Easy Butter Pastry Dough

If you are looking for a basic, all-butter pastry dough recipe to use for savory and sweet dishes, you have found it. Our recipe makes enough dough for one double-crust pie or two single-crust pies.

When I first started making pastries and pies, the crust stumped me. It was too crumbly and not flaky and just didn’t do it for me. After some time in the kitchen and, I’m not embarrassed to admit, a few failed attempts, we are happy to share this easy, basic recipe for pastry dough. We also love this slightly updated pie crust recipe with a how-to video.

This recipe calls for 100% butter, not shortening (I like it that way). However, that doesn’t mean you couldn’t swap some of the butter called for with shortening. Shortening in pastry dough can help make it easy to roll out, is helpful for warmer climates, and makes the dough light. To use shortening in our recipe, I suggest replacing about 25% of the butter with shortening.

How to Make Basic Pastry Dough

I love making pastry dough and find using a food processor best. You can make this by hand using a pastry cutter, but it takes more elbow grease. A food processor will make the whole process much quicker. Here are the basic steps for making pastry dough:

You’ll start by pulsing COLD butter into a mixture of flour, salt, and sugar (optional). When the mixture resembles flour with bits of butter the size of peas, add a bit of cold water and pulse it in until the dough mostly comes together.

See how I’m pressing it together with my fingers? That’s what you are looking for.

Our recipe below makes enough dough for 1 double-crust pie or two single-crust pies. The dough will need to chill before you roll it. If you know you will roll our two crusts, refrigerate the dough cut in half. Then, pat each half into discs, which makes rolling out later much easier.

Here are a few more tips to keep in mind when making homemade pastry dough:

• Place the butter, food processor bowl, and blade into the freezer for about 10 minutes before starting.
• Have all your ingredients ready and work quickly, keeping everything as cold as possible.
• Chill the water with ice to guarantee it is as cold as possible before starting.
• If the oven or any burners are on, work as far away from them as possible.
• Use the pulse function for the food processor for more control. Don’t just turn it on.
• The water you need will vary depending on your flour, humidity, etc… Our best advice is to practice. Our recipe is not magic. We all need to trust ourselves a bit and remember to keep everything COLD!

How to Use Homemade Pastry Dough

You can use this homemade pastry dough for your favorite pies, quiches, and even rustic free-form tarts. I especially love it for these handheld blueberry pies, our mini beef and Guinness pies, and many more of my favorite pie recipes on Inspired Taste.