All-Butter Pie Crust

My husband tells me I make the best pies. And I think it’s largely the crust, but yes, the gelatinizing of the fruit inside is equally important.

I was handed down a pie crust recipe from my Mom, who got it from her Mom. And now I’m sharing it with you. There is a secret ingredient that I no longer use often because it’s something we don’t keep in our fridge, so I’ll give you two ways to make it.

Ingredients

• 2 cups plus 2 T all-purpose flour
• 2 sticks salted butter, lightly frozen
• 1/2 cup ice cold water (minus about 1 tsp)
• 1 tsp apple cider vinegar**

**alternatively, you can use 1/4 cup orange juice and 1/4 cup cold water

I rely on our trusty kitchen appliances to make this crust perfect — our food processor.

Measure all flour into the food processor assembled with the blade attachment. Cut the lightly frozen (I toss it into the freezer for 20-30 minutes before I’m gonna make a crust) into about 1 tablespoon chunks. Pulse the butter into the flour. I don’t run it all the time as you want variation in butter chunks for the flakiest crust. Once both sticks are added, I pulse it a little more before adding the measured out ice water plus acid (I’m currently using the cider vinegar).

Pulse the liquid into the food processor and when completely added, for 3 second pulses until you just start to see it come together into a rough ball. Don’t overmix it! It will be a little dry (I like it more dry than wet).

Criss cross two pieces of plastic wrap on your countertop and place the crumby-doughy mixture onto the wrap. Pull two sides in, and press the dough together and repeat with the other piece of wrap. Massage the dough, rolling the edges on the countertop, to form a flattened round about 2” thick. Put this into the fridge to chill for a minimum of 20 minutes but up to a day ahead.

Once chilled, cut in half (I like to have slightly more than half for the bottom piece) to a thickness of 1/8”, making as round as you can. If there are gaps, use a little water and patch the holes with extra pieces from the jagged edge.

For some pies, you need to blind bake the bottom (like the lemon merengue pictured above), but for most double crusted pies and my galette, you roll it out, fill it, and bake it according to the recipe.