Basic butter pie crust

Yield: 1 crust

Time: 30 min

*This crust is good for sweet and savory pies and galettes. Need a double crust? Simply double this recipe.

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Baker’s percentage:

• AP flour: 100%

• Butter: 75%

• Hydration: 30-40%

• Salt: 2%

• Sugar*: 2%

• Citric acid*: 2%

Ingredients, Measurement (FOR ONE CRUST - double for two crusts):

• AP flour: 175g

• Sourdough discard (100% hydration): 125g

• Butter, cold and cubed: 131g, 9 tbsp, 1 stick + 1 tbsp

• Ice water*: 25g

• Salt: 6g

• Granulated sugar*: 6g

• Lemon juice*: 6g

• Zest*: 6g

*Asterisked ingredients are optional. Sugar will help the crust brown and lemon juice will prevent gluten from forming and giving you a tough crust. I generally leave these ingredients out, but they won’t hurt. Also, I add zest for my sweet pies but leave it out of savory pies. For the ice water, hold off on adding water until you add the starter. If the dough comes together when kneading, you might not need the water at all.

1. Prep the butter: cut half into cubes and half into crosswise slices. Put crosswise slices in the fridge while you prep the dough.

2. Combine AP flour, salt, zest* and sugar* in a large mixing bowl and mix. Add butter cubes and use a bench press to flatten and cut the butter into pea sized pieces

3. Add the remaining butter slices to dough and flatten until butter is in thin pieces - it's ok if butter breaks apart.

4. Add sourdough discard and lemon juice*. Mix with spatula until dough forms. Drizzle ice water in slowly and use fork to mix. Should be shaggy.

5. Roll out plastic wrap onto counter and pour out shaggy dough. Knead lightly just until douyj comes together. You don’t need to knead this dough for long – just until the dough comes together.

6. Flatten into a ~6-in” diameter disc, wrap, chill in refrigerator for at least 1 hr.

7. Roll out disk into rectangle. Fold into thirds, like a book. Form into rough disk again and refrigerate for at least 30m - or wrap tightly and put into plastic ziploc and freeze up to 3 months.

8. Lightly flour your counter. Roll out dough, continually making sure the dough is not sticking to the counter as you roll. (I use a bench scraper and peel the bottom off the counter repeatedly.) Roll the dough into a circle that is 1/8-in thick or 14-in in diameter.

9. Grease your pie tin. Take your rolling pin and hover it over your dough. With the bench scraper, release dough from counter. Flip the dough over onto the rolling pin (so it’s draping over the rolling pin), transfer to pie tin with dough side down. Press down into tin and use as needed!