Family Pie Paste (1873)

This all-butter pie crust is an easy, no-fail recipe that works as well for savory meat pies, as it does for sweet pies like apple or pumpkin. This has become my everyday “go-to” pie crust recipe.

Dear friends ~

The pie crust recipe you’ll find here is from Sarah Hale’s 1873 cook book. You might recognize that name, since she was the person who advocated so tirelessly for Thanksgiving to be recognized as a national holiday.

Using her pie crust recipe for Thanksgiving pies just seems fitting, somehow. Plus–it’s just a classic, no-fail crust recipe that works well for both sweet or savory pies.

It’s a tender, flaky crust that always seems to come out right, and especially for sweet pies, this has become my “go-to” crust recipe. Hope you enjoy!

~ Anna

FAMILY PIE PASTE

Rub half a pound of butter into a pound of flour, and add water enough to knead it thoroughly. 
Another common proportion is half a pound of butter to a pound and a half of flour.

Mrs. Hale’s New Cook Book, 1873

Here’s a photo of the recipe as it appears in the cookbook:

A FEW COOKING NOTES: 

If you’ve never made an all-butter pie crust, you may worry that this will be difficult to roll out and work with. For some reason, all-butter crusts seem to have this reputation. 

Honestly though, it’s become my everyday go-to crust recipe, because it’s easy to make, easy to roll, and works well for both sweet and savory pie recipes.

Salted or Unsalted Butter?

Personally, when I’m making this crust for a sweet pie, I use unsalted butter. When making it for a savory pie, like a pork pie or a quiche, I use salted butter. 

When in doubt, you really can’t go wrong with unsalted, in my opinion.

Start by working that butter well into the flour, using a fork or a pastry cutter if you have one. It should be so well integrated that the whole thing looks like cornmeal. Then you’re ready to add the water.

How much water?

I find that using the amounts of ½ pound of butter, to 1 pound of flour, requires anywhere from 9 to 11 tablespoons of water. That amount can vary a bit depending on everything from the brand of flour you’re using, to the brand or temperature of the butter. I start with 8 tablespoons, and work in more as needed to get a nice, soft consistency. 

Think “brand new play dough when you first take it out of a fresh container” consistency, not “play dough after your kid has used it 87 times” consistency.

How many pies does this make?

It depends on the size and depth of your pie plates, but you can count on this recipe to generously provide bottom crusts for two single-crust pies, or a top and bottom crust for one two-crust pie. 

If you’re using an old-fashioned pie plate like mine, these tended to be on the shallow side, and you really could get three bottom crusts out of one batch of this recipe.

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After sharing this recipe in a recent email, I had a great question from a reader. She was wondering if this crust is more prone to browning, since it’s made with all butter…especially a highly ornamented crust with lots of small details.

Here was my answer:

“Yes, in my opinion, this all-butter crust is prone to browning just a bit, especially those small details. If I wanted to ornament it even more, I’d probably opt for a variation of this crust recipe that appears in quite few of these 1800’s cookbooks. It’s the same ratio of shortening to flour, but half of that shortening is lard or suet instead of butter. 

I make this often, using ¼ pound butter and ¼ pound lard, to the one pound of flour, and it genuinely does make for a slightly flakier crust that can hold up to higher, more-prolonged heat, without browning as deeply as the all-butter crust. 

I hope this helps! Happy baking!”

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I’ll have to share some good lard and suet pie crust recipes soon. Those are great as well, especially for savory pies!

As always, feel free to send me an email anytime, with recipe requests! ‘Til next time, ~ Anna

This recipe was originally published in the 1800’s Housewife newsletter. Not on the mailing list? You can join here to receive full recipes with cooking notes straight to your inbox!

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