pie dough recipe to make a decorative top crust. The vents help steam escape and prevent the top crust from getting too soggy; depending on how much fruit is exposed, they also might encourage some browning of the apples.
 
Tracy May 26, 2019
You all are doing it all wrong! My pie crust comes out flaky each time. Butter, lard or Crisco must be cold, 8:tablespoons of water salt flour. Mix together it's all in your hands humidity and heart. No fail crust
 
Sandy S. April 7, 2019
Always love new tips and tricks. Thank you. Glad to know the science behind "graying" dough. A few comments: 1. Use a sprayer bottle with water as alternative to flicking water on crumbly bits of dough. 2. High moisture apples are those most likely to collapse under a top crust so overfill, pile high, and use a mixture of firmer apples (i.e., Granny Smith--not my fave) with more juicy ones. All juicy apples cook down more. 3. I find that 12 oz. of dough perfect for a 9" deep dish pie plate. 4. The vinegar helps relax the gluten.
 
Rick February 6, 2019
Hi Emma, This is a great video and article! Something I don't see addressed in pie crust tutorials is a problem I often have. When I make a pie crust I often have trouble being able to roll the dough out to be large enough for the standard 9" tins or plate that I use. Various online recipes have pictures and videos showing their rolled out dough having a nice thickness with plenty of overhang to trim off around the edges. Many times I'll have to roll my dough out too thin to barely have enough to fit in the pan (and not enough to even fold the edges under so I can make a nice crimps).

Using the same recipe the above video uses, I still don't get a nice sized rolled out pie dough. Any suggestions? I appreciate your help. Thank you!
 
Emma L. February 6, 2019
Thanks, Rick! One easy way to solve that: Scale up whatever pie dough recipe you're using—say by 10 or even 25 percent. This will ensure you aren't short when rolling out your dough and whatever scraps you have leftover can be saved and reused! A few ideas for that here: https://food52.com/blog/17761-hold-onto-those-pie-dough-scraps-turn-them-into-10-other-treats
 
themadblonde June 12, 2020
Yes, I had the same trouble with this recipe, as well as the cottage cheese problem.
 
sticksnscones November 25, 2018
I always have problems with my pie dough slumping down in the pan while parbaking. Any suggestions???
 
Emma L. November 25, 2018
Hi! Few thoughts: Freeze the crimped pie dough shell before baking to reduce shrinkage and help it hold its shape better in the oven. Reaaaaaally fill the shell with those pie weights; I use 2+ pounds of dried beans. And make sure the crimps are extending to the edge of the pie pan.
 
Niknud November 21, 2018
Excellent video. With pie crusts (at least in my limited experience), it's so great to be able to watch what the experts do instead of reading and making my own interpretation. Yah, pie!
 
Emma L. November 21, 2018
So glad you enjoyed! Visuals really help me with detail-oriented recipes like this, too.
 
Cheri November 19, 2018
When I make apple pie, with fresh apples, the crust doesn't come down to the level of the cooked apples. Am I doing something wrong.
 
Emma L. November 19, 2018
Hi Cheri! That's a really common issue with apple pies. A couple ways to combat this: adding vents (or steam holes) to your upper crust and using apples that hold their shape when baked (such as Granny Smith Honey Crisp).
 
Corduval November 18, 2018
I have been using my Mother-in-Law's crust recipe for over 30 years. It uses butter and shortening (I go long on the butter). It also includes 1T of vinegar for the two-crust recipe. I always thought that it was the vinegar that made it so flaky, but I do cut in the butter, frozen, in large almost walnut-sized chunks. What do you think about vinegar in pie crust recipes?
 
Emma L. November 19, 2018
Hi! Vinegar offers a small amount of insurance against overworked dough and can add a nice tangy flavor. Here's a super-interesting article comparing a bunch of pie dough methods, including vinegar: https://food52.com/blog/20019-we-tested-5-pie-crusts-to-find-the-easiest-flakiest-best-tasting
 
lauriemcf November 17, 2018
Great video!
 
Lauren E. November 16, 2018
Very helpful and a fun watch! Is her pumpkin pie filling recipe available somewhere?
 
Emma L. November 16, 2018
Hi Lauren! So glad you enjoyed the video. I believe this is the recipe that Erin was referring to: https://food52.com/recipes/74133-pumpkin-sugar-pie
 
Bar49 November 15, 2018
Love Food52's test kitchen videos with Josh Cohen. So informative and fun! In this pie video enjoyed seeing the different crimping techniques, especially the fancy fork one and the braid crimp. Watching how to mix the dough will change my pie making technique forever. Overall, I will be much more confident when preparing pie crust dough for pies.
 
Emma L. November 16, 2018
Yay! So happy to hear that.