An all-butter pie crust for any type of pie.
You can take any recipe found on the internet and replace the fat with quality grass-fed butter. You don't need fancy tricks or secret ingredients for a great pie crust.
Ingredients
| 1 cups Butter, Grass Fed, 1/2 inch cubes (2 sticks) |
| 2 1/2 cups Winter Flour (all-purpose) 325 grams 325 grams |
| 1/2 teaspoon Fine Salt, preferably Kosher |
| 1/2 teaspoon Stevia (optional) |
| 6 tablespoons Ice Water (6 to 8 tbsp.) |
| 2 tablespoons Olive oil, neutral flavor (optional - see below)) |
Pie Crust - All Butter Directions
Add ice cubes and water to a bowl for the 4-6 tablespoons of water, and set aside.
In a stand mixer with the paddle attachment.
You can mix this fine by hand in a large bowl using a pastry cutter
Add 1.5 cups of flour and salt to the bowl. Stevia is optional.
*Optional - Add 2 tablespoons of neutral olive oil and mix for a short time. Do not use cheap seed oil. This will help stop the butter from overmixing into the flour.
Sprinkle the butter cubes over the flour and mix until it becomes coarse/mealy/crumbly and all the flour is taken up.
Add the remaining 1 cup of flour. Mix. The dough should be loosely mixed and still crumbly. Don't overmix!
Add 6-8 tablespoons of ice water and mix only enough to take up the water.
Remove the paddle and test the dough. It should hold together and form a ball. If not add some additional water and work it in by hand. You want to have specks of butter throughout.
Cut the ball in half and form 2 round flat discs. Stack them on a dinner plate with waxed paper, cover them in plastic and refrigerate for half an hour before rolling them out. These can be frozen.
Lightly flour your work surface. If you have trouble you can roll it out on waxed paper.
Notes
There are hundreds of videos on how to mix pie dough. Just youtube it and find one that works for you.
If you want to cut down on the refined flour replace 25% of the flour with a 1:1 non-gluten flour replacement. I use 100 grams of King Arthur Gluten Free Flour.
Use "Pastry Flour" aka Winter Flour which is low in protein. All Purpose flour works but you need to watch the mixing time or cut it a tablespoon or two of lemon juice. Less mixing is better!
For double-crust fruit pies make an egg wash and brush the rim of the bottom crust before sealing and then the entire top surface. Make some slits in the top or cut a hole in it with a cookie cutter. Don't get the egg wash into the fruit if you cut a hole in it. It just looks icky.
Bake your fruit pies at 380 to 400 depending on your oven and type of pie.
