You Will Make Homemade One-Minute Pie Dough. And Raspberry Pie.
September 9, 2011 
Well, you can actually make any kind of pie you want. But you will make pie dough. Because it's such a snap and it's so good when it's homemade. You don't think you can make homemade pie dough? What if I told you that if you have a food processor, you can make it in 60 seconds? You don't have a food processor? Put it on your Christmas list. You need one.
Besides, do you really want to use that pre-made pie dough in the grocery store? Here's the ingredient list for Pillsbury Refrigerated Pie Dough:
Do you really want to eat that? Who eats partially hydrogenated lard anymore? The ingredients for my pie dough are flour, water, sugar, butter. You can make pie dough whenever the whim hits you.
ceramic plate from Fifty One and a Half - a talented friend of mine makes
these pretty platters and plates. She's also the mother of
Gaby from What's Gaby Cooking!
I suppose you think rolling out pie dough is hard. Please. I'm going to let you in on the biggest tip for rolling out pie dough. In fact, it makes it so easy I don't know why every single recipe for making a pie doesn't mention it: place the dough between two sheets of plastic wrap. If you've never tried it, you will be amazed. The dough doesn't stick to the counter or the rolling pin and it makes it so easy to roll out.
So there's no excuses anymore. Make a pie.
My husband is crazy about this particular raspberry blackberry crumb pie. There is a bakery in our town that makes these crumb topping pies and he used to like those but frankly, they are coyingly sweet. He prefers this pie, hands down. You can use different fruits - even pitted cherries for this. But this raspberry blackberry combination is his favorite.
You are going to "blind bake" this pie. That means you are going to bake just the crust first for a little while, without the filling, to set it. This prevents a soggy crust and it is a technique that is so worth doing. You need pie weights to do this or just dried beans work, also. But you're going to be a pie-making whiz now, so get youself some pie weights. You can find them in most grocery stores. The pie weights prevent the crust from bubbling up too badly before it's had a chance to set.
Pie Crust Recipe
for a printable recipe of just the pie crust click here
Makes dough for one single crust pie. The recipe is easily doubled for a two crust pie. I use regular butter here instead of unsalted, so I don't need to add any salt. If all you have is unsalted butter on hand, be sure to add 1/2 teaspoon of salt.
- 1¾ cup flour (about 9 ounces)
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1½ sticks cold butter (12 tablespoons), cut into slices
- ¼ cup ice water (approximately)
Place flour and sugar in a food processor. Pulse. Add about half of the butter. Pulse. Add the rest of the butter. Pulse until the mixture turns into coarse crumbs. Through the feed tube, slowly add most of the ice water and pulse until the dough gathers up into a ball. If it doesn't after a few seconds, add a few more drops of ice water until it does. Take the dough and flatten it into a disc and place it on a sheet of floured plastic wrap and wrap it up. Refrigerate for about 30 minutes.
Raspberry Blackberry Crumb Pie
for a printable recipe, click here
makes one 9" deep dish pie
For the Fruit Filling:
Ingredients:
for the pie filling:
- 4 6-ounce containers (1/2 pints) of raspberries
- 2 6-ounce containers of blackberries
- 1/2 cup cornstarch
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
- zest of one lemon
For the Crumb Topping:
- 1/2 cup flour (I like to use white whole wheat)
- 1/2 cup sugar (I like to use half brown sugar, half regular sugar)
- 1/2 cup butter, cut into slices
- 1/2 cup rolled oats
Instructions:
For the Filling:
Gently blend all ingredients in a large bowl.
For the Topping:
Combine all ingredients in a food processor and pulse until well blended.
Assemble and Bake the Pie:
You will need a 9-inch deep dish pie plate, sprayed with a little Pam and some pie weights or dried beans. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
Roll out the pie dough between two sheets of plastic wrap until it's a little larger than your pie dish. Transfer to the pie dish (the easiest way to do this is to roll up the sheet of dough around the rolling pin, transfer the rolling pan to the pie plate and unroll). Gentle press the dough down into the pie plate. Crimp the edges decoratively and dock the bottom of the dough with a fork.
Line the pie with a sheet of tin foil. Place either pie weights or dried beans in the pie plate. Gentle press down the pie weights so they fill in the bottom of the plate. Bake for 15 minutes. Take pie out of oven and gently remove the sheet of tin foil with the pie weights. Place pie back in oven and back for another 15 minutes. Check the pie dough and, if you see any large bubble forming, spear it with a skewer.
