The Ultimate Flaky and Tender Pie and Tart Crust

Double Crust or Lattice Pie (for a 9-inch pie)

• 12 tablespoons (170 g) unsalted butter, cold
• 2 and 1/2 cups + 1 tablespoon (290 g) pastry flour (or bleached all purpose flour, or 2/3 bleached all purpose flour and 1/3 cake flour)
• 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 1/4 teaspoon [aluminium-free baking powder](https://www.amazon.in/Urban-Platter-Aluminum-Free-Baking-Gluten-free/dp/B06ZZ97TY7/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1510563660&sr=8-1&)
• 1/2 cup (128 g) cream cheese, cold
• 3 tablespoons heavy cream
• 1 tablespoon cider vinegar

Single Crust

• Halve the above ingredients

1. 1Cut the butter into 1/2 cubes and freeze them for 30 minutes.
2. 2Ensure everything is cold, including the mixing bowl. I usually sift the flour into my mixing bowl and let it rest in the freezer for 15 minutes. The cream cheese and cream also sit in the freezer!
3. 3Start off by putting the flour in a food processor (you could use a pastry cutter) and pulse it for 2 seconds.
4. 4Then add the baking powder and salt and blend for a few seconds.
5. 5Add the cream cheese next and pulse the food processor for 20 seconds, until the mix resembles course meal.
6. 6Now add half the butter and pulse until you find pea sized bits of the butter in your mix. The first time I made this crust, I didn't like how fine the butter had become. So, I recommend adding the other half at the end, so you are left with bigger pieces of butter.
7. 7Add to it the cream and vinegar and pulse for a few seconds, until you find small pea sized bits of butter.
8. 8Add the remaining butter and pulse for a few seconds more.
9. 9Empty it all onto a cold work surface and press it down together with your knuckles and the balls of your palm, until the whole thing can hold itself together and has a tiny amount of stretch. To ease the process you could empty the dough into a freezer-weight plastic bag and press the dough together from the outside of the bag or wrap it with plastic wrap and try binding it together that way. Here’s what I did since I don’t own a freezer-weight plastic bag: I let a steel mixing bowl rest in the freezer for 30 minutes, and emptied the mix into that.
10. 10Shape it into two discs, wrap them up in plastic wrap and store them in the fridge for 45 minutes.
11. 11Take the cold discs out and let them rest for 10 minutes.
12. 12Lightly flour your work surface with some flour and rub some flour on your rolling pin sleeve.
13. 13Roll out the discs one by one into thin flat discs, pushing out from the middle towards the ends.
14. 14For a 9-inch plate, roll out your dough to a 12 and 1/2-inch disc.
15. 15Lightly flour the disc, fold it in quarters, lift it up and ease it into the pie plate and then unfold it gently and ease it into the pie plate.
16. 16For a single crust pie, tuck under excess dough and press down. Refrigerate for 1 to 24 hours.
17. 17For a double crust pie, leave about a centimetre over the edge of the plate and trim the excess. Refrigerate until you are ready to fill the pie. After you are done with the filling, roll out another 12 and 1/2-inch disc for the top crust. Brush the bottom crust with water and tuck the top crust under the bottom crust.