By Sam Sifton
- Total Time
- 1 hour 15 minutes
- Rating
- 4(1,042)
- Notes
- Read community notes
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Ingredients
- 2½cups all-purpose flour
- 6tablespoons unsalted butter, cold, cut into ½-inch cubes
- 2tablespoons vegetable shortening, cold
- ¼teaspoon of kosher salt
- Yolk of 1 egg, beaten
- 1teaspoon cider vinegar
- ¼cup water, from ¾ cup ice water.
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (8 servings)
255 calories; 13 grams fat; 6 grams saturated fat; 1 gram trans fat; 4 grams monounsaturated fat; 1 gram polyunsaturated fat; 30 grams carbohydrates; 1 gram dietary fiber; 0 grams sugars; 5 grams protein; 69 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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Preparation
Step
1
Using your fingertips or the pulse function of a food processor, blend together the flour, fats and salt until the mixture resembles a coarse meal. There should be pebbles of butter throughout the mixture.
Step
2
Add egg yolk and vinegar to ¼ cup ice water and stir to combine. Drizzle 4 tablespoons of this mixture over the dough and gently stir or pulse to combine. Gather a golfball-size bit of dough and squeeze to combine. If it does not hold together, add a little more of the liquid and stir or pulse, then check again. Repeat as necessary.
Step
3
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and gather together into a rough ball. You want to be careful not to overwork the flour, but not too careful; the dough should hold together. Divide the ball in half with a knife or a pastry scraper, then divide each portion in half again, and again, to create eight portions. Using the heel of your hand, flatten each portion of dough once or twice to expand the pebbles of butter, then gather the dough together again in one ball. Divide this ball in half.
Step
4
Flatten each ball into a 5- or 6-inch disc and dust lightly with flour. Wrap the discs in plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for at least 60 minutes.
Ratings
4
out of 5
1,042
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Cooking Notes
Susan
I am a fairly experienced pie-baker, but I'm always looking for a good pie crust recipe. This is a good one, but I did modify it. After cutting in the butter and shortening, I didn't think it had enough shortening. So I added 2 more tablespoons. Also, when adding the cold liquids, I ended up using about a 1/2 cup of ice water. The crust came out perfect!
Sam Sifton
Hi, Kate. (Hi, Hilary, too!) Next time, add a little more ice water, as in step 2: "Gather a golfball-size bit of dough and squeeze to combine. If it does not hold together, add a little more of the liquid and stir or pulse, then check again. Repeat as necessary." Makes a very nice crust! Cheers, Sam
Judy
I have been making pie crusts for 50+ years and have always had great results with the butter/Crisco combination. Best change is using vodka (from the freezer) in place of water. Absolutely perfect crust every time
Eileen
I agree. Typically, the amount of flour is 1 1/4 cup to 8 tbsp. of butter/shortening.
matt
Recipes need to stop using non exact measurements for flour. Please use weight instead of the highly variable "cups."
John Golden
Instead of shortening use the same amount of lard (not processed but from a butcher who renders it fresh)—you’ll have the flakiest dough ever. For2 1/2 cups flour use 2 sticks butter and 4 tablespoons lard and around 1/2 cup ice water
Hilary
There must be a mistake here -- the amount of fat is roughly half what's in a typical pie crust recipe. I did try it, just to check, and managed to roll it out into something that almost resembled a (very crumbly) crust, but it certainly didn't taste like a pie crust once it was baked.
Sefali
The amount of flour is for 2 crusts yet the fat is only sufficient for a single crust. Beware of this typo
barb
Yes, I was wondering about that. Melissa Clark's pie crust recipe has the right ratios.
cinnamongirl
There is not enough fat!
terrible recipe
What a terrible pie recipe. The dough doesn’t even hold together.
Ashley
In Step 2, I read "more of the liquid" as just the yolk/cider/water mixture, not additional water - and the dough was way too crumbly. I ended up adding more ice water (about 2-3 tbsp), which worked fine enough. When baked, the crust was a great texture, but lacked flavor. I might suggest more salt or even a salted butter. Agreed with the previous comments about it not being a beginner crust - would be pretty frustrating and likely hard to troubleshoot if you'd never made a pie crust before.
DonnaO
I’m not a very experienced baker but I agree with everyone here who says this dough needs more fat and/or water. Using the recipe as written, I was left with dusty crumbs that refused to hold together. I’m now worried that I’ve overworked the dough through having to keep adding water and re-kneading. Here’s hoping it holds better after refrigeration.
ed
Like others, I found this dough to be very crumbly and very difficult to roll out to 12". Because of this, I probably won't use this recipe again. However, the apple pie and squash pie made with the dough turned out fine, so...
Rachel Rubin
Echoing the below comments - this recipe made a dough that barely held together when I tried to roll it out, I had to add a bunch of water. Even then the dough was difficult to work with and didn't bake well, it was not very flakey and was dry, burnt easily, and crumbley.
flat out wrong
Take this recipe down or fix it. It has less than half the amount of fat it needs.
Marta
Not a recipe for a first time pie maker. Wouldn’t stay together or roll without falling apart
Lemon
Excellent recipe! Received many compliments. The first time I made it I think I overworked the dough. The second time I was more careful in following instructions, and added 6 or 7 total TBSP of iced water mix, and it was perfect. No need for extra butter or shortening, just be prepared with extra ice water.
MJ
Made this for the first time for this seasons batch of u-pick apples (used Sifton’s apple pie recipe). Both were good enough to repeat the following week. Received many compliments from friends and family for the crust alone.
allyson
First NYT recipe that failed. Should have read other reviews prior to making. Recipe as is is a waste of time and ingredients and is a big powdery mess. Big fail
chef Deb
Honestly, this pie dough is tough and un-flaky. Just skip it and make a pâté brisée.
Lucy
This recipe makes something closer to crackers than pie crust. Far too little fat for the amount of flour. Major flaw here.
Steph S
Not for beginners!First time making pie dough, but plenty of experience with my mom’s home made dough. This dough is far more dry. It was a nightmare to roll out - even when compared to room temp dough with more moisture. It would definitely be easier to work with if it had more liquid or fat. A piece of the crust broke off before baking was finished. Disappointed!
Aaron B
Not enough fat. Crumbly mess if you don’t add more.
macula1
mantequilla 12T = 170g
I am sad I did not trust my gut
I usually trust my gut if I notice a dough lacks moisture or has too much. But this time I really wanted to follow the recipe word for word.. and I did. And it was so darn crumbly. I added all the liquid and still not enough. I ended up with a hard to work with crust that just made me sad. Please refine this recipe to suggest more fat/moisture?
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