2 sticks chilled butter, cut into tablespoon sized cubes
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 tablespoon cold vodka (straight out of the freezer)
1/2 cup ice water, plus more if needed
Method
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Put all the ingredients, but the vodka and ice water, in a large bowl
Using a pastry blender or food processor, blend the ingredients until they look like bread crumbs with lumps the size of peas. Work quickly to keep the butter cold, the lumps of butter is how flaky crusts are created
Sprinkle in your ice cold vodka
Sprinkle in 5 to 6 tablespoons of ice water into the bowl, blending the ingredients together. Sprinkle in more as needed, blending until the dough looks shaggy. The dough should feel moist but not sticky
Dump the dough onto a well floured surface. I like to dump it onto parchment paper and lift up the sides to squeeze the dough into a ball. If the dough still needs more water (you have dry flour spots) sprinkle small amounts of water on the dough, using a pastry scraper, scrape the side of the dough and place on top into the middle, creating layers. Do this on all sides. Don’t get it to sticky, it should not have a wet, tacky feeling.
Divide the dough in half and form two circular flat disks. Wrap the disks separately in plastic wrap and chill for at least 3 hours, ideally overnight Or place in a ziplock bag, removing all air, and freeze the wrapped pie disks
Notes:
make sure your butter is chilled, don’t let it sit out on the counter until you are ready, keep it prepped in the refrigerator
