Making pie dough from scratch is so simple, gratifying and delicious. Learn how to make homemade pie dough with our easy pie dough recipe. It’ll make you look like the rock star pie hero!

Homemade Pie Dough Recipe on a glass casserole

Easy Pie Dough Recipe

With just a few ingredients and in a few minutes, making your own homemade pie dough is so easy, you’ll wonder why you never did it before. The buttery, flakey and wonderful flavors you get with homemade pie dough with our easy pie dough recipe can’t be beat.

Once you make these fresh, it’s hard to go back to regular refrigerated dough that you buy in stores.

Video: Easy Pie Dough Recipe

Homemade Pie Dough Recipe for Flakey Buttery Pie Dough step by step

Tips for How to Make Homemade Pie Dough from Scratch

  • Use cold butter. Butter melts fast and as you’re working with the dough you don’t want it to soften too quick. You’ll lose the layers of the flaky dough.
  • Try to keep your pie dough cold. If needed, put your dough in the fridge to chill for a bit after you’ve incorporated the butter.
  • Use cold water when incorporating it in the dough. We like to add a few ice cubes in the water to keep it extra cold when working with the dough.
  • Once you’ve familiarized yourself with making homemade dough, have fun with these fall pie design ideas! fall pie designs
  • All easy pie dough recipe details are in the recipe box below.
Homemade Pie Dough Recipe on a glass casserole

Can you freeze pie dough?

You can definitely freeze pie dough. Wrap it in air tight plastic wrap when it’s in the round uncooked, flattened disc phase.  It can freeze for up to 3 months in your freezer. When ready to use, transfer the frozen pie disc to the fridge and allow it to thaw overnight. If it’s still a little firm, let it sit on the countertop for a few minutes until it’s soft enough to roll. But don’t let it get too soft. Hope you enjoy this homemade easy pie dough recipe.

Best Tools for Pie Making:

Pie making is magical. Here’s a few of our kitchen favorites for making it even more fun:

Make quick work of cutting the butter into dough. Great for pies & biscuits! Save the pinching for someone you love.

Wayyyy better than trying to protect your crusts with aluminum foil. Adjustable from 8-11.4″ pie crusts.

Super cute pastry stampers. There is this leaf set, plus holiday versions, animals, spring collection, and more! We love them for pie designs, cookies, and cake decorating. 

Homemade Pie Dough Recipe for Flakey Buttery Pie Dough @bestrecipebox

Homemade Pie Dough

For a great, flakey, butter crust, make sure not to knead it too much. Just enough that it comes together in a rough ball. Also try be efficient when working with your hands in the dough. You want to keep the butter cold-cool, and your hands will warm it up quickly. This dough amount makes enough for two 9-inch pie doughs. Either for two bases or for one base and one top. If you are using the top for decorative crusts, excess dough can also be kneaded together again and rolled out for decorative cuts. The dough will need to rest for about 15 minutes after kneading to relax and it will not be as tender, but if it just for decorative pieces, that usually isn’t noticeable.
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Ingredients

  • 2 1/2  cups (310 g) all-purpose flour
  • 2 teaspoons (10 ml) sugar
  • 1 teaspoon (5 ml) kosher salt
  • 1 cup (227 g) cold unsalted butter , (2 sticks) cut into 1/2-inch (12mm) pieces
  • 1/2 cup (120 ml) cold water  (you may not end up using the full amount)
  • egg wash (1 egg beat with @ 2 Tablespoons water), (or heavy cream) for brushing crust

Instructions 

  • In a bowl, combine the flour, sugar, and salt. Add the butter and pinch with your fingers or use a to cut the butter into the flour until it resembles coarse crumbs or until most of the big chunks of butter are flattened or broken up and there is no remaining dry flour sections.
    Butter and flour pinched into coarse crumbs
  • Mix in enough of the cold water into the the dough until it comes together and forms a rough ball. If necessary, barely knead the dough just until the can come together nicely in a ball, dusting the surface with flour as you work to keep things from sticking. Don't overwork the dough or else it will become tough.
    Dough ball
  • Divide the dough ball in half and then roll each half into a ball, and then flatten into a disk. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill for at least 30 minutes (can be chilled overnight or frozen for future use).
    Use as directed in your pie recipes. Make sure to butter the base of your pie pans before adding the dough and brush with egg wash or heavy cream before baking.
    Dough divided into two discs

Video

YouTube video

Nutrition Information per Serving

Calories: 1398kcal, Carbohydrates: 123g, Protein: 17g, Fat: 93g, Saturated Fat: 58g, Cholesterol: 244mg, Sodium: 1181mg, Potassium: 194mg, Fiber: 4g, Sugar: 4g, Vitamin A: 2835IU, Calcium: 51mg, Iron: 7.3mg

Joy of Homemade Pie Dough

Sure, you can certainly use pre-made refrigerated pie dough. It’s definitely much easier and tastes good. But if you have some spare time and really want to taste a buttery pie dough, go for the gold and make it homemade! Think of all the awesome pies you can make with this easy pie dough recipe. Holiday pumpkin pies, pecan pies and cranberry pies are so much better with buttery pie dough. Summer time is also a big pie season. From blueberry pies to strawberry pies and peach pies, the possibilities are endless. Add that flakey homemade pie dough and you will definitely be the pie hero of the gathering!

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