The Best Easy Homemade Flaky Butter Pie Crust Recipe

Looking for the perfect pie crust recipe? This is the best easy homemade flaky butter pie crust recipe that will have you covered for all of this holiday season’s baking. Whether you are making pumpkin pie, apple pie, cranberry pie, pecan pie, buttermilk pie, peach pie, chicken pot pie, or any summer fruit pies to name a few, this easy pie crust recipe will be ready to use within a few minutes. It also freezes perfectly for making ahead of time.

During my family gatherings each holiday season, someone usually asks if I am a filling or a crust kind of girl. My answer to this fun icebreaker question is always the same: CRUST! I love it. The flaky layers of crust perfectly surround the filling and add the texture that I consider necessary in pie (I don’t support crustless pies). Because I love making pie at home, I decided to develop the best pie crust recipe that is simple, buttery, flaky, and even better – ready in just a few minutes. This simple recipe makes enough for two single-crust pies or one double crust pie (bottom crust and top crust over the pie filling). You can easily double it if you need to make several pies at once. 

Why You’ll Love This Homemade Pie Crust Recipe:

• It’s buttery, it’s flaky, it’s beautiful, and it’s delicious. Don’t judge, but if I have leftover trimmings, I bake them into little biscuits and eat them plain (if you don’t believe me just ask my husband).
• It’s easy. This simple recipe will come together in just a few minutes. 
• It freezes well. You can wrap the dough in plastic wrap, pop into a freezer bag and leave it until you need it!

Tips for Making the Best Easy Homemade Flaky Butter Pie Crust:

• Keep things cold! The goal is not to let the butter melt. The less you use your hands on the dough the better.
• Use frozen butter. Using frozen butter helps give you more time for mixing (or blending) the dough properly. Cold butter means flakes, and we like those. While in the oven, the butter will melt and leave lots of gaps throughout the dough which makes it flaky. We love a flaky pie crust.
• Use ice water. Again, we want everything to stay as cold as possible. I can’t stress this enough. Room temperature water just makes the butter melt more easily, so even just using the coldest tap water you can get is better, but ice water is best. 
• Let the dough refrigerate! The crust should be as cold as possible before you roll it out, because that is when your hands come in contact with it the most. Don’t skip this step.
• Be careful with the water. You don’t want to add too much water to the pie crust. This will make it gooey and won’t make a flaky pie crust. It will also be very hard to shape for the top crust. You want just enough water to hold the dough together. Not more. 
• If your dough is too wet, add a little flour. Just add a tiny bit at a time. Same goes for water. If your dough won’t hold together because there is too much flour, add more water just a teaspoon at a time. It seems like too little, but there is a very fine balance between too much and too little of the components.
• Substitute if you need pie weights. I don’t have pie weights. Instead, I lay a piece of parchment paper over the crust (when it is in the pie dish) and fill it with beans. This fills the void where the pie filling will go and allows the crust to bake well. 
• Use aluminum foil. If your crust starts to get too dark while your pie is baking, cover it with aluminum foil to prevent your pie from browning too much. 

Tools You Will Need:

• Food processor (or large mixing bowl and pastry cutter)
• Knife (for cutting frozen butter)
• Measuring cups and spoons
• Bench knife
• Plastic wrap
• Rolling pin
• Smooth work surface
• 9-inch pie plate 
• Small mixing bowl
• Fork
• Pastry brush
• Aluminum foil (optional)
• Pie weights (optional)

Ingredients for the Best Easy Homemade Flaky Butter Pie Crust Recipe:

• Unsalted butter
• Cold water 
• Ice cubes
• Sea salt
• Unbleached all-purpose flour
• Honey (raw and pasteurized both work)

How to make the best easy homemade flaky butter pie crust:

Combine unbleached all-purpose flour, honey, and sea salt in the bowl of a food processor and pulse until the ingredients are well incorporated. If you are using a pastry cutter, add the ingredients to a large mixing bowl and incorporate using the pastry cutter. It takes a little more time, but works just as well!