Use pie weights to "blind bake" the pie. It sets the crust and
will prevent it from being soggy
Remove from oven and add the filling. Crumble topping over the top. Place a pie ring shield over crust or strips of tin foil, to prevent overbrowning. Place pie on baking sheet to prevent a mess in the bottom of your oven. Return to oven and bake for about 1 hour, until topping is golden brown. Do not let the crumb topping get too dark. Remove from oven and let cool a bit before serving.
Reader Comments (108)
Thank you so much for the pie crust recipe. It is the first time in a Long time that I was not cursing under my breath while trying to roll out the dough!
Thank you so much for sharing this recipe! I'm only a teenager and have never baked a pie before, but today my friend and I used your recipe and created a masterpiece!! My family was blown away by how delicious the pie was and everyone kept asking where I got the recipe!
Thank you so much for making my day much more fun and tasty!
From The Italian Dish:
Cassie: You made my day!
If I wanted to make a savory pie crust for a quiche or chicken pie would I use the same pie dough recipe and just eliminate the sugar?
Wow this is exactly what i was looking for!! The pie dough I used to make has egg in it and I didnt have the veg version!! Thanku soo much!!
Made this and took it to a friend, they raved about it!
Hi,
I don't know what I did wrong, but I doubled the recipe and the dough was so greasy. I kept adding flour, but it didn't help. I weighed the flour in gms. I obviously messed up. Maybe I shouldn't have doubled the recipe.
Will try again, but just the single crust. Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.
I LOVED your bread recipes and have had great success. I love your blog!
From The Italian Dish:
Mollycat: I double this recipe all the time when I make a double crust pie, so that is not it. All I can think of is that you measured something wrong or used a weird kind of butter? Did you use real butter? The dough should not be greasy. Try again! Good luck.
I just tried this recipe, the pie dough and OMG! It is heaven! I have never been able to do pie dough even packaged, but this was so easy and the taste, I could just sit and eat the crust lol Thank you so much and for the video also, great help!
Thank you for this fabulous pie crust recipe! I cannot believe I have never heard of making pie crust in a food processor before!
This turned out great - thank you!
It was my first time making any sort of pastry and this seemed like a simple method. I had a slight panic when the blender broke about 2 minutes in! I finished the pastry by hand and to be honest I'd probably do it that way again (time allowing) as I found it rather therapeutic.
I swapped the filling for apple-blueberry and it was great. I think I'll try yours next time but was craving blueberries.
Now I'm off to trawl your blog for other great things to make!
Thanks
Thank you for this recipe! You have great hands!
I came to this site looking for a good Italian Meatball recipe and there is not one anywhere. I figured that this would be the place. Help !
Great post. Have always used the packaged crust. Will have to try this, looks so easy. Everyone loves my pies, hopefully they will love them even more now.
Just made this and it is delicious! We didn't have any lemon, so I subbed with grapefruit rind and it was awesome! Thanks for this great recipe!
I have been craving pie, and not just any pie, a blackberry and raspberry pie. Since I love to bake I have been looking for recipes everywhere but they all seem to have different fruits in them. Finally I found this!!! Yay!! I'm so happy and I can't wait to make this!! My husband and I LOVE your blog and we always try your recipes. His favorites are the cream puffs and the artisan bread! So thank you for sharing all your wonderful recipes!!!:) ill be sure to comment when I'm done making this pie!:) thanks again!!
Thank you!! I found your site looking for a homemade limoncello recipe and feel like I've won the lottery.
I'm a fairly good baker but always shied away from pies...because I didn't want to use store-bought crust and was too afraid to make my own. Thanks to you I just made 2 BEAUTIFUL pie crusts! I can't believe I was afraid of pie all these years.
Thanks again...oh, and my husband thanks you for the Nutella bread!
I made this pie with all raspberries that I picked from the garden and had frozen. I thawed and drained the berries before using them in the recipe. It came out so beautifully...my husband said it was the best pie he's ever eaten and he's never had anything like it! I love your writing style and recipes. Can't wait to try the next one (I'm thinking walkaway bread, one with apples, the other with berries). Thank you for such tasty and beautiful recipes!
Just wondering if this pie crust could be made with gluten free flour and still be as good? It looks amazing and I hope the GF flour wont make any difference. I'm one of the people who's afraid to even try a pie crust but this one looks so easy I have no more excuses! Thank you!
I can follow your directions just fine until I come to this part, "and let cool a bit before serving." My mind cannot compute that instruction at all! Is there any substitute for this? :)
Thanks for the great recipe.
Can this dough be frozen? Would be great for busy holiday baking to have the crust ready to use. Thanks Mimi
From The Italian Dish:
Mimi: You can certainly freeze this dough. Just wrap it tightly in plastic wrap and use it within a couple of months.
