Simple, timeless, perfect. This is my go-to pie dough recipe and I always get rave reviews on my pies - particularly how flaky the crust is! I do think this recipe should have more directions/clarification though. 1) Make sure the butter is cold, cold, cold and chopped in pieces (they don't have to be tiny pieces but just to break it up) before you throw it in the food processor. 2) Make sure the 1/3 cup of water is ice water (like throw actual ice in the water for a bit before using it, and keep it the water cold as possible before use). This step makes your crust 100 times better; otherwise the butter quickly melts in the food processor and you get sticky, oily goo. 3) Omit the salt if using salted butter (the crust will come out noticeably salty if you use salt in both forms). Feel free to add a tsp. or so of sugar if making a sweet/fruit/dessert pie. 4) THE SECOND you see a clump or ball appearing in your food processor, switch it off and get the dough out; form in a ball with your hands, wrap in plastic or put it in a bowl, and put it in the fridge for about 10 minutes, then roll it out for your pie. I've made the mistake of over-processing this too many times... the butter softens and distributes, the whole thing turns into a soft cookie-dough texture (NOOO) and it never turns out as good, even if I try to cool it down and regroup: game over. Since my food processor broke though, I've been making this by hand (rubbing the butter/shortening pieces into the flour and water) and it still turns out amazing.

Thank you for posting. Happy baking everyone. :)

Thanks, your insight is so helpful! I've been struggling to get a perfect yummy crust. Fingers crossed.

Hi. King Arthur Baking Co has a recipe for double crust pie dough made with a stand mixer. Works well. Give it a try! Add 1 tbsp. water at a time until it comes together, usually 6-7 tbsp, no more! Good luck!

I agree with what you say, and have some thoughts. First, I added 1 tablespoon lemon juice to the water and massaged the frozen butter to a plastic stage before incorporating it after the shortening. This is suggested by Gesine Bullock-Prado and others, followed by fraisage á la same and Anna Olson, Joanbe Chang, et al. I put an egg wash on bottom an top crust. Turned out perfectly. What I will try next is a book fold to increase the layers. Thank you. Great baking y'all!

My Mother used to keep a small bottle of Vodka in her freezer. We used to tease her that she was nipping out of it.. Turns out she used it instead of water in her pie dough. She was a master at making pie crust! Always used Lard, never butter and absolutely never shortening!

Amazing recipe - used it for years!!

Broke this down for 1 crust... equals: 5 1/4 tablespoons flour - 3 tablespoons butter - 1/2 tablespoon shortening - 1/4 teaspoon salt - 1 1/4 tablespoons cold water... Divided recipe in half - then reduced the half again. I cut ALL my recipes down to a single serving. In this case - for one pie (bottom crust only).