Pâte Brisée (Pie Dough)
November 15, 2016 | By Jeremy Scheck | 101 Comments
2020 update: I’ve been working on perfecting this method for over 5 years. I hope you enjoy!
Please don’t buy pie crust. The ingredients in store bought pie doughs are just gross. Anytime I see a hydrogenated oil or a chemical that I can’t pronounce on an ingredient list—I am immediately turned off. Pie crust should not contain more than 5 ingredients. You can make this whenever you want and keep it in your freezer when you need an emergency pie (a surprisingly frequent occasion in my house). Additionally, what I have found with other pie dough recipes is that they don’t make enough dough. With other recipes, I find myself struggling to patch up enough dough to cover my pie plate. I guarantee that this recipe yields enough dough for one double crust pie or two single crust pies. If you are lucky enough to have extra dough, sprinkle it with cinnamon sugar and bake it off as a delicious treat. When I make pie crust, I use half water/half vodka because the vodka hinders gluten development and gives the pie a better texture. The alcohol cooks out in the oven, but you can use all water if you prefer.
Pâte Brisée (Pie Dough)
Ingredients
- 3 ¾ cups (485g) All purpose flour
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 1-3 tbsp sugar (omit for savory pies)
- 1 ½ cups/24 tbsp/3 sticks (339g) unsalted butter, frozen and cut into chunks (try to use a good quality butter)
- 1/2 cup (118ml) water + 1/2 cup (118ml) vodka, in a glass filled with ice cubes
Instructions
- Measure out the flour, salt, and sugar in a large bowl.
- Using your fingers rub the butter into the flour mixture until it is in flat, irregular strips.
- Slowly add the ice water/vodka mixture (you will not need all of it) (I usually work it in with clean hands) and mix it into the flour and butter mixture. Add until the dough will hold its form when pressed together. Depending on the humidity in your kitchen, you'll probably need between around half a cup. Go little by little. You want just enough liquid for it to BARELY stick to itself. If at any point, the butter starts to feel like it's warming up too much or melting, just pop everything in the freezer 5-10 minutes and take a quick break.
- Press the dough as best as you can into a rectangle. It's okay if there are some crumbly bits on the edges. Cut the rectangle in thirds, stack them on top of each other and press down into a new rectangle. If there are crumbly bits still, press them in. This helps create extra layers. Repeat cutting them in thirds and stacking one more time. After the second time, all the crumbly bits should be better integrated.
- Divide the dough in two and place each half on a separate sheet of plastic wrap. Use the plastic wrap to press each half of the dough together. Wrap each half and press the dough into a disk.
- Refrigerate your dough for 1 hour or if you're in a hurry, freeze 20 minutes before using according to your recipe's instructions. Letting it sit in the fridge helps the flour hydrate and not crack when you roll it out. You can keep your well-wrapped dough in the freezer for months and use it as you would frozen store bought dough.
- When using dough from frozen, I prefer to defrost it in the fridge overnight or I let it sit out at room temperature to soften slightly before rolling out. If you are a beginner, I recommend rolling out the dough between two sheets of wax paper. It allows you to easily pop the whole thing in the freezer in the middle of working with it if the dough gets too soft. You can also roll out using copious amounts of flour, and do not worry; using a lot of flour to roll out the dough will not mess it up.
Notes
Always freeze it before baking. Whether you are blind baking or filling this dough, it benefits from 15 minutes in the freezer AFTER shaping/filling right BEFORE baking.
Blind Baking
Video Tutorial
Jeremy Scheck spent high school perfecting his signature cupcakes, making quiches and coffee cake by the dozen at a local bakery, and teaching cooking demonstrations at Williams-Sonoma. As a 10th grader in 2016, he began documenting his favorite recipes on a blog called The After School Bakery. In college, Jeremy learned to make 50 gallons of ice cream in the food science lab, how to prune grape vines in the teaching vineyard, the best way to milk a cow in Northern Italy, and why film photography is an art worth saving. As a sophomore in 2020, he traded blog photos for video and became a TikTok culinary sensation. Jeremy has been featured on the Today show, The Washington Post, Bloomberg, BBC Radio, People, and Access Hollywood, among others. Jeremy is a graduate of Cornell University with a double major in Spanish and Italian, and significant coursework in food science. He lives in Brooklyn, NY. Learn more about Jeremy.
can you use this to form a lattice crust? or would you recommend a seperate dough for the lattice work? love the recipe (:
This works for a lattice!
If I incorporate shredded sharp cheddar cheese into this crust, will I need to alter any of the measurements? Can’t wait to make this tomorrow!
