Why Cold Butter Is The Secret For The Best Homemade Pie Crust

Whether you're baking an easy apple pie or a more involved Jamaican beef patty pot pie, one universal truth applies when you're making the whole thing from scratch: You want the pie crust to be buttery and flaky. And that means using cold butter is absolutely essential for achieving the right texture. But why can't you use the room temperature butter that's been sitting out on your counter? 

Food Republic spoke to Odette D'Aniello, baking expert and CEO at Dragonfly Cakes. She explained: "When the cold butter hits the hot oven, the water content inside the butter rapidly turns to steam, creating little pockets that lift and separate the layers of dough."

D'Aniello went on to say that if your butter warms up too much while you're mixing it (or if it starts out warm), it can bind too thoroughly with the flour, resulting in a "more mealy or tender crust[,] rather than a flaky one." Not using cold butter is a common mistake that make pie crust tough — and in fact, you might also want to use chilled water (or apple cider vinegar) to ensure it turns out perfect.

Even if you start with cold butter, it can warm up quickly while you're working with it. Luckily, Odette D'Aniello had a few tricks to share. First, she cuts the butter into cubes and chills it in the freezer for about 10 minutes before mixing. And sometimes, if the kitchen is particularly warm, she said she'll "even chill the flour and mixing bowl."

At D'Aniello's bakery, they sometimes cool their hands with ice packs before handling butter, "so the butter doesn't melt from the warmth of our hands." She also recommended working as quickly as possible, and if you feel the butter starting to soften too much, you can pop the whole mixture — bowl and all — back into the fridge for a few minutes. This lets the butter firm up again and cools down the other ingredients too.

Finally, D'Aniello suggested using a pastry cutter or even grating frozen butter on a box grater. This helps minimize how much your warm hands come into contact with the butter.