How to Make Homemade Pie Crust Without Shortening

Homemade pie crust is so simple to make! This recipe uses butter instead of shortening for a delicious flaky crust!

There’s nothing quite like a homemade pie crust. I’m guilty of spending too many years using store bought crusts. I honestly didn’t know how easy they were to make at home. It only takes about 3 minutes to make a pie crust – no joke! The difference in taste is out of this world!

What You’ll Need to Make Homemade Pie Crust:

Equipment

• Food Processor
• Plastic Wrap

Ingredients

• All Purpose Flour   
• Sugar
• Unsalted Butter
• Salt
• Cold Water

How to Make Homemade Pie Crust

• Add your flour, salt, sugar, and butter to your food processor.
• Pulse a few times to cut the butter into the other ingredients.
• Slowly add your water with the processor on low until it comes together into a ball (about 10 -15
• seconds).
• Divide your dough into two, and shape into balls. 
• Wrap in plastic wrap and press down to flatten to make it easier to roll out later.
• Pop your crusts into the fridge until you’re ready to roll them out to bake.

*Just a quick note* You will want really cold butter for this.  I like to pop my butter into the freezer about an hour before I make my crusts.

FAQ’s

How large do I need to roll out my pie crust?

When you’re ready to roll out your pie crusts you’ll want the base to be about 2 inches larger than the diameter of your pan.  So, for example, if you have a 10 inch pie pan, you need to roll your base out to approximately 12 inches.

What does it mean to blind bake a pie crust?

Blind baking a pie crust is simply baking it without your filling to ensure the crust bakes all the way through. If you’re a fan of British Bakeoff, they you’ll know that you NEVER want a soggy bottom on your pastries!  The way to avoid that is to blind bake your crust before filling.

How do I blind bake a pie crust?

Blind baking is very simple.  You roll out your crust to the desired size and place into your pie pan.  Add a layer of parchment paper and cover with baking beads.  If you don’t have baking beads, you can use dry beans or rice instead.  Really, you just want something with a little bit of weight to hold the crust down so it doesn’t puff up too much in the process.  Then you’ll just bake for about 10 minutes.

Do I need to buy baking beads to blind bake?

Nope! I’ve done a lot of blind baking using dry rice or beans on top of parchment paper. I like the baking beads because they are round and tend to fill in the round edges a little better than rice or beans did for me. They also have more weight, so they do a better job keeping the bottom of your crust from puffing up while baking.

How long will this homemade pie crust last in the refrigerator?

You will need to bake your pie crust within 72 hours of making your dough.

Can I freeze my pie crust?

Yes! I freeze my pie crusts in advance all the time so I always have some ready when I want to bake a chicken pot pie or quiche. Simply take your plastic wrapped dough and place it in a freezer safe zip-top bag and place it in the freezer. The pie crust will keep for up to 6 months like this.

How do I use my frozen pie crust?

When you’re ready to use your frozen pie crust, you will need to place it in the refrigerator for a minimum of 6 hours prior to baking. This will allow the crust to thaw to a point where you can roll it out.

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