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!
Homemade Pie Crust Recipe
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 pie with flaky pie crust that almost melts in your mouth. To me, it’s the best part of the pie.
Today I’m sharing with you Matt’s grandma’s pie crust recipe. It’s been the only pie crust recipe I’ve used since I got married. It was in a family cookbook given to me at our wedding shower. The little cookbook falls open to this recipe automatically, the pages are worn and have stains from the many years of love it has endured. Don’t you love it when a favorite recipe card looks like that?
So what makes Grandma’s recipe so good? To be honest, I’m not sure. It’s probably the fact that it is Grandma’s. But I’m here today to share with you our hints for making what we think is the best pie crust ever.
How to Make Pie Crust
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 white 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
- 1/2 cup shortening and 1/2 cup butter. I believe 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!
- 1/2 cup ice water. Use cold water 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
We use a pastry cutter to cut the cold butter and shortening into the flour. This is one of our newest kitchen tools that we got for making scones. Don’t have one? You can get one here
. It is easy to use for making crumbs out of your flour/butter mixture for pie crusts, streusels, scones and more.
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, but it is very similar to the one found here
. I don’t know what we did without this mat. 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.
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 pie. We’ll be sharing some with you soon. 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?
Best Pie Recipes
- Sour Cherry Pie
- Pumpkin Crumb Pie
- Pear Cranberry Pie
- Upside Down Apple Dumpling Pie
- Blueberry Blackberry Pie
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.
Grandma's Pie Crust Recipe
Ingredients
- 3 cups pastry flour
- 1 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 1/2 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 seal it together.
- Bake according to your pie recipe.
- This recipes makes enough for a double crusted pie.
Video
Nutrition
Lyne Bergeron says
Hello, do you pre-bake the bottom crust so it’s not soggy? Thank you.
Julie Clark says
We don’t usually, but you can if you’d like.
Lyne Bergeron says
Thank you for your response.
Happy Holidays!
Carl says
I use to think I had to pre-bake too. As long as you preheat the over you have nothing to worry about. Let the over heat up for at least 20 minutes. I bake 30 pies a day. The only time I ever ran into soggy bottoms is when I didn’t preheat long enough.
sylvia says
what if I just want to make one pie crust,what are the ingredients to make one crust ? Sylvia.
Jennifer Chase-Dunn Simmons says
I do prebake depending on the pie. when I make a quiche I prebake it for 15 minutes with pie weights at 350 degrees. then I remove the weights and cook it another 10 before placing the filling and baking. also make sure that before it goes in the oven for the prebake it should be thoroughly chilled
Anonymous says
Do you pre bake crust for pumpkin pie?
Janet Gassler says
Sometimes
Caroline Booy says
Hi. A tip for having a crisp bottom crust for Lyne Bergeron is to use a glass pie pan and the heat coming from the bottom of the oven. With the glass pan having it on the center rack is fine.
If using aluminum foil or metal pans it is important to have the pan on the lower portion of the oven. Also to start off with a high heat like 400 and reducing after 10 minutes to 350 and bake an additional 40 minutes. It is also important to bake the pie long enough so that the filling bubbles and thickens. Crust is often soggy when the filling has not thickened. If your crust browns on top before the filling thickens then you could shield it with foil, or leave out the sugar in the recipe, or reduce the heat to 325 and bake longer after the initial high temperature.
Hope this helps.
Sincerely,
Caroline Booy
Birds Hill Enterprises
makers of quality pie presses, pie machines and tart presses for the home and business.
Kristen Stokely says
Thanks Cynthia for your advice! I just saw your comment and t thought I’d let you know that it really will help me in the future.
Sincerely,
Kristen Stokely
Lyne Bergeron says
Thank you very much for your response. I did learn about putting the pie plate on the rack at the bottom shelf oF the oven creates a great crust.
Jan says
Hi, do you use salted or unsalted butter? Can’t wait to try your recipe. Thank you!
Julie Clark says
I use salted, but either will work!
DeVon Fromke says
I made my first pie dough crust with this recipe. I followed the recipe exactly and it produced a crust just like my grandmother used to make (she used lard.) I found the recipe very easy to make and don’t feel intimidated any more in make homemade pie dough. Thanks, DeVon
Kristen Stokely says
Thanks Cynthia for your advice! I just saw your comment and t thought I’d let you know that it really will help me in the future.
Sincerely,
Kristen Stokely
Memi says
Will this work without vinegar? I have a very bad aversion to any hint of the smell and dont keep it in the house.
Julie Clark says
You could try using lemon juice instead.
