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Last Updated on September 8, 2020 by Chenée Lewis
Homemade pie crust is a truly magical thing. For many years in my baking I used store-bought pie crust, and I still don’t have anything against store-bought crust if time is a factor. But if you have a stand mixer or food processor and a few minutes to try it out, this pie crust is actually super easy to make yourself, and totally worth it.
For this all-butter pie crust recipe you’ll either need a food processor or a stand mixer. A food processor works more quickly, but I’ve found that a stand mixer can do the job too! The key is to make sure that the bowls and attachments stay cold, and NOT to overmix! Pie crust can be intimidating, but once you try this easy all-butter pie crust you’ll be making homemade pie crust every time!
Break out that vodka!
If you’ve got a bar cart with a little spare booze, this is your moment! Half of the liquid in the dough is vodka, and you might be wondering why…
Vodka evaporates more quickly, which allows those flaky bits to form more easily in the oven, and because it replaces water, there’s less water to promote gluten development in the dough. The alcohol cooks off, and because vodka is basically flavorless, there’s not impact on the flavor of the crust. The result is a tender, flaky crust that is much more forgiving than a typical all-butter crust.
If you don’t have vodka, you can use any spirit with at least 40% alcohol, like tequila, rum, or whiskey, but just be aware of the flavor that your spirit of choice might produce in your crust. Although to me, a pie crust with hints of bourbon or rum sounds very interesting!
Ingredients
- 1¼` all-purpose flour – (160g), plus more for dusting
- 1 tsp granulated sugar
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ cup salted butter – cubed and very cold
- 2 tbsp ice water
- 2 tbsp vodka – plus more as needed (see note)
Instructions
- Measure your flour (with a kitchen scale, if you have one) and add to bowl of stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment.
- Add your cubed butter straight from the freezer, and mix on the lowest setting until butter is incorporated into flour in small, pea-sized lumps.
- While mixer is still going, add in your cold water, and then add vodka as needed to allow dough to start coming together.
- Turn dough out onto a floured surface and, with floured hands, form into a flat disc and wrap in plastic wrap.
- Chill in the refrigerator for at least 1-2 hours, or overnight.
- Roll out onto a floured surface with a floured rolling pin until it's 12 inches in diameter. Carefully roll onto rolling pin to transfer into your pan
- To transfer to pie pan, wrap pie crust gently around floured rolling pin, hold rolling pin above the edge of the pie pan, and gently unroll. Press crust lightly into pan.
Notes
Now that you’ve got your pie crust recipe ready to go, try it out in my Brown Butter Black-Bottom Sweet Potato Pie! Or check out my other baking tips!
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