Pâte brisée (buttery French pie dough)

Pâte brisée dough rolled out in a glass pie pan with a fluted edge

3.72 from 7 votes

Pâte brisée (buttery French pie dough)

This classic French pie dough recipe makes a flaky and buttery crust for fruit pies, custard pies, and savory pies, such as quiches. Use frozen butter defrosted for about 20 minutes until it's just possible to cube with a knife. Use heavy whipping cream to add extra richness or substitute with iced water.

Prep Time10 mins

Cook Time0 mins

Chill Time30 mins

Total Time40 mins

Course: Cooking Helper

Cuisine: French

Keyword: 10 ingredients or less, 5-minute recipe, baking, carbs, christmas, comfort, holiday, pie, pie crust

Servings: people

Calories: 241kcal

Author: Anna Rider

Cost: $3

Equipment

Knife
fork
spoon
Rolling Pin
pie pan

Ingredients

½ cup Butter salted butter, about 1 stick, frozen butter defrosted for 20 minutes
2 cups Flour all-purpose
4 tablespoons Heavy whipping cream use as needed, can be replaced with iced water
3 tablespoons sugar optional to add if making sweet pies and you want a sweet crust

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Gather the ingredients.
Cut the butter into small cubes, about half an inch/1 cm.
Add the cubed butter to the wheat flour. Toss the cubes of butter until they are coated with the flour.
Use your hands to rub the butter into the flour. Work very quickly with your warm hands to avoid melting the butter too much. Use a rubbing motion to rub the butter between your fingers. This step should take less than 5 minutes if you're working very quickly. If you are in a very warm kitchen, check out How to bake pies when your kitchen is hot for tips.
After the butter is evenly crumbled into the flour, add one tablespoon of heavy whipping cream at a time. You can also use iced water if you prefer a lower-fat liquid or you don't have whipping cream at home. Mix the liquid with the flour and butter until the dough comes together.
Add an extra tablespoon of liquid (either cream or water) at a time until the dough forms into a ball. You may need to knead the dough a few times for the liquid and dry ingredients to combine. Avoid overworking the dough at this point. Stop once the dough is just combined into a ball. It should take you 5 minutes or less of mixing and kneading from the moment of adding the first tablespoon of liquid.
Your ball of dough is ready. Keep reading for advice on how to roll out the pâte brisée (pie dough) or how to freeze it for later use.

Notes

The recipe quantities result in 1 pâte brisée crust that is sufficient for the bottom of a pie pan with enough excess pastry that you can patch holes and flute the edge. If you need a top and bottom crust, double the quantity of the ingredients and follow the same instructions.

Some people can struggle with making this recipe after doubling the ingredients because it is harder to evenly mix the butter into the flour without melting it. If you find your pâte brisée is not baking well after doubling the ingredients, then you'll want to make 2 separate pâte brisée following the original ingredient quantities rather than taking a shortcut to double the ingredient quantities.

You can also try to use a food processor to bring this pâte brisée together. Follow the same ingredient list and put the cubed butter and flour into a food processor. Pulse for 90 seconds or until the mixture resembles rough bread crumbs with pea-sized butter crumbs. Then add in the liquid one spoon at a time and pulse until the dough comes together.

Nutrition