Grandma’s Pie Crust Recipe

Learn how to make a pie crust the way Grandma did. Grandma’s Pie Crust is buttery, flaky, and takes just a few minutes to make. It’s our long-time family favorite!

I have always loved homemade pie crust. I grew up with homemade rather than store-bought crusts, so taking the extra time to make Grandma’s pie crust recipe is normal to me.

It’s not that I’m above using store-bought crusts. I’ve used them in the past and will use them again in the future. Everyone needs a shortcut now and then. But there’s nothing like a homemade apple pie with flaky crust that almost melts in your mouth. To me, it’s the best part of the pie.

Pie Crust Ingredients:

• 3 cups Pastry flour. What kind of flour should you use for pie dough? Now you can use all-purpose flour if you’d like. We did for years. But when we switched to pastry flour, we started getting comments on how good our pie crust was. Pastry flour has low protein content which means it doesn’t generate as much gluten as all purpose flour.  This means you end up with tender crust. Perfect for pie. Here’s a great article on the different types of flours if you’re interested in reading up on them. A pastry flour crust is a little more of a fragile crust so you have to be careful that it doesn’t tear when you are moving it from the floured surface to the pie pan. If you choose to use all-purpose flour, make sure not to overmix the batter since this develops more gluten and makes the dough tougher.
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ½ cup shortening and ½ cup butter. Butter vs shortening in pie dough is quite the debate. As much as I like using real butter, I’ve found that I like a combination of butter and shortening in my pie crust. Shortening produces a tender, flaky, melt-in-your-mouth crust, but butter produces an awesome flavor. I solve the problem by using some of both. And there’s one other thing. The butter and shortening should be cold. Keeping your fats cold produces a flakier crust. Those fats melt during baking and make flaky layers. My mouth is watering just thinking about it!
• ½ cup ice water. Use cold water with ice cubes to help keep those fats cold.
• 1 tablespoon vinegar. Adding vinegar helps to tenderize the crust and also inhibits gluten development, keeping your dough soft. You need just a bit of this and don’t worry…you won’t taste it once the pie is baked.

How to Mix Pie Dough

There are a couple different methods for mixing pie dough.

• For years, we used a pastry cutter to cut the cold butter and shortening into the flour. This is a kitchen tool that we got for making scones. It is easy to use for making crumbs out of your flour/butter mixture for pie crusts, streusels, scones and more.
• More recently, I’ve been using a food processor to mix the pie dough. It’s amazingly easy. Simply add all of the ingredients to the bowl of a food processor and pulse. Continue pulsing until the dough comes together. Ours takes less than a minute.

How to Roll Pie Dough

Another kitchen tool we use when making pie crust is our pastry mat.  We happened to find an awesome deal on a new pastry mat at a garage sale this summer, and I don’t know what we did without it. It’s a non-slip mat that makes rolling out your dough so easy.

And you don’t have to clean all that extra flour off your counter after you are finished. Just pick up the mat and rinse it in the sink. Normally I am against using “extra” kitchen tools that are supposed to help the cooking process, but this one really does make life easier.

Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface using a rolling pin. Roll the dough slightly larger than the pan you are using so that it can go up and hang over the sides of the pan.

Making Pie Dough in Advance

When the holidays roll around, I like to prep the pie dough a week in advance. To store the pie dough, simply wrap the pie dough discs in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for up to 5 days or store in the freezer for up to 6 weeks. Allow the dough to thaw in the refrigerator before rolling and making pie.

How to Blind Bake a Pie Crust

Sometimes it is necessary to blind bake a pie crust. That means you are baking an empty pie. One reason to blind bake is when you are making a no-bake pie filling. You’ll need to bake the crust first, then fill the pie and refrigerate.

The other time you might need to blind bake is when you have a runny pie filling. Sometimes pie fillings can make the bottom crust soggy. Blind baking a crust helps to prevent that.

• Preheat the oven to 375º Fahrenheit.
• Place parchment paper over the dough lined pie plate. Fill the pie with dried beans or pie weights and evenly distribute them across the bottom.
• Bake for 15 minutes. Then remove the weights and parchment paper. Poke holes in the bottom of the pie crust and bake again for an additional 7 minutes for a partially baked crust or 12-15 minutes for a fully baked crust. For fully baked, bake until the crust is golden brown.

How do I get the top of my pie crust golden brown?

In order to get a pie crust golden brown, you’ll need to brush it with an egg wash. Whisk together 1 egg and 1 tablespoon of water. Then brush the top of the pie before baking. It will end up with a slightly shiny golden brown appearance.

What to use pie dough for:

Pie crust is the basis for so many of my favorite recipes. It doesn’t matter if the pie is filled with pumpkin, apple or even potato chips (yes, you need to check that one out).  But you know what? We mostly make this pie dough for things other than traditional pie.

• hand pies
• chicken pot pies
• cinnamon roll pie
• mason jar pies

Here’s one, though….I love using a cookie cutter to make pie crust cookies to dip in pudding, or a whipped cream fruit salad. So much better than using a spoon!

Do you normally use store-bought pie crust or are you for homemade all the way? What’s your favorite thing to make from pie dough?

Grandma’s Pie Crust Recipe

4.68 from 127 votes

Learn how to make a pie crust the way Grandma did. Grandma’s Pie Crust is buttery, flaky, and takes minutes to make. It’s our long-time family favorite!

Servings 8 servings

Prep Time 10 minutes

Total Time 10 minutes

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Ingredients

 

• 3 cups pastry flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup shortening
• 1/2 cup cold butter
• 1/2 cup ice cold water
• 1 tablespoon white vinegar

Instructions

 

• Sift the flour and salt into a large bowl. Cut in the shortening and the butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Mix the water and vinegar together in a cup. Add the mixture to the crumbs. Mix together just until the dough is combined and handles well.
• Sprinkle flour on the counter before rolling out the dough. Split the dough into two chunks.
• Roll out one piece on a floured surface. Roll the dough about ½ an inch larger than your pie pan.
• Lay the crust in the pie pan and press down lightly on the bottom and up the sides of the pan.
• If you are making just a bottom crust, turn the edge under and use thumbs "flute" the edges of the dough.
• If you are making a double crusted pie, fill the pie, roll out the other half of the dough and lay it over top the filling. Fold the top dough under the bottom dough and use your fingers to crimp or seal it together. Use a fork to poke vent holes in the top of the pie.
• Bake according to your pie recipe.
• This recipes makes enough for a double crusted pie.

Video

Notes

*If you are freezing the pie dough, wrap the dough discs in plastic wrap, then place them in another airtight container such as a ziploc bag. Freeze for up to 6 weeks.

Nutrition

Serving: 63g | Calories: 339kcal | Carbohydrates: 26g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 25g

Author Julie Clark

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Calories 339

Keyword homemade pie, how to make pie dough, pie crust, pie recipes

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Other Pie Recipes

Tools I Use To Make Flaky Pie Crust

• Pastry Cutter: I use this tool all the time. It cuts butter into flour perfectly for streusels, crusts and other pastries.
• Pastry Mat: This silicone mat keeps your cupboard clean and makes rolling out pastries so easy.
• Cute Pie Plate: Because if you’re taking the time to make pie, serve it up in style!
• Pie Crust Decorator Wheel: Makes beautiful edges to your pie!
• Pastry Guide: Makes perfectly round crust, every time.