A pie crust with butter is considered to be one of the best pie crust recipes. I don't believe the reason is because it is made any differently from other homemade crusts or because the final crust is any flakier.
No, I think what distinguishes the butter pie crust recipe from any other pie crust recipe is all in the taste. Let's face it, and Paula Deen actually lives it, butter adds a more than delicious taste to almost everything. It actually improves the taste of any dish, when used as an ingredient in the recipe.
Companies have always tried diligently to come up with a spread that tastes "just like butter." Could a muffin taste any better than it does hot from the oven, split in half, with a pat of butter on each half? Try this experiment with one of the muffins in our
Apple Bread Recipes
section and you'll see in a minute what I mean.
Okay, let's get on to making our pie crust with butter. As Julia Child liked to say, "Do not be afraid."
Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup cold butter
4 to 5 tablespoons cold water
Method
In a large bowl, whisk or sift together the flour and salt.
Cut up your butter into small pieces and use a pastry blender to cut it into the flour-salt mixture. Your crust will look like course crumbs now.
With a fork, stir in enough water until the flour is just moistened.
Divide your dough in half and form it into two disks. Wrap one in plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to use.
This recipe makes enough dough for 2 single crusts or a double-crust pie.
Please see our
Perfect Pie Crust Recipe
for detailed instructions and photos illustrating the whole process of pie-crust making. You will be substituting the butter for the vegetable shortening, but following the same basic recipe.
If you're making a one-crust pie, follow the basic recipe for a bottom crust, with a few differences.
You will roll out your dough as instructed, but will not trim the dough to the edge of the pie plate. You'll want to leave enough dough to be able to turn about 1/2 inch under the edge so you can crimp or flute as desired.
This is very important if you're going to bake an unfilled, one-crust, pie: Be sure, before baking, to prick the crust all over with a fork to let the air escape. Otherwise, your crust will puff up on you and not lie flat so you can add your filling.
