Pie Crust

Recipe courtesy Alton Brown, 2003

Show: Good EatsEpisode: I Pie

Rated: 5 stars out of 5Rate itRead users' reviews (98)

RECIPE
COMMENTS & REVIEWS(98)

Cook Time:
25 min
Level:
Intermediate
Yield:
1 (9-inch) piecrust

Times:

Prep: 15 min
Inactive Prep: 1 hr 0 min
Cook: 25 min
Total:: 1 hr 40 min

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Ingredients

3 ounces (6 tablespoons) butter, chilled
1 ounce (2 tablespoons) lard, chilled
6 ounces (approximately 1 cup) all-purpose flour, plus extra for rolling dough
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1/4 cup ice water, in spritz bottle
Approximately 32 ounces of dried beans, for blind baking

Directions

Place butter and lard in freezer for 15 minutes. When ready to use, remove and cut both into small pieces.

In the bowl of a food processor, combine flour and salt by pulsing 3 to 4 times. Add butter and pulse 5 to 6 times until texture looks mealy. Add lard and pulse another 3 to 4 times. Remove lid of food processor and spritz surface of mixture thoroughly with water. Replace lid and pulse 5 times. Add more water and pulse again until mixture holds together when squeezed. Place mixture in large zip-top bag, squeeze together until it forms a ball, and then press into a rounded disk and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

Place 2 metal pie pans in the refrigerator to chill.

Remove dough from refrigerator. Cut along 2 sides of the plastic bag, open bag to expose dough, and sprinkle both sides with flour. Cover again with plastic and roll out with a rolling pin to a 10 to 11-inch circle. Open plastic again and sprinkle top of dough with flour. Remove pie pans from refrigerator and set first pan on top of dough. Turn everything upside down and peel plastic from bottom of dough. Place second pan upside down on top of dough and flip again. Remove first pan from atop dough. Trim edges if necessary, leaving an edge for meringue to adhere to. Poke holes in dough and place in refrigerator for 15 minutes.

Place a large piece of parchment paper on top of dough and fill with dry beans. Press beans into edges of dough and bake in the oven for 10 minutes. Remove parchment and beans and continue baking until golden in color, approximately 10 to 15 minutes longer. Remove from oven and place on cooling rack. Let cool completely before filling.

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Comments & Reviews

recipe Pie Crust
Aly Overland Park, KS 08-06-2009
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The only pie crust I will ever use.
Rated: 5 stars out of 5

Lard makes this pie crust so flaky. My boyfriend's mother, who is an expert at making pies, asked me how I made such a... flavorful and flaky crust. I told her the secret was lard, and she was astonished. You've got a winner, Alton Brown (but then again, aren't all of Alton's recipes winners?).Read more
recipe Pie Crust
Marc Fort Lauderdale, FL 07-31-2009
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Great, but . . .
Rated: 5 stars out of 5

I've made this a couple of times. The crust is wonderful, but it doesn't keep. I made one for later, and it'd been sitting in... my fridge for a bit. Smelled like cheese when I tried to use it.Read more
recipe Pie Crust
Elspeth Van Nuys, CA 05-16-2009
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My first good pie crust!
Rated: 5 stars out of 5

I love cooking but had never yet been able to make a nice flaky pie crust. Then, I tried this recipe. Not only was it... easier and less of a mess than the other recipes I'd tried, it came out fabulous! I did use shortening instead of lard (next time, I think I'll try the lard). The only problem I had was that the fats were so hard, having just come out of the freezer, it took a while to process it to the mealy called for in the recipe. In the future, I'll cut up the fats into small cubes before adding them to the food processor.Read more
recipe Pie Crust
Amanda Tucson, AZ 04-28-2009
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Failed twice
Rated: 1 stars out of 5

I do not have a food processor so I mixed the old fashioned way -- two butter knives. I usually use the lard pastry recipe on... the back of the lard box, no blind baking or anything fancy, and it comes out fine. Thought I would try this. First time the dough was so flimsy I got fed up and tried to patch up the holes and my pecan pie slipped through. I also had problems with the dough sticking to the paper. It also burned the crust! Second time I diligently measured everything including time in the fridge. This time the paper stuck even worse. I don't understand why this dough is so sticky. I am even vary wary of adding too much water since I understand too much makes the dough tough. The second round I was hopeful since it seemed nice and hard coming out of the fridge. Two ruined pies and wasting my butter and lard ... I'm not impressed. I'm really confused because Alton is usually the best.Read more
recipe Pie Crust
Marsha Issaquah, WA 04-23-2009
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Best Pie Crust
Rated: 5 stars out of 5

This is an excellent recipe. Very easy and tasty! I measured rather than weighing. Also for those who had problems, the... key to perfection is to have the butter and lard frozen chilled along with the ice water very cold. Working quickly keeping the dough cold Ihelped me become successful with this recipe. I also covered both sides of the pie crust disc with flour before putting in the ziploc bag. Thanks Alton! Marsha Seattle, WARead more
recipe Pie Crust
Adam Binghamton, NY 03-26-2009
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Simple and Amazing
Rated: 5 stars out of 5

I can't believe I read any negative reviews. This is by far the easiest pie crust I have ever made and it was amazing. The... only problem I had was that I rolled the crust out too thin. I should mention that I did replace the lard with shortening, just because I didn't have any lard and have never used it before.Read more