Hot-Water Pie Crust Recipe

This centuries-old British technique breaks every flaky-pie rule—and produces a stronger, more reliable crust.

Lard, beef suet, or shortening consists of 100% fat and yields a pastry that's crisp and sturdy without being tough.
Hot water pregelatinizes some of the starches in the flour, creating a super workable, playdough-like texture.
A high-protein all-purpose flour helps provide extra structure to free-standing pies.

If you talk to an American about pie, they’ll likely think you’re referring to dessert, such as fruit, custard, or cream pies. Speak to a Brit, though, and they’ll probably assume you’re talking about a savory meat pie filled with pork, chicken, or steak. Traditional British meat pies are very different from the sweet, flaky-crusted pies we enjoy in the States. In addition to being savory, the way they were baked and consumed required a sturdy crust to contain their rich, hearty fillings. For that reason, meat pies are often made with hot-water pastry, a smooth, pliable dough that’s kneaded until smooth.

Hot-water pastry breaks all the rules associated with the doughs typically used to make sweet pies or tarts. Rather than being tender and flaky, hot-water crusts are sturdy and strong. Whereas most pie doughs require cold ingredients and a light touch for maximum flakiness, a hot water crust requires—you guessed it—hot water and melted fat.

The result is a crust that's sturdy and crisp, but not at all tough or leathery. And once baked, these pies—typically two to three inches tall—are sturdy enough to stand on their own without a pan. For those unfamiliar with this kind of pie dough, it might seem counterintuitive to make a crust with hot water and fat—but once you understand the science behind, it makes perfect sense. My recipe below produces a crust that's both strong and delicious, and one that's easy to make, too.

A Brief History of British Pies

The UK boasts a long tradition of pie-making that dates back to at least the Middle Ages. The first British pies were filled with meat and encased in a sturdy outer crust made from a flour-and-water paste. According to culinary historian Janet Clarkson's Pie: A Global History, the thick crust of early pies served as a baking dish.

"For hundreds of years," she writes in the book, "it was the only form of baking container—meaning everything was pie. The crust also, as it turned out, performed two other useful functions: It acted as a carrying and storage container (before lunch boxes) and, by virtue of excluding air, as a method of preservation (before canning and refrigeration)." Called "coffins," the crusts were several inches thick and not meant to be eaten.

Over time, these tough, practical crusts evolved into something tastier as cooks began adding fat—typically beef suet, lard, or butter—to their doughs, resulting in crispy, tender, and crumbly crusts. These were intended for eating and are very similar to the hot water crusts used to make British meat pies today.

Why Hot Water?

Hot water pastry is made with the same basic ingredients as a typical flaky pie dough, but the mixing method is entirely different. In a classic pie dough, cold butter is rubbed into flour before the mixture is hydrated with cold water. The dough is handled very gently, which helps minimize gluten development, and the resulting pastry bakes up tender and flaky. A hot water crust is made in almost the opposite way: The water and fat are brought to a gentle simmer, then drizzled into the flour. Once a shaggy dough forms, it’s kneaded until smooth to develop more gluten for a sturdier crust.

Using hot water instead of cold water pregelatinizes the flour’s starches. When the hot water hits the flour, the starch molecules—amylose and amylopectin— swell and burst, allowing them to hold more water. It’s the same reason why tangzhong, a cooked flour slurry, is often used to prepare tender breads and pastries, keeping them fresher and softer for longer, and also why choux pastry requires cooking the batter before baking, allowing for a high-hydration batter that’s thick enough to be piped and hold its shape without support.

“Because a gelled mixture of flour and water is drier in texture than an identical ungelled one, it allows you to make a dough with more water in it than it could otherwise contain—without it turning to soup,” Serious Eats contributor Andrew Janjigian explains in his milk bread recipe. “I call this ‘stealth’ hydration: The extra water is there, but you can’t see or feel it in the dough.” In a hot water crust, this translates to a dough that is smooth and pliable, with a consistency similar to playdough.

To see the effects of hot water in action, I made two batches of pastry with the recipe below. The ingredient amounts were exactly the same, but for one batch, I used melted lard and freshly boiled water, and for the other, I used cold water and cold lard. I kneaded both doughs until they were mostly smooth, then attempted to make miniature chicken and leek pies with each.

The most notable difference was the workability of each dough. The hot-water crust was smooth and easy to handle. It rolled out effortlessly, and I was able to patch any cracks or splits by simply pressing it back together. The cold-water pastry was trickier to work with—it was less smooth and more elastic than the hot-water dough, making it harder to roll into a thin, even layer. Once baked, the cold-water pastry had a slightly tough texture (though not as tough as I'd predicted), while the hot-water pastry baked up crisp and sturdy, but not overly chewy.

