Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350ºF.
2. Cut butter into cubes and let sit in a warm spot for a couple of minutes after removing from the fridge.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, and sugar.
4. Mix the cubes of butter over & into the flour, using your clean hands.  Squish the flour and butter together with your thumbs, fingers, and knuckles, making sure the butter coats all of the flour. Work the butter into the dough until you have what resembles a coarse meal with some flattened chunks of butter (Ok to have different size butter chunks). Using a fork, add the sour cream to the flour mixture & combine.
5. Gather the pastry dough into a large ball. Divide the ball in half forming 2 disks.
6. Work the dough until there are no cracks.  Don’t worry about overworking the dough. as this dough is different than typical pie dough.
7. Sprinkle both sides of disks with a little flour than tightly wrap in plastic wrap. Once the dough is wrapped in plastic look for any cracks in the dough. You can smooth the dough and the edges with your warm hands to close any cracks. Chill both disks in the refrigerator for an hour or up to a day ahead.
8. Remove the dough from the fridge, let sit for 5-10 minutes at room temperature, to become easier to roll out.  If it still feels too stiff to roll out, hold your hands around the edges to soften.
9. To roll out, sprinkle a little flour on a clean, flat surface along with the top of the dough. As you roll the dough, check to make sure the bottom is not sticking. If it is, lift it up & sprinkle a little more flour.
10. Roll out to 12 to 14 inches wide, to an even thickness (approximately 3/16 inches)
11. Place the dough gently in an ungreased, 9-inch glass pie pan.
12. For a pre-baked pie crust, as we used in our banana cream bourbon caramel pie or berry cream pie, you will need to Blind-bake first. (Instructions below)

Blind-baking this pie crust

This recipe has more fat in it than a regular crust, which can cause the sides to slump. Having said that, we have successfully pre-baked this crust by layering extra dough on the edges of the pie rim, freezing the crust for at least 30 minutes first, lining it with non-stick heavy-duty foil then filling it with rice and baked it at 350ºF for 20 minutes. Remove from oven and remove foil and rice. Lightly brush with egg wash and place pie back in the oven. Bake until golden brown, approximately 30-40 minutes. Barbara used the extra pie dough to make a braiding all around the rim.,  Place the braiding or cutouts using egg wash to adhere to pie edge.  Teresa used 1-inch flower cookie cutters to make a flower rim.