Best Butter Pie Crust

For the crust:
Cut butter into 1/2-inch cubes. Place into freezer for 20 minutes.

Place flour, sugar, and salt in food processor and pulse a few times to mix. After butter has been in the freezer for 20 minutes, add to food processor and pulse 5–6 times. The goal is to mix the butter into the flour. The cubes of butter should be no smaller than peas.

Move flour mixture to large bowl. Add water to flour 2 tablespoons at a time. Toss with fork. We want to get to the point where, if you take your hand squeeze a handful of flour, it will stick together. Work dough until it sticks together somewhat well and can be formed into a disk. We don’t want the butter to fully incorporate. If you need to add more water, you can, but do so only very sparingly.

Tightly wrap in plastic wrap and place in freezer for 20 minutes.

When ready to use, preheat oven to 425ºF.

Take dough out of freezer and unwrap. Roll out the dough. Place one pie crust on the bottom of pie dish. Add pie filling. Dot with butter. Add top crust and use fingers to pinch crust together. Trim excess dough—keep in mind the crust will shink a bit, so leave a bit of room. Using fork, crimp the two crusts together.

Beat egg and brush on crust. Sprinkle with sugar. Using a knife, make four holes in top crust. Cover with foil.

Bake for 35 minutes. Remove tinfoil. Bake another 5–10 minutes, checking every 5 minutes. Remove when it looks done. Let rest for at least 2 hours before serving.