Tried the ice water trick on my pie dough and the crust came out flat as a cracker

Logan Mitchell · 2026-10-25T08:55:06.196872+00:00

I read somewhere that using ice cold water keeps the butter from melting into the flour, so last Saturday I dropped my water down to about 38 degrees and mixed a batch for a double crust apple pie. The dough felt great going in, real smooth and easy to roll, but the baked crust came out weirdly flat and tough instead of flaky. Turns out I had been cutting the butter in too fine before adding the water, so the cold water wasn't the problem at all. I switched back to pea sized butter chunks on the next try and used tap water straight from the sink, and the crust finally got those layers I wanted. My oven runs about 25 degrees hot too, which I think was drying the top edge out before the middle set. Has anyone else chased the wrong fix for a crust problem like that? I would love to hear what actually made the difference for you.

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Tried the ice water trick on my pie dough and the crust came out flat as a cracker | Bakers - Free To Speak