All-Purpose Pie Dough
Updated February 26, 2026
Annie Schlechter for The New York Times; Food stylist: Brian Preston-Campbell. Prop stylist: Amy Wilson.
- Total Time
- 15 minutes, plus 1 hour chilling
- Prep Time
- 15 minutes
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
16 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold, cut into ½-inch cubes
2 tablespoons vegetable shortening, cold
¼ teaspoon of kosher salt
Yolk of 1 egg, beaten
1 teaspoon cider vinegar
¼ cup water, from ¾ cup ice water.
Nutritional analysis per serving
119 grams carbs; 324 milligrams cholesterol; 1528 calories; 33 grams monosaturated fat; 8 grams polyunsaturated fat; 61 grams saturated fat; 109 grams fat; 2 grams trans fat; 4 grams fiber; 283 milligrams sodium; 20 grams protein; 1 gram sugar
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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Preparation
- Step 1
Using your fingertips or the pulse function of a food processor, blend together the flour, fats and salt until the mixture resembles a coarse meal. There should be pebbles of butter throughout the mixture.
- Step 2
Add egg yolk and vinegar to ¼ cup ice water and stir to combine. Drizzle 4 tablespoons of this mixture over the dough and gently stir or pulse to combine. Gather a golfball-size bit of dough and squeeze to combine. If it does not hold together, add a little more of the liquid and stir or pulse, then check again. Repeat as necessary.
- Step 3
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and gather together into a rough ball. You want to be careful not to overwork the flour, but not too careful; the dough should hold together. Divide the ball in half with a knife or a pastry scraper, then divide each portion in half again, and again, to create eight portions. Using the heel of your hand, flatten each portion of dough once or twice to expand the pebbles of butter, then gather the dough together again in one ball. Divide this ball in half.
- Step 4
Flatten each ball into a 5- or 6-inch disc and dust lightly with flour. Wrap the discs in plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for at least 60 minutes.
Private Notes
Comments
I am a fairly experienced pie-baker, but I'm always looking for a good pie crust recipe. This is a good one, but I did modify it. After cutting in the butter and shortening, I didn't think it had enough shortening. So I added 2 more tablespoons. Also, when adding the cold liquids, I ended up using about a 1/2 cup of ice water. The crust came out perfect!
I have been making pie crusts for 50+ years and have always had great results with the butter/Crisco combination. Best change is using vodka (from the freezer) in place of water. Absolutely perfect crust every time
Hi, Kate. (Hi, Hilary, too!) Next time, add a little more ice water, as in step 2: "Gather a golfball-size bit of dough and squeeze to combine. If it does not hold together, add a little more of the liquid and stir or pulse, then check again. Repeat as necessary." Makes a very nice crust! Cheers, Sam
I made this after the butter was corrected to 16 Tbs, and it worked great. My pie crust skills aren’t the best, so I would’ve said I overworked the dough, but it was still nice and flaky and not tough. I was making tomato pie, so I used one stick salted butter and one unsalted, and that was just right.
What happened ? For the first resting stage, I put the dough in the refrigerator overnight. It is now very hard and won't even dent with a rolling pin. Hopefully it will be ok once it warms a bit, but I may just go get a Pillsbury crust and move on. I can make scones. Pie crust is a different. Will search on NYT Cooking for a "How to Make Pie Crust" video.
It’s very odd that this recipe has 4 out of 5 stars. this recipe is just…off. I’m not a super experienced pie maker so i was just following the instructions, and the dough just came out kinda dry and hard to roll out. also the proportions just seemed off to me.