Description
This gluten free pie crust tastes just like a regular pie crust. It’s flaky, tender, buttery, and works for any type of pie. Be sure to check out my easy pumpkin pie recipe.
Ingredients
- 16 tablespoons (245 grams, 8.8 ounces), butter, cut into 1 inch cubes – (See notes)
- 2 large eggs, whisked
- 1 tablespoon + 1/2 teaspoon white vinegar (see notes)
- 3 cups (390 grams) cup4cup multipurpose gluten free flour (see notes)
- 1.5 teaspoon kosher salt
- 3 tablespoons + 1/4 teaspoon granulated sugar (sugar helps with browning. Reduce to 1 tablespoon for a savory crust)
- 4 to 8 tablespoons ice water (or, as needed)
Dusting flour for rolling out the dough (see notes)
- 2 tablespoons white rice flour
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
Instructions
- Prepare: Cut the butter into 1 inch cubes. I suggest measuring your butter by weight, I found some sticks of butter weren’t the exact measurement they claimed on the wrapper. Place the cubed butter into the freezer; freeze for 10 to 15 minutes – depending on how warm your kitchen is. The butter should be very firm, but not completely solid. Crack the eggs into a small bowl, whisk with the fork, and place the bowl in your fridge. Measure out the vinegar and place it into the fridge as well. Also fill a glass, or measuring cup with water, and add ice. The goal is to get everything as cold as possible.
- Mix together the dry ingredients: Add the flour to a large mixing bowl. Again, for a more accurate measure, I suggest weighing the flour. Add the sugar and salt, mix everything together, and set aside. If your kitchen is especially warm, you can even place the bowl with the flour in it into the fridge for 10 minutes.
- Cut the butter into the dough: Add about half of the cold butter cubes to the flour, toss them so they are coated in the flour. At this point you can either use you hands (my preference), a pastry cutter, or two butter knives to cut the butter into the dough. Using my hands is my preferred method because you can really feel what’s going on with the dough, but it is tricky, because the heat from your hands can warm up the dough faster. With any method, the goal is to break the butter down to the size of walnut halves, or chickpeas, and smoosh it into the flour. I like to have a combination of both sizes of butter pieces (the larger the pieces of butter, the flakier your dough will be). Make sure the butter is always coated in the flour. Once you have broken down all the butter, add the remaining second half of butter – toss it in the flour, and start breaking it into smaller pieces, until you have worked through all of the butter. NOTE: if at any point the butter starts to feel too warm, then pop the bowl into the fridge, or freezer for a few minutes.
- Add the wet ingredients: Once the butter is fully incorporated, make a well in the dry ingredients – into the well add your whisked eggs, vinegar, and 3 tablespoons of ice water. Use your hands, or a rubber spatula, to gently mix the liquid into the flour mixture. If using your hands (again, this is my preference, so you can feel the dough), then gently do a tossing motion with your hands to combine the flour. Once you have initially combined the first amount of liquid add about 2 tablespoons more water, and mix again. If it seems like a portion of the dough is well hydrated, but some of the dough at the bottom is not, then I find it helpful to remove the hydrated portion of dough from the bowl and set it aside on the counter – then, I add 1 tablespoon more of water and gently mix until it looks like it’s coming together. If it still needs more water, then use your fingers to sprinkle in a little more water. Sometimes all you need is the smallest bit of hydration for it to come together. Once everything looks moist, and there aren’t any large flour-y areas, add the extra dough back into the bowl (if you removed it), and use your hands to knead the dough about 3 to 4 times, just so that the dough comes together into a shaggy looking ball (see photo in post). Note: the amount of water you will need can vary on the atmosphere, or the type of flour you are using. It’s all about knowing what you’re looking for with pie crust. If you’re new to pie crust, keep at it – it takes practice.
- Wrap up the dough: Transfer the dough to your work surface, and use your hands to flatten it into an even disc. Use a butter knife, or bench scraper to cut the dough in half. If you want to ensure you have even amounts of dough, then weigh each half – most of the time, I just eye ball it. Form each half into a smaller disc, and wrap each half tightly in plastic wrap. This recipe makes a double crust (see notes for freezing the other half if you’re only making a single crust pie).
- Freeze the crust: Place the pie dough into the freezer and freeze for 30 minutes, or until the crust is firm, but has a little give to it. If you’re not ready to work with it yet, you can place it in the fridge after the 30 minutes. Note: at this time, you can also place your rolling pin in the freezer. This isn’t necessary, but I find this very helpful to keep the dough cold. If making the crust in advance, place the crust in a ziploc bag, then you can just place in in the fridge for up to 1 day. Or, you can freeze it for several days, then defrost in the fridge overnight. (see notes for freezing the crust long term).
