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If you love pie—and you do, you love pie—you love pie crust. After all, what’s a pie without the flaky, tender, crumbly, rich pastry that serves as an edible vessel for sweet and savory fillings of all kinds?But there are just so many pie dough recipes out there, even though all of them have basically the same list of ingredients. Some tell you to get out a food processor or stand mixer, others insist all you need is your hands; some call for just butter, others tell you to seek out rendered leaf lard, and still others ask you to use a combination of different fats. Which one do you choose?Of course, all of this means that pie dough is a perfect candidate for a parametric analysis! We’ve done <a href="https://www.chefsteps.com/recipes/the-ultimate-guide-to-chocolate-chip-cookies-when-average-equals-amazing">chocolate chip cookies</a> and <a href="https://www.chefsteps.com/guides-tools/the-best-brownies-parametric-recipe">brownies</a>; it’s time for pie!As with our previous parametric analyses, we chose a bunch of recipes from reputable sources and created a chart that compares their ingredient quantities and preparation methods. We converted the ingredients to baker’s percentages, noting any discrepancies in methods and any outlier ingredients, like vodka and buttermilk.To make the pie recipes, we enlisted our master pastry chef Matthew Woolen to make each recipe exactly as written and offer his reflections on the processes. Matthew made each recipe into a blind-baked crust, then made little apple hand pies, too, and we all tasted each of them.Editors’ Note: This analysis has been updated to include the <a href="https://www.chefsteps.com/recipes/perfect-pie-dough-crust">ChefSteps Perfect Pie Dough recipe</a>.