• In a large bowl, whisk together the flour and salt. If you are using sugar, add it in here. Remove your butter from the fridge, you want it as cold as possible. Cut the cold butter into 1’ pieces and toss in the flour.
• Make sure all the butter is coated in flour, and use your hands to press the butter into flat pieces, keeping some in large chunks, and others in smaller pieces. The dough should be rough, but not crumbly.
• When you can squeeze the dough and it comes together just slightly, but then immediately breaks apart, that's when you are ready to add the ice water.
• Add in the ice water and continue to press and mix the dough with your hands, it should start to come together.
• Move the dough to a work surface and press the dough down until is is about 2" high. Use a bench scraper to cut the dough into 3 pieces, pile the pieces on top of each other, and press them down. This is creating more lamination in the crust! Press the dough down into another 2" high mound, rotate 90 degrees, and repeat the same process.
• *Note: I do not flour my work surface during the lamination process, but feel free to do so if your dough feels a bit warm or hard to handle, or if you see butter begin to break through. An easy way to fix a butter-break is to sprinkle a bit of flour over the exposed part!
• After laminating the dough a few times, press the dough down until it is about 1-2 inches thick, sprinkle it with flour, and use your hands to form it into a smooth disc.
• Tightly wrap the crust in cling wrap and use a rolling pin to roll out the dough into the edges of the cling wrap, forming a tight rectangle.
• From here you can either chill the dough in the refrigerator for 30 minutes and then use it right away, keep it in the fridge for up to a week for use, or store it in the freezer for up to 6-8 months. The key is to keep it chilled before rolling and using.

How to use the dough

• When you are ready to use the pie crust, pull it out from the fridge or freezer and unwrap it on a lightly floured surface. Sprinkle a bit more flour on top.
• Use a rolling pin to lightly hit and smack the dough to warm it up for use. Do this for a few minutes, occasionally annoying the neighbors ;)
• Begin rolling out the dough with even pressure. Rotate, flip and dust with more flour as needed.
• This dough is enough for one pie crust. Once it is shaped to your liking, chill it again in the fridge for at least 30 minutes before baking. This helps maintain the texture of the crust and your overall result!

How to bake the pie crust

• When you are ready to bake, remove the crust from the fridge.
• If you prefer a deep golden crust, whisk up an egg and use a brush to brush it onto the crust as an egg wash. Do this right before baking.
• Bake at 375F for 30 minutes or bake according to your particular recipe's instructions.