Basic pie crust

Making the basic pie crust – 10 minutes + waiting time

Combine flour and salt and gradually add soft butter into cubes. Knead until you've reached a crumbly dough.

Whisk the egg, sugar and vanilla extract in a small bowl with a fork and add the mixture to the dough.

Knead until you've reached a dough ball, wrap in cling film and refrigerate about an hour.

Remove the dough ball from the fridge after an hour, dust your work surface and rolling pin with flour and roll out the dough until it fits in the pie dish.

Coat the pie dish with butter and add the dough to the pie dish. You can now use this pie crust for all kinds of fillings and bake in the oven, such as all kinds of fruit. Click here for an example.

tip: use a fork to create holes in the pie crust to prevent the dough from rising during baking.

How to blind bake a pie crust

If you'd like to fill a pie crust with fruit or custard, you need to blind-bake the pie crust first. This simply means that you put some weight on the dough to prevent it from rising during baking. 

Line the pie crust with a piece of parchment paper and pour the ceramic baking beans on top. You can also use dried beans or rice for this.

Bake the pie crust until it's beautiful golden brown, that will take about 10 to 15 minutes. Let it cool off before you remove the baking beans and parchment paper. The pie crust is now ready to fill with ingredients that don't need to bake in the oven.