It is very important to let the dough rest in the refrigerator. This time lets the water incorporate evenly into the dough creating a better flake. That is the science. :) Wish I had known the value of this step years ago.
I used your pie crust recipe tonight for a chicken pot pie and also an apple pie. It was so quick and easy!
It was delicious and a hit with the family! Thanks for sharing! :)
I just made this - twice. Worked perfectly both times. AMAZING! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
It's not easy finding a pie crust recipe that doesn't use shortening. I refuse to use it because of trans fats. I knew there HAD to be a way of making one with just good old fashioned butter. Thank you so much for this!!! We will have pie this Friday night, after dinner, when company is here from out of town! So excited!! Thanks again.
Have you tried the oil pastry recipe from Betty Crocker back in the 70s? It uses regular cooking oil instead of butter, and goes together in less than a minute using just a bowl and a table fork. You then roll it out tidily between two sheets of waxed paper. It is very tender and flakey. Of coarse, sometimes you really want to go with real butter, so I'll be trying your recipe, soon!
I have been making my piecrust with the FP for years....and my good ol momma always rolled her pie dough between two sheets of wax paper so I do too! Does anyone under 40 know what wax paper is?
Your site is beautiful, here's to life, food & love!
I followed this recipe exactly, and the pie was absolutely delicious! It was my first attempt at making an entire pie by scratch. We all loved the crust, it was so buttery; reminded me of a shortbread cookie.
I bought organic raspberries an blackberries from Costco. The downside was the cost. The berries alone cost me $20.00. A friend of mine told me that she uses frozen berries for her pie recipe which is a significant savings. Is it possible to utilize frozen berries? Would the directions for the pie and crust be the same?
This is the way my mother and I always make our pie dough, except that I use 2 sheets of wax paper instead of the plastic wrap. Another couple of tips: Roll dough in one direction only and make 1/4 turn 4times for an even circle. Flip over the dough after each 4th turn and loosen paper to ensure dough isn't sticking with each flip. If dough seems to want to stick, sprinkle just a tiny bit of flour between dough and wax paper. I use Wondra flour for this purpose - the shaker gives me just the right amount of flour.
that is almost the same recipe I use for ALL pastry, even if making something savoury I'll add a pinch of sugar to the mix (my pinch is about 1/2 to 1 teaspoon - men tend to have bigger hands LOL) but then, I don't weight out stuff, I just pour/add and guess!!!
I believe this pastry can also be frozen - not tried that yet, but if so, that means you can make extra, and have some in for when you want to make a pie but don't have time/want to make the pastry.
I don't have a processor so I just mix it with my fingers, take any rings off first (must remember that!!) might take a little longer than 60 seconds but still great results, and there is something about mixing it all with your hands that makes it "hand made" as well as Home Baked plus you don't use any electricity for that bit LOL
just brought some baking beans in the UK (pie weights is a US term I guess) so will try the blind bake next (next bake is a steak & kidney pie)
Might even try freezing the pie crusts, then all I need is the filling and instant pie when needed.
Deb, Yes you can use frozen fruit instead of fresh, the pastry etc. will be made the same, only thing it is might take a little longer (or a little less) for the filling to cook, but just keep your eye on it
Roxanne, almost any pie can be eaten cold/cooled I eat meat pies cold along with Cornish pasties and Sausage Rolls (I'm from the UK) but fruit pies are great cold, it will depend on if the people eating it like the pie cold for example I love cold apple pie but a lot of people don't, or you can re-heat in a warm oven or the microwave if needed - be aware the Microwave could make the pastry go soggy! and ONLY reheat the pie slices you are eating, don't reheat the whole thing and let it go cold again.
Where can I find tin foil tart pans? The grocery stores stopped selling them and I haven't found any in the specialty cooking shops. Is amazon the only place?
From The Italian Dish:
Kim: Not sure what you mean by foil tart pans? You mean the disposable ones? My local Meijer and Kroger both carry them.
Would this work well with all blueberries?
Two questions: I live in Louisiana where it's humid most of the time. Today it is extremely so. Will this affect my crust? The recipe I would like to make calls for an unbaked pie crust. Recipe says Bake 425 for 25 minutes and the reduce heat to 350 for additional 35 min
Thanks for the recipe! It made for an awesome quiche crust.
