This pastry works for both sweet and savoury pies, hand pies, quiches or galettes. This recipe makes enough for one 9-inch pastry crust. Once you get the hang of it, I suggest doubling the recipe every time you make it. That way you either have enough to make 1 double-crust pie or two quiches/galettes. It’s just as easy to make two crusts as one.
1 ¼ cups all purpose flour
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
½ tsp salt
2-4 tbsp ice cold water
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Cut the butter into ½-in. pieces and refrigerate until ready to use.
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Add flour and salt into a food processor and pulse a couple of times. Add chilled butter and pulse until a mixture resembling coarse meal, with pea-sized chunks of butter, forms.
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Drizzle in 2 tbsp water while pulsing. Open the processer and grab a handful of dough; squeeze it together in the palm of your hand. If it sticks together, move on to the next step. Otherwise add another tablespoon of water and pulse until mixture is still crumbly but holds together when squeezed.
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Turn dough out on to a large piece of plastic wrap and fold plastic over the dough, pressing it into a 1-in. round disc. Wrap the dough and refrigerate for at least 30 min, or up to two days. (To freeze, wrap in plastic and overwrap in aluminum foil and freeze for up to 3 months.)
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Remove disc from fridge and allow to sit at room temperature for 5 min.
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On a well-floured surface, roll the dough out with a floured rolling pin into a 12-in. round disc. Be sure to turn the dough often and re-flour to prevent it from sticking.
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Wrap the dough around the rolling pin and transfer into a 9-in. pie plate. Gently press the dough into the pie plate. If it cracks, seal the crack by pressing the dough together.
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Trim the dough but leave a 1-in. overhang and fold under to form an edge.
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Place in the fridge until ready to use.