Are you ready for Pie Week? I am! And in order to make sure that you are too, today I’m posting an easy recipe for all-butter pie crust. A couple years ago, I posted about how I had finally made the leap from buying pie crust to making my own. I used Pioneer Woman’s all-shortening pie crust recipe, and while ahead of the grocery store version, I came to realize that there were a couple things about the recipe that I just wasn’t crazy about. First, it was always a little hard to work with because it never seemed good and sturdy – no doubt due to the shortening, it always seemed a little on the greasy side. And second, the three pie crusts you get out of the recipe must be for exactly 9″ pies, because I never had much extra to do any fun pie crust decorating. Don’t get me wrong, the recipe still produced a flaky pie crust. But this year I decided to try a new, all-butter recipe, and I won’t be going back. This recipe from Aimée of Simple Bites is very sturdy, and her recipe makes two generous pie crusts that allow me plenty of room for using even in my deep dish pie dishes, with much to spare for decorating. Now, go forth and make pie crust, and I’ll be back tomorrow to kick off a week of pies!
Recipe adapted from Simple Bites.
- 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 sticks unsalted butter, cut into 1/2″ cubes
- 5 Tbsp cold water
- 2 egg yolks
- 2 Tbsp lemon juice or vinegar
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 Tbsp sugar
In a measuring cup, whisk together the egg yolks, lemon juice or vinegar, and water. Stir in the salt and sugar.
In the bowl of your stand mixer, measure out the flour and add in the cubes of butter.
Using the paddle attachment, beat on low speed until the butter and flour are somewhat crumbly. Gradually add in the egg mixture, mixing until the dough starts coming together. (Don’t have a stand mixer? That’s okay! Just cut the butter into the flour mixture with a pastry blender, and then use a fork to blend the egg mixture with the flour mixture until the dough starts coming together.)
Form the dough into a ball with your hands, and then separate into two equal-sized balls. Flatten each ball slightly.
Wrap each piece of dough in plastic wrap and chill for 3-4 hours. You may also freeze the dough for later use.