Denise says
I’ve heard vodka works well
angela says
Do I need to sift or can I just mix it with a whisk?
Julie Clark says
Sifting is best because it helps you measure the flour correctly, so we definitely recommend that for the best results. We do sometimes take a shortcut and just whisk though 🙂
Ann McSpadden says
Should you chill the pie dough before you roll it out? Also can you make the dough ahead and freeze it?
Julie Clark says
You can chill your pie dough before or after rolling it out (sometimes it is easier to do it after). Keep the ingredients as cold as possible for the flakiest crust. And yes, you can freeze it! We’ve frozen it rolled out before.
Martie Davis says
I made this crust for a homemade ‘potpie’. First time I ever made both. It would melt in your mouth. So delicious..
Laura says
Hi! Sorry if I missed this! But if you plan on using this for banana cream pie, how long should you bake the crust and at what temperature? Looking forward to trying your recipe 🙂
Julie Clark says
Hi there! This is an excellent tutorial showing everything you need to know about blind baking a crust. 🙂 https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/how-to-blind-bake-pie-crust/
Carol Kirby says
I have used this pie crust recipe several times now. It makes delicious, flaky crusts. This is going to be my go to recipe from now on!
Maureen says
How do I adjust amounts for a 10″ deep dish pie pan?
Julie Clark says
I would make either a double recipe, or 1 1/2X the recipe. That will just make it easier to roll out and not have to worry about rolling the pie crust too thin.
Jodi says
If you make the crust ahead of time, should it go in the freezer or the fridge? I’m talking about a week ahead of time.
Julie Clark says
I would pop it in the freezer, then move it to the fridge maybe the day before you want to roll it out.
Jodi says
Thank you for your reply. Trying this today and can’t wait for the big science experiment!
Katrina says
Hi, do you know how well this would go in a convection oven? I live overseas and that’s all I have.
Julie Clark says
I think it would be fine!
CJ says
Hello,
I am having to use Gluten Free flour. I do have GF cake flour and a regular GF flour that is a 1-1 for regular flour. Would you recommend and additions or changing of the recipe? My daughter has Celiacs so I am always looking for great recipes.
Julie Clark says
I’ve not tried it so can’t say for sure, but maybe try a mix of the cake flour and regular flour. I’d love to hear results!
Teresa says
Do you have to use pasty flour?
Julie Clark says
You don’t have to but it will yield the best results. You can use all-purpose flour if you’d like.
Sheila says
Thanks for sharing this pie crust recipe best I’ve ever made!!
Linda says
I am diabetic. I bake with almond and coconut flours because I am limited on my carbohydrate intake. Should I use the same amount of flour? Thank you.
Julie Clark says
I’m not sure. Those flours are tricky and I haven’t tested this recipe with those.
Kristen says
Can you use margarine instead of butter?
Julie Clark says
We don’t recommend it
Hanli Banitz says
Thank you! I need to make pies for many over the year end. It was a valuable experience to help mix pie crust for a church pie sale this past week following a tried and tested recipe used repeatedly over years. It was basically the same recipe that you have except for that lovely, flavorful buttery addition. The butter should make it rich and homely and I normally prefer butter crusts. Although I have not made your recipe just yet, I am sure that it is going to be we winner I need for that year end event.
Darla says
Where do you find pastry flour? I’m not sure Ive ever seen it before. Anxious to try it!
Julie Clark says
We get ours in specialty shops or online.
Anonymous says
Amy Grandmother and my mom,were great Bakers my mom being a chief,I’ve learn from the best.im 78 years old and I use LARD IF YOU WANT THE FLAKEYEST PIE CRUST EVER,WON MANY OF BLUE RIBBONS.THERE RECIPE WAS 2 CUPS FLOUR 1 TES SALT 2/3 CUP, LARD CUT IN WITH PASTERY CUTTER UNTILL PEA SIZE USING COLD LARD THEN ADD 7 TBL ICE COLD WATER.
Susan says
Grandma’s pie crust would never use shortening. Traditional would have used lard and butter. Please try it with lard from humanely and traditionally raised pigs. I promise it will not disappoint.
Christi says
I came across your site as I was searching to see if pastry flour would make a good pie. My question was answered of course. I have always used all Crisco for crust but I am going to try your suggestion of half shortening and half butter. Also, I have been told 2 T. vodka in addition to the water called for made a good crust and have wanted to try that too. I wonder if it does the same thing as vinegar? And a hint that has served me very well that you and your friends might like to try…I use sparkling water, or ginger ale, 7up, or anything similar as it adds to making a flakier crust too. Thank you for all your help..Christi
Julie Clark says
Love these ideas!! thanks!