Directions

• Mixing
• Cut each stick of butter into 8 roughly-equal pieces, and place in the freezer while you carry out next steps.
• Whisk the flour, salt, and sugar, in a large mixing bowl, 100 strokes. Remove and set aside roughly half of the mixture.
• Scatter the chilled butter over the flour mixture, and toss to coat the butter pieces. Using a pastry blender, cut the butter into the flour mixture. You’re doing two things: you’re cutting the butter into smaller pieces, using pressing and rocking motions with the pastry blender. You’re also periodically using the blender to scoop through the mixture, to make sure you keeping everything uniform. Work with moderate muscle: not too much, nor too little. Watch carefully as you go. When there aren’t many large pieces left, and those pieces are smaller than grapes, but larger than peas, add in the reserved flour mixture. Be more gentle with your cutting and scooping now, until mixture is uniform for the most part, and the few remaining pieces of butter are pea-sized.
• Drizzle 2 tablespoons of ice water over the flour-butter mixture, and blend gently with a stiff-but-flexible spatula, using cutting, folding, and pressing motions. Grab up a bit of the mixture and press it together in your fist. Release the pressure. It may seem to hold together, but the slightest bit of pressure will break it apart into dust. This is the benchmark for what you’re wanting to avoid. Repeat with an additional 2 tablespoons water. Let this step take some time, so that the flour has a chance to hydrate.
• When you notice that your spatula action makes a visible change in the dough, and the dough clumps together without falling apart, you’ve added enough water. If this hasn’t happened after your 4th tablespoon of water, add more 1 tablespoon at a time, remembering to work at a moderatly slow pace, giving it time, and checking the consistency. I usually find that a total of between 5 and 6 tablespoons does the trick, and my preference is for 5.
• You now have a clumpable dough, but it hasn’t yet fully come together. Abandon the spatula and use your hands to gently toss the dough, adding very light pressure until it does come together into a shaggy mass.
• Lay out a large sheet of plastic wrap on a work surface. Turn the dough out onto the plastic. Use the edges of the plastic to press the dough into more of a solid mass. Use a bench scraper to divide it into two pieces. Place the second piece on another sheet of plastic. Weigh them to get them pretty much even. Then, wrap the plastic tightly around each one and form them into solid disks. Make sure they’re tighly wrapped, and refrigerate them for at least 1 hour.
• Rolling
• Lightly butter your pie plate. (Cold butter will make it easy to give the plate a light coating.)
• Rolling out pie crust will require additional flour; use as little as possible. Lightly dust a clean, dry work surface (I use a silicone rolling mat) with flour. Place the chilled dough in the center of the work surface, and lightly dust the dough as well as the rolling pin (I use an adjustable, stainless steel rolling pin) with flour.
• At first, a properly chilled dough will be too stiff to roll. You have to beat it into submission. Seriously, I mean whack it with the rolling pin. Not in a murderous way, but hard enough to put serious dents into it. Once it becomes pliable, set a timer for two minutes, position the rolling pin on the center of the disk, and begin rolling the dough away from you. Give the disk a quarter turn, and roll again. Continue turning and rolling until you have an even 1/8-inch thickness (or perhaps a tiny bit thinner). If it feels sticky at any point during the process, dust very lightly with a tiny bit more flour. If the timer goes off before you’re done, transfer the dough to the freezer for three minutes, then continue rolling and chilling, rolling and chilling. As the dough gets thinner, a bench scraper can help you manipulate it as you turn it or transfer it to the freezer.
• Move it to the pie plate: to minimize stretching when moving the dough, roll it around the pin, lift up, and unroll over the buttered pie plate. Do not stretch the dough as you fit it to the pan. Gently lift and zhuzh it into place. Trim any excess dough with a kitchen shears, leaving a 1-inch overhang; then fold dough under to reinforce the edge. If this is a single-crust pie, crimp. Chill for at least 2 hours.
• Pre-Baking (aka Bling Baking)
• Line the crust with enough aluminum foil that the edges stick up over the edge of the pie by four inches. Form the foil for a snug fit. Fold the edges over, covering the crimp loosely.
• Add pie weights (pennies, marbles, dry rice, dried beans, dry wheat berries, plain white sugar, or fancy ceramic pie weights), enough to fill the pan at least 2/3 full, butting it up against the edges. Chill the crust for 30 minutes.
• Bake in a preheated 350°F oven until beautifully brown, 1 hour. (20 minutes for a very pale gold color if it will have a filling that needs to be baked in the shell.) (Allow to cool fully for a non-baked filling.)