Buttery, Flaky Pie Crust

Buttery, Flaky Pie Crust, ChefSteps

Description

Based on the recipe by Grant Crilly at ChefSteps. A classic French-style pie dough (pâte brisée), versatile enough for sweet or savory bakes, from tarte tatin to quiche to individual chicken pot pies. The keys are bread flour for consistent hydration, making more dough than you think you need, and keeping everything cold at every step.

Used as the crust for the Skillet Apple Pie.

Yield: Plenty for a 10-inch springform pan · Total time: 24 hours (30 minutes active)

Vegetarian Dairy Gluten

Ingredients

Item	Amount
bread flour	250g
butter, cubed & chilled	205g
salt	3g
water, ice cold	55g

Tools

Items
stand mixer with paddle attachment
plastic wrap
rolling pin
pie dish or springform pan
foil + pie weights or dry beans (for blind-baking)
oven

Recipe

1. Combine: Place the 250g of flour, the salt, and the 205g of cubed butter in the bowl of a stand mixer.

2. Chill everything: Chill the bowl of ingredients — and even the paddle attachment — in the refrigerator until cold. Keep everything as cool as possible throughout.

3. Mix until crumbly: Using the paddle attachment, mix on low until you get coarse crumbs.

4. Add ice-cold water: Add the 55g of water and mix just until the dough comes together smoothly, about 1 minute (a bit longer if needed — you want it truly smooth).

5. Shape & refrigerate: Form the dough into a smooth ball, flouring your hands and board as needed. Press into a disk about 4cm thick. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least 4 hours — this keeps the dough from shrinking, warping, or pulling away from the pan during baking. (Optional if you don’t mind that.)

6. Roll, mold & refrigerate: Roll the dough out on a floured surface to about 3mm thick. Mold it into the baking dish, folding the edges under and trimming the excess. Refrigerate uncovered for at least 1 hour; overnight is best (cover with plastic wrap after the first hour, once the dough has hardened).

7. Fill and bake, or blind-bake: For pecan or apple pie, add the filling directly and bake as needed. For quiche, pumpkin pie, or other liquid fillings, blind-bake first for a flaky, crispy crust, then fill and bake.

8. Blind-bake: Line the dough with foil and fill with weights (or dry beans). Bake at 400°F (204°C) for 20 minutes. Remove the weights and bake 5 minutes more for a crispy, flaky crust.

Tip

Three secrets for perfect pie crust:

1. Use bread flour. All-purpose flour’s protein content swings by season and brand, which changes how it absorbs water. Bread flour is engineered to ~12% protein for a more consistent result.
2. Make more dough than you think you need. This batch is for a 10-inch springform pan and flops over the sides — that extra dough makes the crust much easier to work with and less prone to cracking or tearing thin.
3. Keep cool. Mix ice-cold water into prechilled flour and butter, chill the dough, then chill again after rolling. Cold dough handles better, holds its shape, and won’t tear.

Nutrition Facts 8 servings · ⅛ of the crust each

Calories 300

% Daily Value*

Total Fat 21g 27%

Saturated Fat 13g 66%

Cholesterol 55mg 18%

Sodium 150mg 7%

Total Carbohydrate 23g 8%

Dietary Fiber 0.8g 3%

Total Sugars 0g

Includes 0g Added Sugars 0%

Protein 4g

Vitamin D 0.4mcg 2% Calcium 11mg 1% Iron 1.4mg 8% Potassium 37mg 1%

* % Daily Value based on a 2,000 calorie diet · Estimated values

Note

Estimated nutrition: Calculated from the ingredients using USDA FoodData Central values, for the crust alone split into 8 portions, assuming unsalted butter. Fillings aren’t included.