Easy Deep Dish Pie Crust Recipe: Using Butter or Lard
Homemade pie dough is buttery, flaky and easy to make using a food processor and four simple ingredients. Perfect for any recipe needing pie crust, this recipe makes enough dough for two deep dish pie crusts or one double-crust pie! This recipe requires no special equipment like a pastry cutter or a pastry blender. The entire recipe is made in the bowl of a food processor!
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 tsp salt
- 10 tablespoons unsalted ice cold butter or lard
- 10-11 tablespoons of ice cold water add one tablespoon at a time
- 1 tbsp sugar optional- for even browning
Instructions
- Pulse all purpose flour, salt and sugar (if using) in a food processor. Add half of the cold cubed butter (or lard).
- Pulse together until mixture resembles coarse meal or small pea sized pieces
- .Add ice cold water one tablespoon at a time. Add the cold water to the food processor while pulsing the mixture. Continue adding water until the dough just comes together. Add the rest of the butter and pulse 1-2 more times until a dough ball forms.
- Gently shape the dough into a ball. Wrap in plastic wrap and flatten into a disc. Chill the wrapped dough in the fridge or freezer for at least 30 minutes, preferably for an hour before using.
- Once chilled, roll out the dough and place in a greased and floured pie pan.
Video
Notes
Pie dough can be made ahead of time and stored in the fridge for several days or frozen for up to 3 months.
Adding in the butter in different stages of the blending helps create different sized chunks of butter in the dough, creating a flakier pie crust.
The optional sugar doesn't make the dough sweet, but helps the crust brown more evenly.