I think you’ll be fine leaving everything else the same! Let me know how it turns out!
Hi! I’m excited to make this. I don’t have vodka on hand. Do you use the same amount of Apple Cider vinegar as you would vodka? Thank you!!
I would use maybe a tiny bit less!
The combination of vodka (which is 40% alcohol by volume) and water used to hydrate the flour in the recipe results in a dough that’s easier to roll out and a baked crust that’s more tender than if all water were used. This is because alcohol does not activate the gluten in the flour. Vinegar is about 95% water, so there would be little advantage in using it in place of plain water. Also, I would think that 4 to 8 tablespoons of vinegar in the pie dough would affect its flavor — and not in a good way. So if you don’t have any vodka, just use plain water, but you may end up with a slightly more recalcitrant dough and/or a slightly less tender crust.
Muchas gracias por compartir tus recetas realmente las amo y voy a tratar de hacer mi Pay con tu receta de pie crust!!
So do we add ice to the apple cider vinegar or just the apple cider vinegar by itself?
So would we add the ice to the apple cider vinegar or just the apple cider vinegar itself?
How long and at what temperature does the crust bake for, also would it need to be pre baked for an apple pie?
You can use this recipe as if you had store-bought dough and follow whatever recipe for the actual pie you are using. Depending on the type of filling, you can choose to prebake or not. Generally I like to bake it at 425° F for about 15 minutes and then 350° F for 30-60 minutes, or until it’s crispy throughout. The timing varies depending on how much filling you are using.
I tried making this with vegan butter and it still turned out great. New favorite crust recipe!
How long should we bake for if we are blind baking? Should we just follow our own recipes or do you have any suggestions?
It can vary greatly depending on the oven, I would say to follow your own recipe but also use your judgment – if it’s not crispy, it needs more time! I generally start it on high heat at 425° for 15 minutes or so, then I lower it to 350° F for 15-45 minutes — it really depends on your oven, the type of pie weights you are using etc…
Hi 🙂 If I make this a day before the pies, would you recommend freezing or refrigerating overnight? thank you!
ahhhh i have the same question!
I’m not an expert, but I refrigerated overnight and it was perfect! I think freezing would’ve made it too stiff to roll out.
I’ve been using this pie dough recipe since Jeremy made a galette TikTok over the summer!!! Favorite dough ever, super crazy flaky and buttery, and can be made sweet or savory????
I made this dough today but subbed in the apple cider vinegar and it still turned out perfect! This is my new favorite website to find recipes I love how easy they are to follow 🙂
About how much does this recipe yield? I’m trying to make two pies
enough for two single crust pies or one double
Just made this crust and it’s delicious! Made little pie crust cookies with left over scraps and mmmmm, highly recommend!
Completely stunned but this recipe! Way easier than I ever would have expected and the result… Amazing! I made pumpkin pie, coconut custard pie and had just enough dough to make a single apple turnover. I do not bake and honesty am shocked at the fantastic results. Thanks for sharing and the new page is awesome!
This is my new go to pie crust recipe! Usually when I barely mix the dough it crumbles when I try to roll it out, to compensate I add more water… no good. With this recipe the laminating step was the difference! That pulled in all the loose bits and I can see the actual layers in my finished pie. Combining the butter by hand and the vodka were new to me but I can see and taste the result! Never by store bought again! Thanks for this great recipe!
This was soooo good. I needed to add a little more water bc it had just rained and it was still pouring so I only put in 1/4 cup but it was so flaky and delicious.
Made this dough today to bake an apple pie and it was SO yummy! Recipe was super easy to follow as well! Highly recommend.
Just made this pie crust for our Thanksgiving pies, had a little bit left over and threw cinnamon and sugar on it, put it in the oven and all I have to say is WOW. Hands down THE best pie crust I have ever had. Better than any bakery, or recipe. I really cannot say enough good things. So flakey and buttery. Have a piece to my dad and he fell back and just went “Wow.” You Jermey have the secrets to baking heaven.
Thanks so much for the recipe! It turned out beautifully and ATK’s double crust will take a back seat to yours. I wish I could post a pic-probably the prettiest apple pie I have made thanks to your recipe. 😉
Y’all, I would like to start by saying this is absolutely the best pie crust I have ever tasted. It’s so flaky and buttery – you will be tempted to just eat the crust by itself and forget you were ever going to make a pie.
