I'm going to share how I get my pie crusts crispy and flaky with you, because you deserve to know. I've used this recipe for both regular and Gluten Free pie crust and it works like a charm. When you cut into that pie, there will not be a soggy bottom, but a splendid crispy crust.
Here's how you do it. This recipe makes 2 pie crust bottoms or one pie with a bottom + top.
Ingredients
2 cups All purpose flour (or Gluten Free 1:1 flour)
2/3 cups unsalted butter (at room temperature)
1 tsp salt
7 Tbsps water (or 8 Tbsps for Gluten Free crust)
Directions
In a medium bowl, add the flour and salt. Cut up your butter into cubes and add that to the mix.
Using your hands (yes, this is the easiest way), mix the butter cubes into the flour and salt.
Add in the water (it will get a bit sticky at first) and continue to mix the dough.
Once it sticks all together, lightly flour a surface and place the dough on top.
This part is important for the flaky + crispy crust. Flatten it out with your hands or a roller until it's about a 1/2 inch thick rectangle. Do a letter fold (so that you have 3 layers of dough) and gently push down. Wrap and chill for 1 hour (or up to 3 days in the fridge).
Preheat your oven to 375°F and grab a 9" pie dish when you are ready to bake your pie.
Split the pie dough in half and roll out one half until it is 1/8 inch thick. It might be in the shape of a square, circle or some other shape. That's alright. Gently place it into your pie dish.
Cut off the edges with a knife and shape the edge of your pie. You can have some pie crust on the edge of the pie dish or (for a pumpkin pie) you can trim it to fit the inside edge of the pie dish.
I like to shape the edge of the pie crust in a zig zag pattern for topless pies. At this point, you are going to blind bake the crust with pie weights for 10 - 12 minutes.
From here, depending on what sort of pie you are baking, it will differ. Just don't forget to remove your pie weights when they have cooled enough.
For a pumpkin pie, you can add your filling directly to the partially baked pie crust and continue baking. I like to use the filling from this recipe https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/the-great-pumpkin-pie-recipe/
Other notes
If you have a thicker crust, you will want to blind bake it for a bit longer.
The folded layers of pie crust dough give it the flaky and crispy crust.
