Cooking Advice
How to Make Easy Pie Crust from Scratch | Steps in Photos
The right amounts of butter, water, flour and salt are all you need to make the perfect easy pie crust from scratch at home. Here’s how in step-by-step photos from Yankee senior food editor Amy Traverso.
By Amy Traverso|Nov 19 2021|
Coffee By Design | Portland, Maine
Photo Credit : Katherine KeenanYield:
Ingredients
Instructions
I’ve just discovered your tips and videos and they are wonderful. The pie crust photos are quite helpful, since I usually avoid baking pies and biscuits. Have you worked with gluten
free flours, and do you have any recommendations for those types of crusts?
Hi Inez-
Unfortunately, I have very limited experience with gluten-free flours. I’m hoping to do some experimenting with them in the coming months.
did you ever use LARD in your crust?
i do and i like it. i use 2 tablespoons in each crust.
i would be very interested in your thought as many people are afraid of LARD.
Hi Don-
Sorry I didn’t reply sooner. I am definitely pro-lard, but it can be hard to find the best quality stuff, called “leaf lard,” and I don’t recommend using the shelf-stable lard you can find at the supermarket, which is hydrogenated and has trans fats. That’s about as unhealthy as unhealthy can be, while leaf lard from a butcher has very little saturated fat, unlike vegetable shortening.
In short, leaf lard makes a fantastic pie crust if you can find it. Otherwise, this butter crust is pretty spectacular.
How would salted butter in place of the unsalted + kosher salt impact the results? And using regular salt vs kosher? (I am more likely to make homemade crust if I can use ingredients always on hand.) Thanks!
Virginia, you can use salted butter if you reduce the amount of salt called for a wee bit. Or even not reduce the amount of salt. It won’t make that much difference. The same can’t be said for substituting table salt for kosher. Table salt is finer in texture andmore concentrated than kosher salt and so you’d need to reduce the amount if using regular old table salt. Kosher salt varies by brand and one teaspoon of table salt is equal to 2 teaspoons of Diamond Crystal kosher salt and 1 1/4 teaspoons of Morton Coarse kosher salt. What I’d do is to reduce the salt by about half, taste a bit of the finished dough and then adjust the amount of salt in your filling to compensate for the saltiness (or lack of) in the crust. The next time you make pastry you’ll have a better idea of how much salt to use for a perfect crust.
Wow! This is great! So simple and easy to follow. I’m giving it a go this turkey day. Many thanks!
Is it possible to get a copy of this recipe without the photos? Too many pieces of paper!
Hi there! Your computer may have an option to print a page without the images, but if not, I’d suggest copying and pasting the text from the article into a Word document on your computer and then printing that document. Hope this helps!
if you use salted butter, reduce the salt by 1/2 a teaspoon. Kosher or Course salt vs table salt according to the Morton Salt Company in small measure(home cooking) doesn’t really matter. If you were baking in large quantities it does make a difference. At home the difference isn’t worth fussing about. People love to make up “food tales”.
Amy, By chance do you have any experience/suggestions for making gluten free pie crust? Many thanks.
https://newengland.com/today/food/desserts/pies-pastries/gluten-free-pie-crust-recipe/
Is there a way to print your recipes without all the beautiful color photos?
Hi there! Your computer may have an option to print a page without the images, but if not, I’d suggest copying and pasting the text from the article into a Word document on your computer and then printing that document. Hope this helps!
This is pretty much the recipe I use when making pies but add a little shortening to aid in the crispness of the crust. Also, I find using a food processor is SO much easier than doing this by hand. Keep the butter cold while preparing other ingredients. Put flour and salt in work bowl of a food processor, pulse a couple of times then add the butter and pulse about 10 times then while machine is running add the ice water and in no time you will have a beautiful ball of dough. Don’t over process or it will be tough. Take out, place on piece of plastic wrap, flatten and chill about 30 minutes. No fuss, no mess and you will have a beautiful pie crust, compliments of Ina Garten!!!!
How long can you keep the pie crust refrigerated before use.