All Butter Pie Crust

Makes 6-inch double-crust or 8/9-inch single crust

Ingredients

• For the pastry;

  • 200 gr ap flour

  • 1/4 tsp salt

  • 113 gr unsalted butter, cubed

  • 70-80 ml water

  • Ice, 6-8

• For the egg wash;

  • 1 egg

  • 15 ml milk

Instructions

1. The first thing to do is to decide the layer of flakiness in our pastry. Here are our options;

- For the crumbly pastry with little flakiness, cut the butter into pea-sized cubes.

- For the flaky pastry, cut the butter into the size of walnut-halves cubes.

!!! Keep the butter in the fridge while working with the rest of the ingredients.

2. In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, and salt. You should mix for a full minute.

3. In a measuring jug, place water and top with ice cubes.

4. Take the butter out of the fridge and transfer it into the bowl with dry ingredients. Cover each butter cubes with the dry ingredients.

- For the crumbly pastry with little flakiness, press the butter cubes with your fingers into the flour until the mixture resembles sand.

- For the flaky pastry, press the butter cubes with your fingers ONCE. Toss them to fully cover with flour.

5. Create a well in the center of the flour. Each flour brand will observe a different amount of water, so start pouring a tiny bit of water and combine it with a fork. Be careful not to pour the ice cubes. You might need anywhere between 60-80 ml of water. Once fully combined, your dough shouldn't be so dry, and it should be so wet that it might stick to your hand. You can also use your hands to combine the dough, just be careful not to knead.

6. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and chill it in the fridge for 45-60 minutes. This is the step where things go wrong. If you don't have the patience and take the dough out earlier, it will be difficult to work and it will melt in the oven.

!! Be patient.

7. Lightly flour a clean surface, and take the dough out from the fridge. Leave the dough for 5 minutes. Roll it into a circle with a thickness of 1/3 cm - 1/8inch.

- If your dough shrinks a lot, you need to let it rest in the fridge for 15 minutes.

- To avoid dough sticking to the surface, rotate and flip after every 2 rolls.

8. For the egg wash, whisk the egg and milk for 1 minute.

For pies;

1. To line the pie dish with the dough, gently roll the dough to the rolling pin and roll it back into the pie dish. To fully cover the bottom and the edges, gently lift up the dough from one side and let it drop to the bottom by gently pressing it with your hands. Continue with the rest of the dough.

2. Cut the excess dough but leave 2 cm/0.75 inch of dough on the edge. Fold the excess dough under itself. You can now crimp the edge as you wish. Prick the bottom with a fork. Transfer the pie dish to the fridge and let it chill for 30 minutes.

3. Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F.

4. Apply a thin layer of egg wash.

5. To blind bake, crinkle a parchment paper about twice the size of your pie. Open it back up and place it in the pie crust. Fill it with rice, or beans, or baking beans.

!! Blind baking will help us avoid the soggy bottom.

6. Bake for 15 minutes. Take out the parchment paper, and continue to bake for additional 10-15 minutes or until it is golden in color.

!! You can reuse the rice or beans.