This is an all-purpose pastry, suitable for both sweet and savoury pies. If you only want to learn one method, this is a good one. It’s easy to work with and produces very consistent results: a crisp, delicious pastry that works as well for the bottom crust as it does for cutouts and latticework.
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Butter Pastry
This is an all-purpose pastry, suitable for both sweet and savoury pies. If you want to keep track of one recipe, make it this one
It’s easy to work with and produces very consistent results: a crisp, delicious pastry that works as well for the bottom crust as it does for cutouts and latticework
- Yield: makes two 11” pie crusts 1x
Ingredients
Scale
For the pastry
- 225 g or 8 oz unsalted butter, cut into ½” cubes, kept cold
- 1 large egg
- 1 tsp white or apple cider vinegar
- 350 g or 2 ½ c all-purpose flour (use one made from hard spring wheat, 12% protein, such as Gold Medal or King Arthur
- 1 tsp fine-grained sea salt
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1 large egg
Instructions
Make the pastry:
- Break the egg into a 2 c measuring cup and whisk. Add the vinegar and enough cold water to make 135 ml or 4½ oz of liquid. Whisk until well combined. Place in the fridge.
- In the bowl of a food processor, pulse the flour, sugar and salt until combined. Add the butter and pulse until lumps of butter are pea-sized. With the machine running, quickly add the egg mixture through the chute. Let run for a few seconds until the machine makes a heavy rumbling noise. Turn off immediately; do not overmix. Using a rubber spatula, scrape the dough into a large, cold bowl. Carefully press into a large ball, closing out cracks and forcing out any air. Cut the ball in half and wrap each half in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least an hour.
Notes
Adapted from Elegant Pie by Karin Pfeiff Boschek
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