The Flakiest All-Butter Pie Dough
This recipe produces a flavorful, super-tender flaky crust. Look for European-style butter, which has more butterfat and less water than other brands and yields a shatteringly flaky crust. The acidity in the vinegar weakens the gluten just enough to make rolling the crust a breeze, and it also prevents shrinkage when the crust is baked. The dough can be stored, well wrapped, for up to 3 days in the refrigerator or up to 1 month in the freezer. If it’s been frozen, defrost in the refrigerator overnight.
How to Plan Ahead
You can assemble the hand pies in advance and freeze them for up to 1 month. Freeze on the baking sheets until the pies have set, then place them in ziplock bags. Cut the steam vents in the tops before freezing, but don’t brush the pies with the egg wash until after you pull them out of the freezer. Bake directly from the freezer, adding 5 to 8 minutes to the baking time.
Peach Season is Upon Us!
Peach Cobbler Peach Frangipane Puff Pastry Tarts Peach Raspberry Pie Peach Galette Peach Blueberry Cake
Toss the pieces of butter in the flour mixture to coat. Then use a pastry blender to cut the butter into the flour. You should have various-sized pieces of butter ranging from coarse sandy patches to flat shaggy pieces to pea-sized chunks, with some larger bits as well. Drizzle in about half of the ice water mixture and stir lightly with a fork until the flour is evenly moistened and the dough starts to come together. If the dough seems dry, add a little more ice water, 1 to 2 tablespoons at a time. The dough will still look a bit shaggy at this point. If you grab a small piece of dough and press it lightly with your hand, it should mostly hold together. Dump the dough out onto an unfloured work surface and gather it together into a tight mound. Using the heel of your hand, smear the dough a little at a time, pushing it away from you and working your way down the mass of dough to create flat layers of flour and butter. Then gather the dough back together with a bench scraper, layering the clumps of dough on top of one another. Repeat the process once or twice more; the dough should still have some big pieces of butter visible. Cut the dough in half. Shape each piece into a disk and flatten it. Wrap the disks in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour, or overnight, to rest. Line two baking sheets with parchment. Gently fold each square of dough over to make a triangle and press the edges with your fingers to seal; make sure the filling does not ooze out of the sides. Crimp the edges of each hand pie with your fingers or a fork. Cut 3 small (about 1/3-inch-long/8 mm) slits for steam vents in the top of each pie. Chill the pies, uncovered, for 30 minutes, or up to 2 hours, to set the crust. Did you love the recipe? Leave us some stars below!
