The Best No-Fail All Butter Pie Crust

To Make the Pie Crust

1. In the bowl of a food processor, add the flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder and pulse 2-3 times to blend. Add the butter, separating the pieces if they’re stuck together, and toss them with the flour mixture. Pulse the flour mixture until there is a mixture of almond/walnut-size pieces and pea-size pieces, about 7-10 pulses. Drizzle the cold water over the butter-flour mixture and pulse 3-4 more times.
2. To make the pie dough in a bowl, mix together the flour, salt and sugar. Add the butter, separating the pieces if they’re stuck together, and toss them with the flour mixture. Cut the butter into the flour mixture until there is a mixture of almond/walnut-size pieces and pea-size pieces. Drizzle the water over the butter-flour mixture. Mix with fork.
3. Dump the mixture on the counter. It should be loose and unincorporated. Use a bench scraper to gather the crumbs into the mass of dough. Use the heel of your hand to smear the mixture away from you one-third at a time. If the mixture is still dry rather than crumbly, add more water a tablespoonful at a time, sprinkling it over the dough. Gather the dough together with the bench scraper. Repeat again and then again if necessary.
4. Cut the dough in half with the bench scraper and form each half into a puck shape. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. 

To Roll the Pie Crust

1. Pull one of the dough pucks from the refrigerator and place on the countertop sprinkled with flour and sprinkle the dough with a bit of flour too. Use your fingers to make indentations along the outside circle of the pie disc before rolling (this helps prevent the edges from cracking). Rub some flour on the rolling pin then rap the dough with the rolling pin 6-8 times to soften it. Flip the dough over, lightly dust it with flour and rap the dough again, this time in the opposite direction.
2. Starting from the middle of the dough, roll the dough away from you, giving it a quarter turn after each couple of passes. Flip the dough over and once again roll the dough from the middle outward, giving the dough a quarter turn each time, dusting the flour and the roller as needed. If any of the butter breaks through the surface, dab with a bit of water and join the pieces together, then sprinkle some flour over the exposed area and brush away the excess.
3. Roll the dough to a few inches larger than your 9-inch glass pie pan. Gently fold the dough in half and in one movement lift it off the rolling surface and into the pan. Unfold the dough circle and gently ease it into the pan. Don’t stretch the dough down into the pan or it will bounce back and shrink when it heats up in the oven. Repeat with the other disc of pie dough.
4. For a single crust pie, cover with plastic wrap and freeze the dough in the pie pan for at least 30 minutes or up to 1 month before baking. 
5. For a double crust pie, fill your pie with filling, add the top pie crust and crimp the edges. Cover with plastic wrap and freeze for 30 minutes before baking or freeze for up to 1 month. 

To Blind Bake the Pie Crust

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. 
2. Take the pie crust from the freezer and line the dough with heavy-duty aluminum foil, pressing into the edges with the edges of the foil falling over the sides making it easy to lift out later. Fill to the top crust's lip with pie weights, dry beans, or sugar. 
3. Bake for 45-50 minutes for a pie that you will cook further, like a quiche. Bake for 60-70 minutes for pies that need no further baking, like fresh fruit or custard pies.
4. Remove the pie shell from the oven. Lift out aluminum foil with the pie weights using the overhanging foil. Let the pie weights cool and save for future pie crust baking.