Mix the flour with the sugar and the salt. Dice your cold butter, add it to the flour.
Using your hand, break up the butter into small pea-sized pieces or flakes.
Add 7 tablespoon of ice cold water and stir it in with a wooden spoon or spurtle. Once the dough starts to clump together, use your hands to knead it into a ball. Stop kneading as soon as it forms a smooth dough.
Flatten the ball and wrap with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour or overnight.
Roll out the pie dough and use as directed in your recipe.
Notes
This homemade pie shell recipe makes enough dough to fill one 9" (230 mm) pie pan. If you want to make a lattice or need a cover for your pie (such as in this traditional apple pie recipe), double the amounts in the pie crust recipe, and you will have more than enough to work with.