Anyways, I really was going to use my moms crust recipe we’ve always used this year. But when the time came to roll out the dough, I just couldn’t get Jeremy’s voice out of my head – “for the love of God, stop using shortening in your pie crust.” I’m so glad I trusted you, Jeremy. You did not let my family down this year :).
I will say that it definitely makes enough for two pies. If you are like me and new to baking, don’t put too much pressure on making the pie look perfect. The first pie I rolled out was too thick. We quickly realized it wasn’t going to come out of the oven looking as “cute” as it went in. So we made it into a quiche with a THICK crust. The second one was a lot better but still not perfect, but those kind of things just take time.
This is the best pie dough I’ve ever made. I thought I knew how to make pie dough, and then I made this one and I will never make another. Thanks for the recipe!
Such an amazing crust and the perfect compliment to my sweet potato pie. If I were to use this recipe for a chicken pot pie should I par bake the crust?
Yes, parbake the crust if you are having it on the bottom. You can also make chicken pot pie with only a top crust, which can be really nice, and easier to do anyway.
Typing this as the apple pie I just made cools down, and I have to say this is hands down the best recipe for pie crust I’ve ever made!
We are making this dough for the first time for Thanksgiving! I usually eat some dough as I make is but the vodka makes it pretty bad for that purpose. It’s in the oven baking now and if the vodka doesn’t cook off we’re gonna cyberbully!! Happy turkey day! ????????????
Hi I just made this dough for a pumpkin pie. It tastes great, but the dough collapsed in the oven while I was blind baking. What did I do wrong?
Did you use pie weights?
No unfortunately I did not have any. I thought the weights were only to keep the bottom from bubbling up. I’ll try it with weights next time. Thanks for the recipe.
Hello again! We are happy to report that not only did the vodka cook off, but it was very good in taste and texture for apple roses, and my dad who doesn’t like sweets told us he enjoyed the crust specifically
My pie shrinked?! What did I do wrong? Ahhh somebody help me! Maybe wrong ingredients? Temp.? Pam?
Shrinking can happen if you bake it too soon after rolling out (without allowing time for gluten to relax) or if you blind baked without a pie weights.
thank you oh so much! So helpful
I made this for our thanksgiving lunch and it turned out great!!! So flaky- so easy! Thanks for the awesome recipe!
I am nutting this is amazing
This recipe was outstanding, despite my lack of skill. The reminders to use as little water as possible and assurances that it will hydrate in the fridge were particularly helpful, as my worst instincts are to add more water and turn it into bread dough. This was the first non-Crisco-based pie crust I have successfully made
I just made this pie crust yesterday and baked it off today and it was incredible!! The best pie dough recipe I’ve ever seen. The research and energy and baking that went into this recipe is very evident. The pie dough was so crisp and flaky that I actually used it to cover my baked Brie as well. I first saw this recipe on TikTok and had to come over here and leave a review. Thank you for the amazing and straight forward recipes!
This is so good, thank you! I was a little bit scared by how much drier it was compared to most pie crust recipes I’ve used before, but it came out amazingly
Wanted to make a completely homemade pumpkin pie and used this recipe I saw on your Tiktok. Was my first time making pie crust, I barely used the vodka/water mixture but the pie and crust came out PERFECT! Flaky and so amazing with the pie!! My family loved it so much! Will be keeping this in my recipes!! Thanks Jeremy!
OMG! I THOUGHT I had a tried and true recipe but decided to give this a try after seeing it on TikTok. It was amazing! I now have a new tried and true. I did sub the vodka for Apple Jack as I was making an apple pie with it, but it went just as well with the pumpkin. Thank you!!
I made a coconut cream pie today using this recipe for the blind baked pie crust. it was by dar the best pie I’ve ever made. You could see the layers of buttery crust in eat bite! Thw only flaw (which may have been something on my end) was the crust looked a little drier than usual. it was absolutely not dry when eating it, however. Nice and buttery. I will use this recipe from now on for all pies I make!
This crust came out so great it was crispy and tasty, I made mini pies
This crust was fantastic, by far the best I’ve ever made. I made it with vegan butter and followed the blind baking instructions in the youtube vid you linked at the bottom and it turned out great.
My first handmade crust with butter & Vodka! I was sooo inexperienced at the liquor store! LOL
I hand pressed the flour/butter and that was great. It was work! Instead of ‘adding’ the water/vodka mix, i made 6 holes in the mixture and pour about 1 tablespoon in each and then mixed it by hand. I used no more than 1/3 cup of the liquid. My results were the same with the barely clinging dough. But as I was working it, It felt REALLY ELASTIC?! I did my cut to 3rds, stack/press/repeat 2 x and then divided dough and put in freezer, it was getting really pliable and I could feel the butter warming up. I FORGOT to dig out my rolling pin and not in the mood last night so I just pressed out my two shells by hand…I THOUGHT it was thin enough…I got a LOT of dough in the pans! LOL but..I DO like the flavor a lot and the aroma is nice!
