Making Pie Crust

Pie is the peacemaker of the culinary world. It eases the transition from summer to fall (teaching us that peaches must give way to pears and pumpkin) and broaches the sweet and savory divide so that chicken pot pie and pecan pie happily co-exist in kitchens across the country.

Sadly, there are few endeavors as angst-producing as making pie crust. The key is to be kind when mixing, rolling, and shaping the dough. It will develop an elastic texture if overworked and end up hard as a board. In this post, I’ll share tips to help you produce an eye-catching crust.

How to Roll Pie Dough

Dust a cutting board and rolling pin with flour.

Place a disc of pie dough in the center of the cutting board.

Position the rolling pin in center of the disc and roll it towards the edge of the dough using even pressure.

Rotate the dough to prevent it from sticking to the board and repeat.

Continue until you have a circle of dough that is a 1/8 of an inch thick. 

How to Place Dough in a Pie Plate


Place the rolling pin at the edge of the dough and slowly roll the pin to wrap the dough around it.

Hold the rolling pin over a pie pan. Carefully unroll the dough allowing the edges of the dough to hang over the pie pan.

Tuck the dough into the corners of the pan.

How to Embellish the Edges of Pie Dough

With the tips of your fingers, lift the dough that is hanging over the edge of the pan and fold it onto the lip of the pan.

To crimp the edges: Hold the index finger of one hand over the edge of the dough. Press it into the index finger and middle finger of the other hand. Repeat until you've worked all the way around the rim.

Or, to simply decorate the edges with a fork: Gently press the folk along the edges of the dough.