For the Crispiest Crust, Use Lard or Shortening

While developing this recipe, I tested many variations side-by-side to find the version I liked best. I began by establishing my preferred fat-to-flour ratio. After settling on a ratio of one part fat to three parts flour, I experimented with various hydration levels and methods of incorporating the fat, such as melting it vs. rubbing it into the flour. (Many British recipes include some butter, which is rubbed into the flour, while the lard is melted.) Neither of these variables made a significant difference in the final texture—but the type of fat used did.

Hot water crust is traditionally made with lard or beef suet, both of which are 100% fat. Butter, in contrast, is only 80% fat, with the remaining 20% made up of water and milk solids. I wasn't able to source beef suet, so I used lard for all of my testing. I found that lard produced an exceptionally crisp and tender crust, whereas butter produced a noticeably tougher crust. I tried crusts made entirely from lard, butter, and various combinations of the two. To my surprise, I vastly preferred an all-lard crust. Even a dough made with 70% lard and 30% butter was significantly less tender.

I was so shocked by these results that I repeated the test to rule out error, and the outcome was identical. Even a small amount of butter negatively impacted the crust's texture. This is likely because lard has a higher fat content than butter—when fat coats gluten proteins, it inhibits gluten development, resulting in a more tender bite.

The main argument for using butter in a crust like this is flavor. While lard contributes a subtle mammalian savoriness, it doesn't taste like much—the same goes for beef suet. But because the butter-based pastry was so much tougher, I ultimately found the flavor trade-off wasn't worth it: I simply preferred the crisper, more tender lard crust. Fortunately, British savory pies tend to go heavy on the filling (they're often made in tall springform pans), so the crust plays more of a supporting role. That said, a generous pinch of salt in the dough helps amplify the lard's meaty flavor and keeps the crust from tasting bland.

It's worth noting that vegetable shortening is also 100% fat and, like lard and beef suet, produces a tender, crisp crust. While this is a great option for vegetarians and vegans, the vegetable shortening-based crust was the least flavorful of them all.

The Best Flour for a Sturdy Crust

British meat pies are designed to be sturdy—so much so that they can be unmolded and stand freely without the support of a pan. This stands in stark contrast to the flaky-crust pies we eat in the US, which have tender, delicate crusts by design. Hot water crust, however, must be robust enough to hold rich, meaty fillings without breaking, leaking, or becoming soggy. In this case, a bit more gluten is actually a good thing.

Gluten is primarily made up of two proteins—glutenin and gliadin—that work together to provide a dough with elasticity and strength. Various flours have different protein percentages, an indicator of their gluten potential, or the amount of gluten the flour can develop when mixed with water. Standard all-purpose flour can have a protein content between 10 and 12%, which is a pretty wide range. Ten percent is more suitable for cakes and pastries, while 12% provides the structure required for certain breads.

For this recipe, I've opted to use a high-protein all-purpose flour. While most flour brands don't advertise their protein content on the packaging, King Arthur Baking All-Purpose Flour, Hecker's All-Purpose Flour, and Kirkland Signature Organic Unbleached All-Purpose Flour all contain just under 12% protein—enough to give the dough structure without making it tough or chewy.

Work With the Dough While It's Still Warm

Unlike classic flaky pie dough, hot water pastry can be used straight away— no chilling or resting necessary. In fact, you want to use the dough while it's still warm, since it becomes crumbly and less elastic as it cools (possibly because the fat becomes less pliable and the starches begin to recrystallize), making it harder to handle.

The easiest way to roll out the dough is between two sheets of parchment paper. This eliminates the risk of introducing too much extra flour, which can lead to toughness later. (Plus, it makes clean-up a breeze.) The dough will likely tear or crack as you transfer it to a pan, but there's no need to panic—simply overlap the pieces or add more dough to patch it back together. While this kind of handling could ruin a flaky pie crust meant for desserts, it has no negative impact here.

How to Use Hot-Water Crust

This pastry is best reserved for savory pies that need extra structural support. Pasties and hand pies are designed to be eaten on the go, and a hot water crust ensures they’re sturdy enough to travel without falling apart. Larger free-standing pies also benefit from a firm crust, which allows them to stand tall even after they’re removed from their pans. You could use it to make sweet pies, but most people will likely prefer a flaky, buttery crust that’s intended for dessert. And because fruit and custard pies are almost always served inside their pans, they don’t require the same support as a hearty meat pie.

Since meat pies are some of the coziest, most comforting foods around, the cold winter months are the perfect time to put this unfamiliar dough to good use. Once you master the classics, such as pork pie and Cornish pasties, don’t be afraid to get a bit more creative. Any thick meaty stew or pot pie filling would taste delicious nestled inside a hot water crust—try chicken, mushroom, or even beef Bourguignon.