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Perfect Baked Pie Crust

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  • Prep 25 min
  • Total 1 hr 15 min
  • Servings 8
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If you've ever been tempted to make the perfect pie crust, this is your sign to mix it up in the kitchen. You'll need only four ingredients and 25 minutes to make our pie crust from scratch. The best part? Homemade pie crust is easier than you think and a great way to impress friends and family. The hard part is deciding on the filling for your delicious, flaky pie crust. From Lemon Meringue, Banana Cream, there's no wrong answer. Let the baking begin!
By Betty Crocker Kitchens
Updated Dec 2, 2021
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Ingredients

  • 1 cup plus 1 tablespoon Gold Medal™ all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/3 cup shortening
  • 3 to 5 tablespoons ice-cold water
Make With
Gold Medal Flour

Steps

  • 1
    Heat oven to 475°F. Mix flour and salt in medium bowl. Cut in shortening, using pastry blender (or pulling 2 table knives through ingredients in opposite directions), until particles are size of small peas. Sprinkle with cold water, 1 tablespoon at a time, tossing with fork until all flour is moistened and pastry almost leaves side of bowl (1 to 2 teaspoons more water can be added if necessary).
  • 2
    Gather pastry into a ball. Shape into flattened round on lightly floured surface. Wrap flattened round of pastry in plastic wrap and refrigerate about 45 minutes or until dough is firm and cold, yet pliable. This allows the shortening to become slightly firm, which helps make the baked pastry more flaky. If refrigerated longer, let pastry soften slightly before rolling.
  • 3
    Roll pastry, using floured rolling pin, into circle 2 inches larger than upside-down 9-inch glass pie plate. Fold pastry into fourths; place in pie plate. Unfold and ease into plate, pressing firmly against bottom and side. Trim overhanging edge of pastry 1 inch from rim of pie plate. Fold and roll pastry under, even with plate; flute as desired. Prick bottom and side of pastry thoroughly with fork.
  • 4
    Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until light brown; cool on wire rack.

Tips from the Betty Crocker Kitchens

  • tip 1
    For tender, flaky crusts, choose heat-resistant glass pie plate or aluminum pie pans with a dull finish. Shiny pie pans are not recommended because they reflect heat, causing a soggy bottom crust.
  • tip 2
    The best way to measure flour is to first stir the flour a bit before spooning into the measuring cup. Fill until heaping and then sweep the excess off the top with the flat edge of a butter knife.
  • tip 3
    Pricking the bottom and side of pastry thoroughly with a fork prevents crust from puffing while baking.
  • tip 4
    Overworking the pastry dough will make it tough—handle it as little as possible.
  • tip 5
    To flute pastry, place thumb and index finger about 1 inch apart on outside of raised edge. With other index finger, push pastry toward outside, continuing around edge, repeating motion, to form decorative edge.

Nutrition

Nutrition Facts are not available for this recipe

More About This Recipe

  • Somewhere along the line, people got the idea that homemade pie crust is hard to make. But here’s the thing, this pie crust recipe is made with only four ingredients: flour, shortening, water and a sprinkle of salt. You can easily make it yourself, and it’s well worth the effort. Flaky, buttery and tender crust can be yours with minimum effort. Betty’s here to show you how it’s done — every detail you could ever need to know is here in this article about how to make pie crust — but honestly, you can skip the article and simply follow the recipe above. One quick note before you get started, pie crust is easier to make with a pastry blender — these inexpensive tools are available just about everywhere and usually cost less about $5 — so, if you don’t already own one, pick one up. Don’t have a pastry blender on hand? In a pinch you can use two knives or if you’ve got a food processor, you can use that too, but it’s certainly not necessary. The tips to making a perfect pie crust are as follows: Don’t overmix your pastry dough —you’ll want to blend the butter and flour into pea-sized crumbs. To get this gravel-like texture, use ice cold water. Next, you’ll chill your pastry mixture. When you’re ready to roll out the crust, flour your counter and your rolling pin to keep your pie crust from sticking or tearing. If you follow these simple tips, you’ll end up with a beautiful scratch-made pie crust, even on your first try! And once you master pie crust, you’ll want to explore all of Betty’s sweet pie recipes. One final note, there’s no shame in using a refrigerated crust, we rely on Pillsbury’s delicious pie crusts too, but we also think making pie crust is a skill everyone can and should master, which is why we’ve been teaching people to make their own for nearly a century!
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