Easy Flaky Pie Crust Recipe

This flaky Amish style Pie crust is easy to assemble and produces a crust that rivals the Amish bakeries with it’s flaky deliciousness. This recipe is from my Mother-in-law who also has Amish heritage and makes some of the best pies!!

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Easy flaky pie crust recipe (Amish style)

marilynpeight

This pie crust recipe from my Mother-in-law is my absolute favorite, because it is so easy and turns out nice and flaky every time!

4.50 from 2 votes

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 15 minutes mins

Cook Time 0 minutes mins

Course Dessert

Cuisine Amish

Servings 3 9 inch pies

Equipment

• Mixing bowl (linked below)
• Rolling Pin (linked below)
• Dinner knives (linked below)
• Glass pie pans (linked below)

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• 3 cups all purpose flour sifted
• 1 1/3 cups vegetable shortening
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 2/3-3/4 cup warm water see note

Instructions

 

• Sift flour into a bowl, then add the rest of the dry ingredients. Add shortening and cut through with dinner knives until shortening is reduced to smaller clumps. Gently mix by hand until only pea sized crumbs remain.
• Add 2/3 cup water, then mix gently until well combined and you are able to form a soft ball of dough. Add the remaining water if the dough still feels crumbly.
• Flour your kitchen surface and roll out pie crusts with a rolling pin to 1/8inch thick, then press into pie plates with plenty of crust to cover the top edge of the pie plate. Trim and flute the edges, then bake as directed in the filling recipe of your choice.

Notes

Add water sparingly until the dough sticks together and rolls out without cracking. 

Sifting the flour helps to break up any clumps and creates better aeration for the ingredients in the pie crust. 

Keyword Flaky Pie crust, Amish, easy

Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

Equipment:

• Mixing bowl A medium-large mixing bowl is needed to combine the ingredients for this Amish style pie crust.
• Rolling pin I prefer to use a wooden pin as my previous rolling pin left flakes in the crust. “Yuck!”
• Dinner knives Dinner knives work well to cut the shortening into the sifted flour
• Pie plates I like to use glass pie plates because they are sturdy and dish washer friendly.

These pie crusts freeze well! Simply roll them out and freeze on parchment paper, or flute the edges and freeze them in a glass pie plate.

Ingredients needed for this flaky pie crust recipe: Flour, shortening, salt, baking powder and water.

Is all purpose flour as good as pie and pastry flour in this recipe?

I use all purpose flour to make my pie crusts, but pie and pastry flour is also a good option for this recipe. I personally haven’t found my pie crust to be lacking in flakiness with just plain all purpose flour, but if you like to do things by the book and want to make sure your pie crust will be flaky, then feel free to use pie and pastry flour.

Step 1-2: Sift the flour, then whisk in the salt and baking powder. Add shortening and cut through with dinner knives until coarse crumbs remain. Add enough water to make the dough workable for rolling.

How do you combine the flour and shortening?

I usually start off the shortening and flour with dinner knives, then I like to gently mix the mixture with my fingers until only small pea sized lumps remain. Using your fingers is optional, I simply like to be able to get a good feel for the dough texture.

Step 3: Roll out the pie dough into a thin sheet (you will need to work in batches). Place into the pie plates of your choice and then flutes the edges or add a top layer of pie crust over the filling of your choice and then seal the edges.

Note*

If the dough seems dry and cracks easily when being rolled, you will need to mix in more water. Flour can be used to keep the dough from sticking to the countertop or to your rolling pin.

You may enjoy some of my pie recipes using this pie crust! For a savory pie try the chicken and zuchinni curry pie, for dessert pies try out the Rhubarb pie and pumpkin pie!

Mom’s fresh Amish pumpkin custard pie was a favorite after school snack for us when we were kids!

Note* If pie crust edges crack while rolling out, mix in a little more water.
I like to use plenty of flour during the rolling out process. Flour the countertop surface and the top of your pie crust to keep it from sticking to your rolling pin.

Feel free to pin for later and leave a rating in the comment section below! Thank you for your support!!

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