Cut frozen butter into small cubes and add to the food processor. Pulse until the mixture forms pebble-like chunks.

Add 6 tablespoons of water and pulse until the pebble-like chunks turn into small balls of dough. If the dough holds together, stop adding water. If the dough is still too dry, add in another 1 tablespoon of water and then a teaspoon at a time until the dough holds together. 

Once the dough is the right consistency, transfer it to a floured work surface. Use a bench knife to divide the dough into two equal lumps. Flatten the lumps into circles, cover with plastic wrap, and place in the fridge for at least 1 hour.

Grease the pie plate(s) with butter.

When the dough is chilled all the way, take out of the fridge and use a rolling pin to roll it into and 12″ circle. Gently fold the dough over the rolling pin and use it to transfer the crust over to your pie plate. Drape the dough over the pie plate and press it into the form of the pan. 

Add the pie filling into the dish. Be careful to add it slowly so you don’t splash filling on the edge of the crust.

Lattice Top Crust Instructions:

If you are making a double-crust pie, roll the second lump of dough into a 12″ circle and carefully use the rolling pin to drape it over the pie dish. Press the outer rim of the upper and lower crusts together so that they are secured in place.

You could also do a lattice for the the upper crust. To make a lattice pattern for the top crust, roll your top crust into a 12″ circle and cut the dough into 12 1″ strips. Lay 6 of the strips vertically at an even distance. Make sure the shorter strips are on the ends. Fold every other of the 6 strips all the way down and place 1 of the 6 unused strips perpendicular vertical strips. Fold the vertical strips back up and fold down the three vertical strips that were not folded the first time. Place another extra piece perpendicular the the vertical strips. Continue this alternating pattern until the lattice is complete. Carefully press the outer edges of the lattice to the edge of the bottom crust to hold it in place.

Baking Instructions:

Carefully use a knife to trim off the excess dough from the edge of the pie plate. Pinch the outer edge of the dough by using the index finger and thumb of each hand to press the opposite sides of the dough into a zig-zag pattern. Use a knife to carefully make an “X” or star shape in the center of the upper crust. This will help steam to escape from the filling during the baking process. If you did a lattice topping, you don’t need to cut a shape in the middle of the pie. 

Beat an egg yolk and water together to make an egg wash and gently brush over the crust using a pastry brush. Don’t be too generous with the egg wash. It looks weird if there are puddles of egg on top of your pie. Brush just enough on that it coats the pie crust and doesn’t puddle. This will help give that nice golden-brown color to your pie crust. 

Place the pie in the middle rack of the oven. Put a baking sheet on the lower rack so that the pie plate is centered above it. This will help catch any drips from the filling (much easier than scrubbing out the oven afterwards!).

Bake the pie according to the instructions of the pie recipe that you are using and enjoy!

Pre-bake Crust Instructions:

If you need to pre-bake your crust, form the edge of the crust by pinching the edge or crimping with a fork. Place the crust in the freezer for 20-30 minutes. This will help avoid shrinkage when you bake the crust. After the crust has chilled, line with parchment paper and fill ⅔ of the way with pie weights or dry beans. Place in the oven at 425℉ for 15-18 minutes or until the edges of the crust are golden brown. Remove the parchment paper, prick the bottom of the crust with a fork, and place in the oven for 5 more minutes or until the bottom of the crust is dry.

The Best Easy Homemade Flaky Butter Pie Crust Recipe Printable Version:

I hope that this post offered lots of insight and value to you in the world of making and perfecting pie crust with step-by-step instructions and tips for troubleshooting any issues you have. Pie making is an art but it can be mastered with some practice and know-how. Hopefully this becomes your go-to pie crust recipe for years to come. Enjoy making your own homemade pie crust and don’t forget to pin and comment below!