Dessert & Baked Goods › Pie Crust 101

Pie Crust 101

Pie fillings come in many shapes, sizes and flavors, from sweet to savory. But in every presentation, crust is key. Whether you're making a 1-crust or 2-crust pie, it starts with making the best dough for the job. Susan Reid shows you how from her test kitchen at King Arthur Flour. Check out the King Arthur Flour 200th Anniversary Cookbook for more inspired ideas.

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About Susan Reid

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Pie Crust 101

Pie fillings come in many shapes, sizes and flavors, from sweet to savory. But in every presentation, crust is key. Whether you're making a 1-crust or 2-crust pie, it starts with making the best dough for the job. Susan Reid shows you how from her test kitchen at King Arthur Flour. Check out the King Arthur Flour 200th Anniversary Cookbook for more inspired ideas.

About Susan Reid

Susan Reid has been at King Arthur Flour since 2001, combining her dual passions for words and food. After careers in advertising, in high-end restaurants, and as a Chef-Instructor at the New England Culinary Institute, she spends her time at King Arthur writing and editing the baking newsletter, The Baking Sheet, and teaching both on the road and at The Baking Education Center. She’s a contributor to the award-winning King Arthur Flour Baker’s Companion and The King Arthur Flour Cookie Companion, and co-author of King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking.

Recipe

Print recipe

Ingredients

From the King Arthur Flour 200th Anniversary Cookbook. This is a generous version for two single-crust shells or one double-crust pie.

  • 3 cups (12¾ oz) King Arthur unbleached all-purpose flour
  • 1½ tsp salt
  • 8 tbsp shortening, chilled
  • 1 stick butter, chilled
  • 4-6 oz cold water

How-to

  1. In a large bowl, combine the flour and salt. Cut or rub in half of the shortening/butter, then the other half, leaving some pieces as large as your thumbnail
  2. Sprinkle the ice water, 1 tbsp at a time, over the mixture. With a fork, toss the mixture together. Continue until the dough is just moist enough to hold together when pressed
  3. If you're making a two-crust pie, gather a little more than half of the dough and pat it into a disk; wrap in plastic and chill for 1 hour (the larger portion will be the bottom crust.) Do the same with the remaining dough for the top crust. If you're making two one-crust pies, divide the dough evenly, wrap and chill before rolling
  4. Roll the crust until it is about ⅛" thick and about 2" larger than the diameter of the pie plate. This gives you enough to make a good high rim (single crust shell) or to match with the upper crust (double crust bottom). If you turn your pie plate upside down on the dough, you will be able to figure out just about how big to roll it. Keep chilled until ready to use
  5. These can be made up to a month ahead of time, and frozen (well-wrapped!) until needed

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Comments (3)

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  1. JanetM757:

    Seeing the dough at the various stages was such a help. Really good video...having watched it makes it seem easy as pie! Only one thing...I do wish I could have seen exactly how people do that wavy crimp on the edge. Perhaps if she used a plain pie dish, she could have demonstrated that, but the fact that the dish she used itself had a crimped edge, the dough kept wanting to fall into the plate's own crimping pattern, and she didn't quite get to show it very well at all. Also I wanted to say, I tested out the weight of 2 cups of flour the way I usually dig my dry measure into the flour without fluffing the flour, as she said you should, and indeed, I had more flour than I should have had by weight for the 2 cups. No wonder my pie crust was too dry and crumbly when I started to roll out even though I used all the water recommended. (Aug 27, 2010 8:07:39 PM)

  2. kingarthurflour:

    Glad you enjoyed this video. I hope you have conquered many a pie since then! EFB @ KAF (Mar 22, 2010 11:43:01 AM)

  3. Susan:

    whew this was a great video for "Pie Anxiety" people like me--thank you! (Nov 14, 2009 5:52:58 PM)