There is a lot of subtlety that goes into making a good pie crust , the types of intuitive moves or small tips you pick up in a professional kitchen (or by baking with an experienced relative). But a few principles make all the difference: keeping the butter cold, avoiding overmixing, letting the dough rest, and baking the finished pie long enough.

Below, and in my book A Good Bake, I cover the little things that matter, from making and rolling out pie dough to crimping the crust and knowing when a pie is done. These are the techniques I use to make delicious, professional-looking pies, no matter what recipe I’m following.

A Good Bake by Melissa Weller with Carolyn Carreno

How to make flaky pie crust

Start with great pie dough.

A pie is only as good as its crust. I use a few different recipes for pie crust, but my go-to pie dough is pâte brisée . Brisée means “broken” in French, and in this dough, the butter is “broken” into the flour, creating a layered, flaky crust.…