The first time I tried this, I got a big gloppy unusable mess, kind of like the previous poster who doubled the recipe. But I had guests coming for brunch, so I tried again! I realized that it might be because the butter was room temp. I tried it with cold butter, et voila! Actual dough. It might be worth adding this to the recipe notes. If you have any ideas for what I might make from the gloppy dough (now in the freezer), I am all ears... :).
I also found that some of my batter poured over the edges of the crust. I am not sure if this means I didn't use enough weights (beans) during the blind baking stage, so it was too puffy? Either way, it was deeeeelicious.
From The Italian Dish:
Polina: Yes, you need to use cold butter always in a pie dough. I made sure to add that to the recipe. Also, when adding the water be careful not to add all the water at once. I usually add about 3/4 of the water to the dough and then pulse several times. If the dough does not gather up into a ball after several seconds of pulsing, I will add a few more drops at a time of the water. You don't want a too wet dough, just wet enough to bring the dough together in a ball. Hope this helps.
Confused. Do you take off the top plastic wrap, then lift from the bottom piece to roll the dough on the rolling pin?
Also, can you please tell me how to adjust the amounts for my 10 inch pie pan? Thanks.
you tart looks nice..i've tried it but i have something to say about the filling ,waaaay tooo much nutmeg (at least to my taste),i really regret adding it.. nest time i will keep everytho g except for that nutmeg and lower the amount of sugar in that filling as well..thank you for sharing the recipe..
Elaine, now that Thanksgiving is approaching, could we use this same pie dough recipe to make pumpkin pie? I would assume we would need to blind bake it first, is that correct?
Thanks in advance for your response.
(My family LOVED this berry pie when I made it in the spring.)
From The Italian Dish:
Deb: Yes, I use this dough recipe for all of my pies. As for blind baking the crust first, that is personal preference - there are pumpkin pie recipes that say to pour the filling in an unbaked pie shell.
Your 1 minute pie crust sounds great, but I only have a 10 inch glass pie pan. Could I stretch this recipe out to cover my apple pie recipe that is for apples in a 10 inch pan? Or, what if I added 1/4 more flour and 1/4 more butter and 1/2 cup ice water? Any help would be wonderful.
From The Italian Dish:
Judy: If you need a little more pie crust to fill a larger pan, you can totally increase the recipe a little. I would add about 1/2 cup more flour, 4 tablespoons more of butter, a little bit more sugar and then just add a few more drops of ice water until the dough comes together. You should be good. Hope this helps.
I have had this pinned for a while and finally made the crust last night. It was so easy! Somehow I grabbed the wrong measuring cup from the drawer and instead of 3 quarter cups of flour, I used 3 third cups of flour! Guess what-it still worked! I did have to use a little more water, but the crust was beautiful and flaky!! It rolled easily and made a wonderful crust for my sweet potato-pecan pie. Thank you so much-I have never been able to make a good crust in my 40+ years of cooking and will never have to buy the store bought again :)
From The Italian Dish:
Shastababy: You made my day! Thanks for sharing.
I've made this pie twice now. The first time I zested the lemon like crazy and it was way too lemony but still delicious and I ate it anyway :) I thought lemons might vary by region (I'm in FL and I think we have Myer's lemons). The 2nd time I forgot the PAM so it scooped out more like a cobbler. Also, I washed the berries but I guess I didn't drain them well because it was very watery the 2nd time after I baked it, but I drained out the water and it ended up fine, everyone loved it. I tried a different crust recipe that added Crisco to see if the crust was flakier but it wasn't, just oilier. I'm going back to yours. I've read through your blog like crazy because I was NOT a cook but my family is so impressed that I can cook now! The marinara is yummy and SO EASY. Now that I have a food processor (invested in a 9 cup KitchenAid) I'm going to try pizza soon. And apple pie (can you add more pie ingredient combinations?) I love the posts about gadgets you can't live without (very helpful) and the tips you include in your recipes. Thank you!
Made this again for Easter and it is such a hit! I've now mastered keeping the butter COLD. I put the butter in the freezer shortly before making the dough, use ice cold water, then when I put the disk of dough in the coldest part of the fridge for 30 minutes I place a large ice pack on the granite counter so it's nice and cold when I roll out the dough, and the pie dish in the fridge or freezer. I end up with a buttery, flaky delicious crust. Also, everyone loves this topping and it's so simple!
Thank you for the directions, I would like to try, but I have a gluten sensitivity and try to make everything gluten-free. What type of flour would you suggest for GF?
Hi - I really enjoy your recipes. I was wondering if you have used this to make a savory tart by just omitting the sugar? or do you have a recipe to share for this? The one I have "shrinks" in the oven and I want to find one I can use to make quiches and tarts. Thank you.