Butter Pie Crust
Startlingly easy to prepare, beautifully golden, and exceptionally tender, this butter pie crust is a revelation. There are just three simple keys to success: use the right butter, mix with your hands, and trust your instincts.
Ingredients
- 2½ cups all purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon baker's sugar
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 cup unsalted Kerrygold butter do not substitute another brand
- ice water typically somewhere between ¼ to ½ cup
Instructions
Preparation
- Drop a few ice cubes into a glass of water and set it aside.
- Whisk together all of the dry ingredients.
- Cut the butter into small, roughly equal sized, pieces.
- Add the butter pieces to the flour mixture. Briefly toss everything together to lightly coat the butter in the flour before proceeding to mix the dough.
Mixing the Dough
- Use your hands to scoop up handfuls of the butter and flour mixture. Then with your palms facing up towards your face, use your thumbs to firmly rub the mixture upwards across the tips of your fingers. In a rapid fluttering motion, repeat this movement, flattening and breaking the butter into smaller bits. Continue this motion, letting the shaggy bits of this mixture continually fall back into the bowl as you gradually incorporate the butter into the flour.
- When the mixture appears pale yellow, coarse, and all of the butter has been reduced to bits roughly no larger than pistachios, it is ready for the next step. (Another clue that the mixture is sufficiently incorporated is when you can actually begin to smell the butter.)
- Add about ¼ cup of the ice water to start, drizzling it evenly over the mixture, and begin gently tossing everything together with your hands.
- As the mixture starts to cohere, begin to press it together with your hands. If it doesn't seem to be sticking together, just gradually add more ice water until it does. (Up to about ½ cup total.) When the mixture starts to adhere into larger clumps, gather and press them together into a ball
- For a double crust pie, divide the ball of dough into two pieces, making sure one is a bit larger than the other. (For two single crust pies, divide the dough evenly in half.) Press each piece of dough into a fat disk and wrap tightly in plastic. Refrigerate for at least an hour before rolling out and baking the dough.