Seed Oil Free Classic Pie Dough
There is something deeply satisfying about making pie dough from scratch, and this version is as straightforward and reliable as it gets. The entire recipe is built on just five clean ingredients — flour, sugar, salt, butter, and ice water — with zero industrial oils or shortenings in sight. That matters more than it might seem, because most store-bought crusts and even many homemade recipes lean on vegetable shortening or refined seed oils to achieve flakiness. Here, cold unsalted butter does all that work on its own, and the technique of leaving some pea- and almond-sized butter pieces intact is exactly what creates those gorgeous, shatter-crisp layers once baked. The shaggy, slightly rough look of the dough before it goes into the fridge is a feature, not a flaw — trust the process. After a proper chill, it rolls out beautifully and eases into a pie dish without fuss. Whether you're filling it with fruit, custard, or something savory, this is the kind of foundational recipe worth keeping on repeat.
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Learn more →Ingredients
8 servings
- 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tbsp granulated sugar
- 1 tsp fine salt
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into ½-inch cubes and chilled
- 6–8 tbsp ice water
Instructions
- 1
Whisk together the flour, sugar, and salt in a large mixing bowl until evenly combined.
- 2
Add the chilled butter cubes to the flour mixture and work them in with a pastry cutter or your fingertips, pressing each cube flat and breaking it into smaller pieces, until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs with some pea-sized and almond-sized butter pieces still visible throughout — this uneven texture is what creates flaky layers.
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