Using only 4 ingredients, this all butter pie crust might stand out more than the pie filling itself! It’s seriously that delicious.
Only 4 Ingredients for this Simple Butter Pie Crust
Butter, Flour, Ice Water and Salt are the only ingredients you’re going to need for this ridiculously simple butter pie crust recipe.
- Butter – I normally like to use salted butter because that’s all I buy at Costco. But you can absolutely use unsalted butter and add 1/2 teaspoon salt. And make sure your butter is cold. Don’t let it sit out on the counter. Wait till the last second to pull it out of the fridge before using it.
- Flour – All-purpose is a must in this recipe. I’ve never tried using any type of other flour like whole wheat, bread, or cake flour. Just straight up regular all-purpose!
- Ice Water – I like to have a small measuring cup filled with water and ice on hand. You want your water to be really cold.
- Salt – If you’re using unsalted butter, add in 1/2 teaspoon of salt to your dough. If you’re using salted butter, add in 1/8 teaspoon salt. Note: For 15+ years, i’ve never, ever had a problem using salted butter for baking. I know all the experts say to use only unsalted butter, but I personally just like using salted butter. You do you friend!
Cubed, Cold Butter
I mentioned making sure your butter is cold. But I should also mention, what I like to do is cut my butter into 16 equal sized squares and placing it back into the fridge to get the ‘cut sides’ of the butter cold too. Cause once you cut the butter into smaller pieces, butter tends to become room temperature rather fast.
Ice, Ice Baby
Pie dough works a lot better when all the ingredients are cold. I like to put ice and water into a small measuring cup and place it in the fridge when ready to use. I also throw in a metal tablespoon to get that super chilled too!
Crumbly, Sand Mixture
I always cut my butter and flour together first before adding any water to it. I love using a pastry cutter to do this, or you can certainly use two forks. If that’s too much work on your hands, definitely use the pulse setting on a food processor.
You basically want to create a mixture that resembles sand and is pretty crumbly.
Once you have your butter fairly incorporated into the flour, now’s the time to add in your cold water one tablespoon at a time.
The amount of water I use varies from time to time. Sometimes it’s 3 tablespoons, other times it’s 4. Just do 1 tablespoon at a time until your dough resembles something similar to my above picture. Not too wet, not too dry. If anything you’ll want it more on the wet side, because when you roll it out, you add a little flour to prevent sticking.
Once you’ve got your simple butter pie crust dough together, you’re going to want to get a square of saran wrap ready.
Ideally, you’ll want this pie dough to rest in your fridge for a couple hours. However, I’ve let it sit in my fridge while preparing my filling before, so maybe 20-30 minutes, and have had no problems working with it!
Form your dough into a flat disc, not a ball. Creating a disc allows the dough to chill faster and more evenly.
Once it’s chilled, it’s ready to use! On a lightly floured surface, roll your dough out to at least 13 inches, for a 9 inch pie dish. Once it’s rolled out to about 1/2″ thick, I like to roll my dough onto the rolling pin to make transferring to my pie dish easier.
This recipe makes one pie dough crust, so if you’re looking to make a double crust pie, just double the ingredients.
Simple Butter Pie Crust – Prepping Ahead
As far as making ahead of time, I love to make this up to 3 days in advance and just keep in my refrigerator until ready to use. Even though this simple butter pie crust recipe is super easy to make, making it ahead of time really cuts down on your pie making time!
If trying to really be organized and way ahead of the game, you can freeze this dough for up to 3 months. I would just double wrap it and stick it into a freezer gallon sized bag.
I really hope you enjoy this incredibly simple butter pie crust recipe and if you do end up trying it, let me know what you make with it! Savory, sweet? What’s your choice?
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The Most Buttery, Flakiest Pie Crust Recipe
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup butter (1 stick) cubed and chilled
- 1 1/4 cup all purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 3-4 tbsp ice cold water
Instructions
- Cut your butter into small squares. I like to make 16 equally sized cubes and stick butter into fridge to continue cooling.
- Get a small measuring cup and fill with ice and add about 1/2 cup water. You'll only be needing several tablespoons of water. I like to stick this into the fridge with the butter so both are equally chilled
- With a pastry cutter or two forks or a food processor, combine the all purpose flour and salt together.
- Cut your butter a few cubes at a time into the flour, combining until you get a sandy mixture.
- Adding a tablespoon at a time, add the ice cold water to your butter and flour mixture. Adding just enough water until the dough comes together. Should not exceed 4 tablespoons.
- On a piece of saran wrap, shape your dough into a flat disc and refrigerate for at least 20 minutes or up to 2 hours before using.
- Once chilled to your liking, place dough on lightly floured surface and roll out to about 12"-13" (a few inches bigger than your pie dish to allow for shrinking when baking. Roll dough slowly onto rolling pin for easy transferring to pie dish. Bake or fill with desired filling.
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