I’m not a fan of vegetable shortening and I am a fan of vodka, so this all-butter vodka pastry dough is right up my alley. It’s a snap to bring together, produces a beautiful dough to work with, and bakes up flaky and delicious every time. Plus you can add pepper or herbs for a savory dish or leave it plain for maximum versatility.

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups of flour, plus some for rolling
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 1-2 T sugar, optional and to taste1 cup cold unsalted butter (2 sticks)
• 1/4 ice water
• 1/4 cold vodka
• one egg, beaten

Instructions

In a medium to large food processor with a dough blade installed, add flour, salt and sugar. Pulse once or twice to blend.

Cut butter into chunks and add to flour. Pulse repeatedly until butter is fully cut into flour. It should be a bit crumbly but with no obvious large pieces of butter left.

With the processor running, slowly pour the vodka through the hole in the lid. Then add water until the mixture comes together into a slightly shaggy dough. Depending on your conditions, it may take a little less or a little more water. The dough should be firm and neither soggy nor dry. Goldilocks dough 🙂

Turn out the dough onto a board and, using your hands, knead together any remaining crumbs. Form a smooth ball and flatten into a disk. Wrap with reusable silicone wrap or plastic wrap and refrigerate for one hour or until ready to use.

To use dough: take the dough out of the refrigerator a few minutes before, and on a lightly floured board or countertop, use a rolling pin to roll it to the desired thickness. Add flour to the board and to the top of the dough to keep from sticking. For pies with top and bottom pastry, divide disk into half before rolling (this makes it much more manageable).

After filling, bake at around 400 degrees F. Remove from oven 10 minutes before done, and brush the beaten egg on top of pastry. Return to oven and watch for a beautiful golden brown crust to emerge!

I added my personal touches to this basic recipe from thekitchn.com.