The Best Pastry Crust

Prep time: 15 min
Servings: 16
Yield: 16 servings

Description

Forget the shortening in this butter-based pastry crust recipe that is easily thrown together to create a perfect base for sweet and savory tarts and pies.

Ingredients

2 1/4 cups sifted all-purpose flour, or more as needed
1/4 teaspoon salt
14 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup chilled water, or more as needed

Directions

1 Mix flour and salt together in a large bowl. Cut in butter using a pastry blender until the mixture resembles fine cornmeal. Pour in water slowly; knead dough into a firm ball.
2 Pour in additional water as needed if dough is too dry or additional flour if too moist. Divide batter into equal halves. Roll out dough halves into rounds on a lightly floured work surface using a lightly floured rolling pin to desired thickness.
3 Press one round into the bottom of a 9-inch pie pan. Use the other round as a top crust or for a separate bottom crust. Bake according to desired filling instructions.