Was the elastic the gluten binding? Should I have used more vodka instead of 1/2 and 1/2?
Thanks..this was great..and I love the idea of making up crust again and putting it in the freezer to have a fresh pie for later!!
I saw your Tiktok for this recipe and had to try it for my Thanksgiving pies. I’ve never made a homemade crust before, but you made it look so easy I was able to get over my fear! It did not disappoint!! My whole family loved it and said they were the best pies they’ve ever had! I will never use another store bought crust!!
This is by far the BEST pie crust recipe I have tried…and I’ve tried many???? out of all of them this is the only one I have actually liked. 100% recommend!!
I made a pumpkin pie using this crust recipe and it turned out amazing!! The crust was so flaky and delicious!!
Thanks for the recipe! I find it easier to cut the butter into chunks first, then freeze them!
Turned out SO good!! And for reference this was my first time making pie EVER. I didn’t have vodka on hand so I used apple cider vinegar like he said on the tiktok, and I used 2 tablespoons of sugar. It turned out AMAZING — perfectly flaky.
I used “Grandma Ople’s apple pie” for the filling on AllRecipes. Her technique is a little weird — required you to pour the sugar syrup thing over the crust instead of mixing it in with the apples, and I was nervous about doing that with a homemade crust because I thought it’d turn out flimsy. But it was perfectly sturdy and tasted amazing!!!
I did the same thing! I was skeletal first but it turned out amazing.
This was SO good!! So crispy and flaky and SO easy to make and work with!!!
My 1st time making pie crust and Fresh pumpkin pie. THE CRUST WAS PERFECT!!!! Thank you!
I am used to a pie crust that has the trim pinched like a traditional “grandma’s pie crust” but can’t get it to look very good and have baked two different times. Also, crispy edge was great! I have it had luck getting the bottom of the crust to crisp up. Is there a certain thickness you recommend? What might I be doing wrong?
You might need to blind bake the crust for a crispy bottom! just roll it out to a normal thickness for any pie dough, about 1/4 inch or so?
This is an incredible recipe. I found it on TikTok last week and since then have used it to make a pie, two quiches, and dough coated brie. Tres fab.
I made this recipe for a sweet potato pie after not being able to find pie dough in stores. I bake pretty often but I have always been intimidated by anything that requires keeping the butter cold. This was so easy to use and make! My rolling skills could use some practice because the edges of my pie looked horrendous, but at least it tasted good! I will definitely be sticking to this recipe forever. I also didn’t have vodka at the time and used a splash of ACV with the cold water and it seemed to work fine.
We made this pie crust and it was beautiful. Cooked blueberry filling. Lattice top. The instructions were misread by my teen and we undercooked the pie. Can it be put back in the oven after it has cooled to room temp? We baked in glass pyrex and the bottom was completely raw. Should we blind bake before filling with such a wet filling? Would you brush with egg wash to seal the bottom crust?
Which is best for baking with this pie crust as it is frozen; pyrex, ceramic or metal pie plates?
I recommend glass so you can tell if it’s golden brown on the bottom side
Before trying this recipe I had never made homemade pie crust. I was a bit intimidated at first, but it wasn’t difficult and was delicious! I used the first half of the dough to make Jeremy’s blueberry galette recipe (so delicious!) and froze the second half for a couple weeks. I ended up using the second half for a baked brie and it tasted delicious with the cheese too! I will never use store bought pie crust again!
Made this recipe for thanksgiving & the crust was the best I’ve ever tasted. Thank you for sharing your recipes with us, it’s very appreciated!
i made this crust for thanksgiving day and everyone loved it and it was the most eaten pie there i’m so glad how it turned out
We made this dough for homemade chicken pot pies for Thanksgiving. It was so delicious I nearly died. I never liked pot pies much or really any pie with lots of crust, and now I know why, crappy crust! So now I am going to use this to make mini quiches this weekend, and sweet and savory pies for Christmas. Thanks for sharing and doing the hard work of curating this recipe. Delicioso!
I made this pie dough for thanksgiving! I’ve never made dough before I’ve always bought it but this dough absolutely blew the bought dough away !! It was amazing, so flavorful and flaky! I saw the tiktok of it and it looked so simple to do so I tried it out, I am so glad I did !!
