Flaky All-Butter Pie Crust Recipe for Perfect Pastry

This flaky all butter pie crust is perfect for fruit pies, cream pies, or savory pot pies. Step-by-step photos show how to make this easy pie dough. Use this recipe for all your favorite pies.

Bakery Pies

When I worked in a large bakery we sometimes made up to 100 pie crusts by hand in a single day. That taught me efficiency and respect for technique. We used a bench scraper to portion butter and a sheeter to roll dough at scale, but the methods are the same as home baking—just faster.

All Butter Pie Crust

This is a classic butter pie crust, also called Pâte Brisée. It’s simple, reliable, and highlights the flavor of butter. The technique below is how I learned in culinary school and how we prepared pastry in the bakery, adapted here for a home kitchen.

Making Pie Crust By Hand vs. Food Processor

There are two common ways to make pie dough: by hand with a bowl and pastry blender (or fingers), or in a food processor.

Making dough by hand gives you tactile feedback so you can better judge readiness. It’s not always easier, but it reduces the chance of overworking the dough. If butter is cut too fine and the processor runs too long, the dough can become crumbly or tough instead of tender and flaky.

Some home bakers grate butter, but that can warm the butter and require extra chill time. Grating works but usually needs more handling and cooling to avoid melting the butter into the flour.

Ingredients

For this flaky all-butter pie crust you only need a few ingredients:

• All-Purpose Flour – provides structure.
• Salt – enhances flavor. Table salt is fine.
• Granulated Sugar – optional; helps with browning but crust shouldn’t be sweet.
• Unsalted Butter – for flavor and flaky layers. Use cold butter straight from the refrigerator so it doesn’t melt while you work. If using salted butter, reduce or omit the added salt.
• Ice Cold Water – just enough to bring the dough together while keeping fats cold.

Pro tip: Chill bowls and tools before you start. Keeping everything cold protects the butter so it creates steam pockets during baking and yields a flaky crust.

How to Make Butter Pie Crust (Pâte Brisée)

1. Mix flour, salt, and sugar in a large bowl. Cut cold butter into tablespoon pieces and add to the flour.
2. Use a pastry blender, two knives, or fingertips to cut the butter into the flour until pieces are about the size of peas with some coarse crumbs remaining. Avoid turning all the butter into fine crumbs.
3. Add 2–3 tablespoons of ice cold water and stir with a spatula.
4. Turn the mixture onto the counter and press the dough together. Add additional water one tablespoon at a time (usually 1–2 tbsp more) until the dough just holds together.
5. Shape the dough into a flat disk, wrap tightly in plastic, and refrigerate at least 1 hour before rolling.

Don’t add too much water or overwork the dough; excess gluten will make the crust tough rather than tender and flaky.

Chilling and Freezing Pie Crust

Chilling the dough is essential. It relaxes the gluten and allows the liquid to distribute, which reduces cracking and tearing. It also firms the butter for better flake formation.

Chill the dough a minimum of 30 minutes; 1 hour is ideal. The dough will keep in the refrigerator up to 3 days. For longer storage, double-wrap disks in plastic and freeze up to 3 months—thaw overnight in the refrigerator before using.

Pro tip: If chilled longer than an hour, let the dough sit 10 minutes at room temperature before rolling to ease cracking.

How to Roll Pie Crust

When chilled, roll the dough as follows:

1. Lightly flour the countertop, rolling pin, and dough.
2. Press the edges of the disk with your knuckles to prevent cracking.
3. Roll from the center outward in all directions, rotating the dough often and adding flour as needed.
4. Roll until the dough is about 1/8-inch thick and roughly 14 inches in diameter for a standard 9-inch pie pan. Flip and roll both sides if cracks appear.

You should see small flecks of butter throughout; those will become flaky layers when baked.

How to Transfer Pie Dough to Pan

To transfer the rolled dough to your pie pan:

• Roll the dough around the rolling pin and unroll it over the pan, or
• Fold the dough into fourths, lift it into the pan, and gently unfold it.

Shaping the Crust

Fit the dough snugly into the bottom and sides of the pan:

1. Lift the edge with one hand while pressing the dough into the side with your knuckles.
2. Trim excess, leaving about a 1-inch overhang.
3. Tuck the overhang under to form a rim and pinch to seal.
4. Crimp the edge with thumb and forefinger to form a decorative flute.

If the dough becomes too warm, chill it on a tray in the freezer for 5–8 minutes before baking or filling.

Single Crust Pie Ideas

This all-butter crust works well with many fillings, including chocolate cream, blueberry cream cheese, cherry with crumb topping, Dutch apple, fresh peach, coconut cream, and fruit crumble pies. For a double-crust pie, double the recipe and make two disks, chilling thoroughly before assembling.