Flaky Pie Dough Recipe
Email
Pie doughs using all butter are delicious, but they often have a crumbly texture. To make a flakier crust, we’ve added a little shortening and lemon juice. Try it with your next apple pie.
What to buy: For some pie recipes, you’ll need pie weights to line the crust so that it doesn’t puff up while pre-baking. If you don’t have pie weights or forgot to get them, just use some dried beans.
Game plan: The dough can be made, tightly wrapped, and refrigerated up to 3 days in advance.
If you need enough dough for both a bottom and upper crust, just double the recipe.
Making your pie dough from scratch is worth the extra effort. Here are some pointers to help you do it right.
INGREDIENTS
- 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/4 teaspoon fine salt
- 1/4 cup shortening, frozen and cut into small pieces
- 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, chilled and cut into small pieces
- 3 to 4 tablespoons ice water
- 1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
INSTRUCTIONS
- Whisk together the flour and salt in a medium bowl. Add the shortening and butter and toss with your fingers until well coated in the flour mixture. Using a pastry blender or your fingers, cut the shortening and butter into the dry ingredients until reduced to pea-size pieces, about 4 to 5 minutes.
- Drizzle in 3 tablespoons of the ice water and the lemon juice and mix just until the dough comes together. (Add the last tablespoon of ice water if the dough is too dry, but don’t overwork the dough or it’ll become tough.)
- Form the dough into a flat disk. Wrap it tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour before rolling it out.
