Vegan Shortcrust Pastry (Pie Crust)

Close up of an empty, baked pie shell in a glass pie pan.

Vegan Shortcrust Pastry (Pie Crust)

This vegan shortcrust pastry is deliciously flaky with lots of buttery layers of flavor. Using a vegan butter substitute is the perfect way to enjoy a classic recipe, made dairy free!

Course Dessert

Cuisine American-inspired, Vegan

Keyword Dairy free shortcrust pastry, Vegan shortcrust pastry

Prep Time 20

Cook Time 15

Total Time 35

Servings Pie Shell

Calories 1417kcal

Equipment

Ingredients

1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour , unbleached
⅛ teaspoon salt
½ cup vegan butter , cold
3 tablespoons ice water

Instructions

Step 1: Measure Ingredients

Measure flour by gently spooning a heaping amount into the measuring cup then use the flat edge of a knife to scrape off excess.
1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour

Step 2: Whisk Dry Ingredients

Add flour and salt to a large bowl and whisk together.
⅛ teaspoon salt

Step 3: Cut Butter into Flour

Add half the butter (¼ cup) in small pieces to the flour. Use your hands to cut this butter into the flour until the pieces are about pea-sized. To cut the butter in, press on the pieces with your fingers to make the butter smaller and ensure each of these smaller pieces are coated in flour. Work as efficiently as possible to help keep the butter cold.
½ cup vegan butter
Add the remaining vegan butter to the flour and cut this butter in, using the same technique as above; this time, keep these butter pieces larger, about the size of a nickel or penny. At this point there should be flour-coated pieces of butter throughout, but the mixture will still look grainy and there will be loose flour (it won’t look like dough yet).

Step 4: Stir in Water and Form a Disk of Dough

Create a well in the center of the flour-butter mixture and add ice cold water (literally water with ice cubes in it to make sure it’s very cold).
3 tablespoons ice water
Use a fork to mix water into the flour until everything is just mixed (as soon as there are no more dry pieces of flour, stop mixing). At this point the dough should form. If you press the dough together it will stick to itself and not just crumble away. It shouldn’t be so sticky that it’s sticking to your hands. If the mixture is too dry (not holding together) slowly add more water, ½ tablespoon at a time. If it’s too sticky, add some additional flour 1-2 tablespoon at a time.
Shape the dough into a round, flat disk and wrap in plastic wrap. Allow to rest in the fridge for at least 20 minutes, up to overnight. If you want to freeze the dough, this is the time to do that.

Step 5: Roll Vegan Pastry Dough

When ready to roll the dough, preheat the oven using the temperature indicated in the recipe you’re using to fill the pastry with. If blind-baking, set the oven to 400 °F.
Sprinkle flour over your rolling surface and place the dough in the center of this. Sprinkle more flour over the top of the pastry dough.
Gently roll using light pressure from the center of the dough to the edges. If the edges begin to crack, lightly press them together, avoiding getting extra flour in between the cracks (it shouldn’t crack too much; if it is, not enough water was added to the dough).
Continue rolling, adding extra flour to the top and bottom of the dough as needed (you can peel the dough up to add extra flour to the bottom). Roll to ¼ inch/ ½ cm thick.

Step 6: Transfer Pastry to Baking Dish

Transfer the dough to your baking dish. It’s easiest to roll the dough onto the rolling pin then lift to transfer, unrolling loosely over the baking dish.
Shape the pastry as needed, cutting excess dough from the edges.

Step 6: Blind Bake (or Fill and Bake)

If blind baking, poke holes with a fork across the bottom (see pictures for indication of how many holes to poke). Bake for 15-20 minutes, until the top edges have browned and the crust is lightly crisped all over.
If adding filling before baking, refer to the other recipe for baking directions.
Enjoy your delicious, buttery and flaky vegan pastry!

Notes

Accuracy of nutrition information cannot be guaranteed (certain ingredients may not have all nutrients listed in the database); amounts may vary (and will vary depending on brands of ingredients used); all nutrition fact values rounded to the nearest whole number.

Nutrition