Description
A classic shortcrust pastry recipe perfect for sweet or savory pies. This flaky pie crust combines cold butter and ice water with flour to create a tender, buttery base that holds pie fillings beautifully. Suitable for blind baking or fully baking depending on your pie needs.
Ingredients
Scale
Dry Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cups plain / all-purpose flour
- 2 tsp white sugar (skip if making savoury pie)
- 1/2 tsp salt
Wet Ingredients
- 115g / 8 tbsp unsalted butter, cold, cut into 1cm / 1/3″ cubes
- 2 1/2 tbsp ice cold water (+ more as required)
Instructions
- Make Dough: Start by placing the flour, sugar, and salt into a food processor and pulse twice to combine everything evenly.
- Cut in Butter: Scatter the cold butter cubes evenly over the flour mixture. Pulse five times until the biggest pieces of butter are about the size of chickpeas, ensuring it’s well combined but still chunky.
- Add Water: With the food processor on low, slowly pour in 2.5 tablespoons of ice-cold water. Continue to pulse until the mixture forms crumbs that stick together when pinched, about 10 seconds.
- Alternate Hand Method: If not using a food processor, whisk the flour, sugar and salt in a large bowl. Rub the butter into the flour using your fingertips until it resembles coarse crumbs. Mix in the cold water with a rubber spatula and form a dough.
- Form Dough Disc: Tip the crumbly dough onto your work surface. Gather the crumbs into a dome shape but do not knead. Pat into a disc about 2cm (4/5″) thick.
- Chill Dough: Wrap the dough disc tightly in cling wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour, up to 2 days. For longer storage, freeze the dough.
- Roll Out Dough: Lightly flour your work surface and rolling pin. Unwrap the chilled dough and sprinkle flour on both sides. Roll out the dough into a circle approximately 10cm (4″) larger than your 22.5cm (9″) pie tin.
- Transfer and Shape: Gently roll the rolled-out pastry around your rolling pin and unroll it over the pie dish. Do not stretch or pull to avoid shrinkage. Press the pastry gently into the pie tin.
- Trim Edges: For pies without a lid (like pumpkin pie), trim pastry to leave a 1cm (2/5″) overhang. For pies with a lid (like meat pies), trim pastry flush with the edge of the tin. Tuck and crimp edges as desired.
- Chill Again: Place the prepared pie crust in the freezer for 15-30 minutes while preheating your oven. This firms the butter back up and helps prevent shrinkage and preserves the decorative edges.
- Blind Baking – Preheat Oven: Preheat your oven to 200°C (390°F) or 180°C fan.
- Blind Bake Setup: Line the pie crust with two large pieces of parchment paper placed crosswise. Fill the lined shell with baking beads, rice, or dried beans to weigh it down.
- Blind Bake Step 1: Bake the crust covered with the weights for 15 minutes. Then remove from the oven.
- Blind Bake Step 2: Carefully remove the hot weights and parchment paper, then bake uncovered for an additional 5 minutes or until the base is lightly golden. Cool for 15 minutes in the pie tin before filling.
- Fully Baked Option: For a fully baked crust, follow the blind baking steps but bake at 190°C (375°F) or 170°C fan, covered for 25 minutes, then uncovered for 15 minutes until golden. Let cool completely before filling.
- Fill and Bake: Add your chosen pie filling such as pumpkin, pecan, or meat. The par-baked crust will finish cooking as the pie bakes with the filling, preventing soggy bases and ensuring a flaky crust.
Notes
- Use cold butter to achieve a flaky texture in the pastry.
- The sugar can be omitted for savory pies to avoid unwanted sweetness.
- For a smoother dough, add more ice cold water one teaspoon at a time as needed.
- Blind baking is recommended when the pie filling requires less baking time or no baking at all.
- Wrapping and chilling the dough multiple times helps improve texture and ease of handling.
- Using baking beads or dried beans when blind baking prevents the crust from puffing up or shrinking.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes (blind baking) to 40 minutes (fully baked option)
- Category: Dessert/Pastry
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: Western
Keywords: pie crust, shortcrust pastry, blind baking, flaky pastry, pie dough, homemade pie crust, sweet or savory pie
