Buttercrust Pastry Dough

  4.6 – 61 reviews  • Pie Crusts

This recipe for pastry dough yields soft, flaky dough. When adding the ice water, a food processor helps you obtain a beautiful bread crumb texture. Reduce the sugar slightly, but do not completely eliminate it, if you are using the dough for a savory recipe. Use frozen butter and ice-cold water is the most crucial thing to keep in mind.

Prep Time: 15 mins
Additional Time: 1 hr
Total Time: 1 hr 15 mins
Servings: 6
Yield: 1 pound pie dough

Ingredients

  1. 2 cups all-purpose flour
  2. ½ cup butter, cut into 12 cubes, frozen
  3. 1 tablespoon sugar
  4. 1 teaspoon salt
  5. 6 tablespoons ice water

Instructions

  1. Place 1 cup flour into a food processor with the blade attachment. Sprinkle frozen butter cubes over flour.
  2. Dotdash Meredith Food Studios
  3. Cover with remaining 1 cup flour, sugar, and salt. Pulse in short bursts until butter is broken down into small pieces, about 1 minute.
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  5. Drizzle in ice water. Pulse with longer pulses until mixture turns pale yellow and resembles bread crumbs, 10 to 12 seconds. Scrape down the sides with a spatula. Pulse 1 to 2 more times.
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  7. Transfer mixture onto a work surface and gather into a ball. Flatten slightly and wrap in plastic wrap. Chill in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour to overnight before rolling out.
  8. Dotdash Meredith Food Studios
  9. Dotdash Meredith Food Studios
  10. Dotdash Meredith Food Studios
  11. Yield is enough for 1 large pie or 4 turnovers.
  12. For the hand pies shown in the photo, here is Chef John’s recipe for
  13. .
  14. This pastry is absolutely perfect for Chef John’s
  15. .

Nutrition Facts

Calories 295 kcal
Carbohydrate 34 g
Cholesterol 41 mg
Dietary Fiber 1 g
Protein 5 g
Saturated Fat 10 g
Sodium 498 mg
Sugars 2 g
Fat 16 g
Unsaturated Fat 0 g

Reviews

Amanda Torres DDS
Made in my Vitamin blender and it was quick, easy, and buttery-delicious!
Erica Ortiz
I made this as written and it turned out wonderful. My friends all think i’m crazy making my own pastry dough anyway, but with this new method I won’t let them know my new secret. Thanks Chief
Andrea Baker
The dough turned out great.
Beth Davis
This is perfect! Fast, easy, and delicious. Followed to the letter. Et voila! Chef John scores 10/10!
Joshua Delgado
This crust is great.
Robert Weaver
Did it exactly by directions and it was the first time I’ve actually had a pie crust stay together without being tough. It was great!
John Love
I’ve been using a variation of this recipe for years. The few things I do different, I grate the frozen butter onto the flour in the processor. I also put my all purpose flour in the fridge to get it cold. The key is to keep the dough as cold as possible, this allows for micro bubbles in your dough, which are created when the solid butter melts, leaving air pockets in the dough, which create the flakiness. Freeze your rolling pin before using too!
Travis Burnett
I doubled the butter to get it to match the consistency displayed in video.
William Navarro
The recipe was easy to make. I like using my food processor. That is one of the reasons why I chose this one. I stuck to the recipe. Turned out really well. The whole family enjoyed them. I made apple hand pies.
Jenny Turner
This does not require a food processor, it’s easy without one, too. A delicious crust for any purpose, especially a Christmas Eve tourtiere!!!
Victor Jenkins
I made this recipe & had no butter so I used shortening & I also lightly brushed my empanadas (meat pies) with a egg so it can give it them that extra oomph. Family approved. This will be my go recipe . Next time I’ll use the butter . I’ll have to see which is better however with the shortening it did have that flaky perfect texture too . Highly recommended, thanks for sharing this recipe chef!
Tracy English
Easy to roll and place. Holds shape
Joseph Wright
Great recipe! I even purchased a food processor in hopes that I could make pie crust as good as my Dads. And I did! I had always used ice water, but never frozen butter or a food processor and my dough was always hit or miss. I followed the recipe exactly as written and it’s turns out great every time now. Thanks, this ones a keeper!
Teresa Murray
I made this dough just as instructed and it was amazing! Super easy to make and it rolled out and baked up beautifully! I will never use any other recipe again nor will I ever spend the money to buy a premade crust!
Henry Curtis
First ever pastry dough and very satisfied with the results! Very easy and delicious
Joseph Holmes
making this with AP flour and following the recipe exactly, we found this very hard to roll out.
Robert Mendoza
Just whipped two batches up and they’re resting in the fridge. Doing the Apple Hand pies as soon as the dough is ready.
Jasmine Robertson
Dough came out very crumbly. It was hard to get it into a ball for refrigeration and to roll it out. Maybe another 1Tbs of water would have been helpful.
Kelly Ford
Came out perfect for my fall fresh apple hand pies! Will use again I’m sure!
Craig Espinoza
This crust was so easy and had the best taste!
Richard Lopez
This turned out pretty good! I made the apple hand pie in an oven air fryer and it brown it so well and baked the bread. I need practice with the pinching along the edge. PS I enjoy listening to Chef John’s voice.

 

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