Basic Pie Dough / Blind Baking
Makes 2 pie crusts (enough for 1 double crust pie or 2 single crust pies)
Equipment
- Large Bowl
- Whisk
- Plastic wrap
- Pie pan
- Sheet tray
- Parchment paper
Ingredients
- 2 ½ cups all purpose flour
- 3 Tbsp sugar
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 2 sticks 8oz cold unsalted butter cubed
- 8-10 Tbsp ice cold water
- 2 lbs dry beans
Instructions
Pie Dough
- In a large bowl whisk flour, sugar, and salt until combined. Add in cold butter and toss to coat the cubes in flour.
- Using your hands, fork, or pastry cutter, cut the cold butter into the flour mixture, until the butter is about the size of large peas with some random smaller pieces in there as well .
- Add cold water a few tablespoons at a time, gently mixing after adding. The amount of water needed will vary depending on climate, flour, etc. The dough should look shaggy, but stick together when pressed with your hands. Divide dough in half.
- Transfer each half of the shaggy dough to a sheet of plastic wrap, and use the plastic wrap to press dough into a ball. Flatten each ball into a round disk. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
To Blind Bake
- Preheat oven to 400ºF.
- Roll out one disk of dough into a large circle (let dough sit out 15 minutes before rolling if it’s super cold), about 2 inches larger than your pie pan. Transfer to to the pie pan and press dough into the pan and up the sides. There should be some overhang.
- Trim off some of the shaggy edges of the pie crust using scissors, just so that there is an even over hang of dough all around.
- Curl edges of the dough under itself to create an even crust all around. Crimp using your thumb or a fork. Refrigerate for 15 minutes.
- Place pie on a sheet tray.
- Line the inside of the crust with parchment paper to fully cover. Make sure there is a lot of extra parchment so that you can easily remove it later (see paper placement in video). Fill the pie all the way to the top with dry beans.
- Bake for 15 minutes. Remove the parchment and beans. Prick the bottom of the pie a few times with a fork.
- If using for a baked filling such as pumpkin or pecan, return to oven and bake for 8-10 minutes more until pale golden. The bottom may puff up a bit, but it will flatten again as it cools.
- If using for a pie without a cooked filling such as cream pies, bake for 15-20 minutes until golden and fully cooked.
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