Basic Pie Dough Recipe
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This is what is known as a 3-2-1 dough because it’s made up of 3 parts flour, 2 parts fat, and 1 part water (by weight). There is a bit of sugar for a slightly sweet crust, but you could also take out the sugar and use the dough with a savory filling (in a tart, for example). Try it with our Brown Butterscotch Pie or Tart Cranberry Pie.
What to buy: It’s worth the time to make this dough from scratch—it’ll lend a butteriness to your pie. (Here are some pointers on how to do it right.) But if you’re short on time, just get the best store-bought crust you can find.
For some recipes, you’ll need pie weights to line the crust so that it doesn’t puff up while cooking. If you don’t have pie weights, just use some dried beans.
Game plan: The dough can be made and baked up to 1 day ahead.
For quicker prep, you can make the dough in a food processor. Add all of the dry ingredients and pulse to combine. Add the butter and pulse until it’s in pea-size pieces. Drizzle in 3 tablespoons of ice water and pulse again. Add more ice... read more
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/4 teaspoon fine salt
- 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
- 8 tablespoons cold unsalted butter (1 stick), cut into small pieces
- 4 to 5 tablespoons ice water
- Combine the flour, salt, and sugar in a large bowl and stir briefly until the mixture is aerated. Using a pastry blender or your fingers, cut the butter into the dry ingredients until it’s in pea-size pieces that are slightly yellow in color, about 4 to 5 minutes.
- Drizzle in 4 tablespoons of the ice water and mix just until the dough comes together. (Add the last tablespoon of ice water if necessary, but don’t overwork the dough or it’ll become tough.)
- Shape the dough into a flat disk, cover it in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes, then use it in the pie or tart recipe of your choice.
imak92......since I was browsing to get this crust recipe for Kate's Banoconut Cream Pie, I saw your conundrum. I thought I'd help you seeing that your berries would be petrified by now, this should help you in the future. The clue in most recipes would be, "use in pie or tart recipe of your choice". After you make/chill the dough, you would follow the strawberry pie recipe you have. Most all pie crusts bake @ 375 or 400 degrees so don't fret the temp. However, whenever it's a first time attempt, always keep an eye on the bake time & note it for future reference. Hope I helped you......we are all novices @ sometime.
ok so i wanna use this in a strawberry pie but i dont understand how to prebake it for the pie how long should i keep it and what temprature ashould i use
Yes JohnE O, that is correct! You will double the recipe if you are making a double crusted pie.
I take it that this is for the bottom and that I would double this for recipes calling for a top crust. D'accord?
3-2-1 by weight, not volume
It's called a 3-2-1 crust but the ratio in the actual recipe is way off. 1 1/2 C. flour should lead to 1 C. (2 sticks) butter and 1/2 C. water, not the 1 stick butter and 4 T. water it calls for. At first this messed me up, but once I figured out that the ratios in the recipe were off it worked out rather well. 3-2-1 is easy to remember!