In a medium bowl combine flour, sugar, and salt.

Add in butter and using a pastry blender or your hands, work butter until in small pea-size pieces.

Using a fork, stir in the vinegar. Add water 2 tablespoons at a time and mix until just combined. If mixture appears dry, add in 1-2 more tablespoons of water.

Divide dough in half and flatten it into a disk. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour, but preferably overnight. If you aren’t making two pies, freeze the 2nd half for a later time.

To roll and bake dough:

Using as much flour as needed, roll into a 12-inch circle and drape across a 9-inch pie plate. Dust off excess flour with a pastry brush. Gently press dough into the bottom of the pie shell. With scissors or kitchen shears, trim the edge so that it overhangs by approximately 1 1/2 inches all around. Fold overhang under itself to create a border that sits atop the rim of the pan. Crimp or shape crust as desired. Wrap with plastic and refrigerate for at least 2 hours and up to overnight.

To Blind-Baked Pie: Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and preheat to 400°F. Line chilled pie shell with a large sheet of aluminum foil, pressing so it conforms to the curves of the plate (a second sheet of aluminum may be needed for full coverage). Fill almost to the brim with pie weights or rice, transfer to a half sheet pan, and bake until fully set and golden around the edges, 40-45 minutes. Fold long sides of foil toward the middle, gather short sides, and use both hands to carefully transfer pie weights to a heat-safe bowl.

Lower oven temperature to 350°F. Continue baking the crust a few minutes more to brown the bottom of the pie dough.

Pie Dough Tips

All ingredients should be cold.

Butter should only be worked until about the size of a pea or a smashed pea. YOU WANT TO SEE PIECES OF BUTTER

Once you add the water, you need at least ½ added, but you may not use all of it. It depends on how much you have worked in the butter.

When adding the water, do not overmix - it will make the dough tough and it will shrink back. This means DO NOT KNEAD the dough.

When you are finished, flatten the dough. If you are rolling the dough into a circle, make it a circle. If you are rolling the dough into a rectangle - shape it into a rectangle.

Allow the dough to rest for at least one hour in the refrigerator. This helps the flour hydrate, the butter resolidify, and the gluten relax.

When you roll the dough - lightly flour your surface and the top of the dough. Make sure every time you roll, you pick up the dough and rotate the dough to make sure it isn’t sticking.

Refrigerate or freeze the dough before baking.

Pie Dough

Ingredients

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