Combine the flour, butter, sugar, and salt in a food processor. Mix the ingredients together on low speed until the mixture is shaggy and resembles cornmeal, with visible pieces of butter still present. Do not let it turn into a solid ball of dough.
Add in the water and mix on low speed just until the dough starts to come together; again, don't let the dough turn into one solid lump. There should still be little pieces of butter and the dough should be sticky.
Turn the dough out onto a well-floured surface and form into a square. If the kitchen is warm and the dough is very soft and sticky, place it on a sheet pan and chill in the refrigerator for about 10 minutes until it firms up enough to work with.
Using flour as necessary to keep the dough from sticking, roll out the dough, about 1/2-inch thick and in the shape of a rectangle. The dimensions are not important—a roughly rectangle shape is fine, but try to keep the edges straight and square with each other so when you fold the dough over the edges will line up evenly.
To do a single turn on the dough, imagine the long side of the rectangle divided into thirds. Fold one end third over onto the middle third, then fold the other end third over on top. Make sure the edges are lined up a sevenly as possible.
Rotate the dough ninety degrees and roll the trifold out again to about 1/2-inch thickness and in the shape of a rectangle. Fold the dough into thirds again.
Repeat this process one more time so you have done a total of three turns. If at any point the dough starts becoming very soft, let it rest in the refrigerator for a little bit before working on it some more. Wrap the dough up in plastic and refrigerate until ready to use.