BHA & BHT Free All-Butter Pie Crust
Store-bought pie crusts are a minefield of preservatives, and BHA and BHT show up in shortening-based products more often than most people realize. This from-scratch version keeps things beautifully simple — just flour, salt, sugar, cold butter, and ice water, with nothing hidden in the ingredient list. The real secret is keeping that butter thoroughly chilled so it stays in distinct little pieces throughout the dough, which is exactly what creates those gorgeous, shattering flaky layers once it bakes. Working the butter in with your fingertips or a pastry cutter until you hit coarse crumbs with pea-sized chunks is the move — don't rush it and don't overwork it. A rest in the refrigerator lets the gluten relax and the butter firm back up, making the dough so much easier to roll out cleanly. The result is a tender, golden, deeply buttery crust that puts anything from the frozen aisle to shame and gives you total confidence in every single ingredient that went into it.
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Learn more →Ingredients
8 servings
- 1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 tsp granulated sugar
- ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into ½-inch cubes and chilled
- 3–4 tbsp ice water
Instructions
- 1
Whisk together the flour, salt, and sugar in a large mixing bowl until combined.
- 2
Add the chilled butter cubes to the flour mixture and work them in with a pastry cutter or your fingertips until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs with some pea-sized butter pieces still visible throughout.
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