I tried this recipe and I will never make pie crust with a food processor again :))))) this came out perfect
I had this is the freezer for a month. How long should I let it sit out to de thaw? It was so delicious the last time! Very easy and flakey. I will be using this from now on!
This is my GO TO pie crust recipe. It’s flaky, delicately sweet, and the perfect texture. I had never made pie before and was most nervous about the crust…but this recipe truly is foolproof!
Since my family couldn’t see our grandparents this year, I was in charge of making the pie, and had big shoes to fill – but this crust is PERFECT. For reference, I had never made pie crust before, and it was the best one me and my family have ever tasted. Flaky, easy, and so delicious. Took under 15 minutes to make and since it made two single crusts we have one next time we need it! Would highly recommend.
Hi! You’re dough recipe was a LIFE SAVER! I tried a few recipes before stumbling across yours, and the others were quite disappointing. The dough would usually be too sticky and have an off flavor. Yours, however, was literally perfect! I didn’t add vodka the first time around, but I’ll definitely be using it for the next time 🙂 thank you so much!!
i made this for thanksgiving and everyone said it was the best pie they have ever had!
This is the best pie crust recipe I’ve ever used. I’ve tried countless and always felt like there was something missing. The vodka is truly transformative and gives you the flakiest crust, while the butter keeps it so flavorful. I’ll never try another recipe again!
When I tried blind baking, the edges turned out crispy and perfect but the bottom was soft and seemed a bit oily(?) — any suggestions?
Saving this recipe for my next pie! Wondering if you have tried making with a GF flour? Might experiment myself but just wanted to k ow if you had any thoughts here?
I cannot explain how much I love this pie dough. It’s so flakey and buttery, it’s versatile (can be made sweet or savory), and is relatively easy to make. It’s become a holy-grail recipe for me! Never trying another pie crust recipe again.
Incredible! I cannot fathom ever buying store crust again!
We even made this for our YouTube cooking show Harrell Homecooking and have turned a bunch of our friends onto it as well! (We gave you credit for it, of course!)
I love that you also included weights in your recipes. I am a chef by trade, and learned a long time ago to measure the “European” way, and put most of my ingredients on a scale. This makes life so much nicer, and I appreciate it so much, THANK YOU!!!
Love this recipe!!!! Only problem I had was with the blind baking tutorial you attached. The first batch I made using that tutorial, the crust puffed up at the bottom, but my second batch I poked holes at the bottom with a fork and it was all okay.
I made this crust tonight, and I was sad to see butter leaking out of the crust as it baked. After doing a little research, I learned that my butter pieces must’ve been too big prior to baking. So to anyone going to make this crust in the future, make sure your chunks of butter aren’t too big. I will try this recipe again, but I really hate it didn’t turn out as expected and my fresh pears went to waste.
this can also happen if the butter isn’t cold enough when it goes in the oven, or if the oven isn’t hot enough. It’s best to freeze the whole pie before baking and then starting off in a hot oven (425°f). A tiny bit of leaking is normal, but if it’s a lot, it’s more likely a temperature issue.
Best and flakiest pie crust I’ve ever made!! Thanks !
This is the most delicious, reliable recipe. Since we found this, my family only does it this way. Thanks for the great recipe and directions!
Made it this thanksgiving for apple pie and the compliments were endless! Thanks for an easy and yummy recipe.
Looked up this recipe after watching your TikTok.. SO amazingly delicious!! Tender and flakey to the point of almost just melting in your mouth GOOD — thanks for making out T-Giving pie very memorable and delicious!
Cannot wait to make this today! If I am doing a deep dish apple pie Should I freeze the bottom crust only 15 min before adding filling and baking OR fill and then freeze filled pie w apples for 15 mins🤔?
I have this in the fridge waiting to use but I can already see how flaky it’s going to be.
And THANK YOU for using grams in your measurements. I hate recipes that don’t do this, it makes it so much harder to measure.
This is hands down the best pie crust i’ve ever made. Consistently amazing.
Can I flash freeze the butter? It is refrigerated right now… will it be ok to freeze for 20 mins?
I made this and it turned out beautifully! I have a pic but not sure how to post it.
I made a video for my culinary class using this recipe to make mini lemon meringue tarts, and have not stopped making this crust since! My whole family has now adopted this as the go-to crust recipe and it never fails. Amazing!!!
Would anything have to be adjusted for high altitude baking? We’re at 4100’
This technique (along with the vodka) is game changing.! Flakiest crust ever. Thank you for sharing. 🙂
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