- Roll out the dough: When you’re ready to roll out the dough, make sure you have the bowl of dusting flour ready, and your work surface has been cleaned well. Also, have your pie plate next to your work surface. I like to use a pastry mat, I found the pie crust stuck less, and it helped me roll the crust to the correct size. Dust your work surface with the flour mixture, unwrap the pie crust, and place it onto the work surface, dust the top of the pie crust. Starting in the middle of the crust, roll the rolling pin away from you all the way to the edge, then roll it back towards you, all the way to the edge -until you have a rolled over the entire crust. Use your hand to rotate the crust so that you will be rolling the opposite direction now – repeat the rolling method. Then, use your hands to carefully flip the curst over – adding more flour under the crust, if needed. Repeat that rolling method, making sure to rotate the crust again so you are creating a circle. Repeat this process, rotating after every single roll, and flipping the crust every two times, until your curst has reached about a 13 inch circle (for a standard 9 inch pie plate). NOTE: the rotating, and flipping process helps with preventing the pie from sticking. It takes a little practice to flip it over as the crust gets larger, but it’s really helpful to master. Be sure to flour the work surface as needed, but not so much that you’re drying out the crust. I like to flip my plie plate over and hold it over the crust to make sure it’s large enough – it should be about 2 inches larger than the pie plate. Some cracking of the crust on the edges is normal, if this happens, I use the warmth of my fingers to sort of smoosh it back together as I go. If you have a lot of cracking, like in the center of the crust, then see the troubleshooting section of the post above. Note: if at any time the crust becomes too warm, slide it onto a rimless baking sheet (this is also why the pastry mat is helpful), and pop it in the fridge for 5 to 10 minutes.
- Line the pie plate: You can either fold the crust into 4ths an then unfold it into the plate, or roll the crust onto the rolling pin, then gently unroll it over the pie plate. Once the crust is on the pie plate, quickly use your hands to grab the edges of the crust, and lift the crust up and settle the crust to the center of the pie plate. Be careful not to stretch the crust. Then, use your hand to push the crust against the sides, to make sure the crust is touching the sides. Use kitchen sheers, or a sharp knife, to trim off any excess pie crust from the plate – you want to leave about 1/2 inch to 1 inch of excess crust, for crimping.
- Crimp (for a single crust pie): If making a single crust pie, then fold the edges of the pie up onto the lip of the pie so that it’s a double crust, and creates sort of a “wall” that stands up. You can crimp the crust any way you like. You can use the tines of a fork, or do a classic, scalloped crimp (like what’s pictured), with one hand, make the shape of a “U” with your thumb and pointer finger, with the other hand, use your pointer finger. Use the thumb and pointer finger to push one portion of the crust into a sideways “U” shape, while at the same time, use the pointer finger of the other hand to push the dough between the 2 fingers into a wavy edge. Repeat all around the crust. Once it’s done, go back and use a finger to press the crust to the edge of the pie plate – this helps to anchor the crust to the pie plate. Be sure to flour your fingers, or your fork, if anything is sticking.
- Freeze & dock the crust (for a single crust pie): Cover the crust with plastic wrap, and freeze for 15 to 20 minutes, until the crust is very frim to the touch. At this time you can preheat your oven as instructed for a single crust pie recipe. Remove the plastic wrap, and use a fork to dock the bottom and sides of the crust all over. The holes will help prevent the crust from puffing up during baking. At this time you can continue with blind baking, or par baking your crust, as it is stated in the recipe for your single crust pie.
- For a double crust pie: For a double crust pie you will want to do everything the same up to placing the pie crust in the pie plate, and trimming the crust to 1 inch. From there, you can cover the crust and freeze it, while you roll out the top crust. Once the top crust is rolled out, remove the bottom crust from the freezer and add the fruit filling. Then place the top crust onto the pie filling. At this time, preheat your oven to the temp your recipe states for a double pie crust.
- Crimp (for a double crust pie): Use your fingers to press the bottom and top crust together so that they are sealed together, making it one cohesive crust. Trim the crust using kitchen sheers so that there is about 1 inch of crust. Then fold the top crust underneath the bottom crust to really seal the pie. From here you can crimp the crust however you want. You can use the tines of a fork to crimp it, or do the traditional scallop crimp (see crimping for single pie crust, above – the same method applies). Use a sharp knife to cut several vents into the top of the pie crust. From here, proceed with the direction for baking for your double pie crust recipe. If the crust seems warm, I recommend popping the pie in the freezer for 10 minutes before baking.
Notes
Butter – Through research, and testing, I found that a European butter (which has more fat) has a better taste, but it is harder to work with. Due to the extra fat, the butter melts faster. So, if you are a beginner with pie dough, then I recommend using an American butter. American butter has less fat in it so it won’t warm up as fast when you are working with it. I found that I liked the combo of half salted butter, and half unsalted butter the best. This resulted in a well seasoned, but not overlay salty crust. However, you can use either all unsalted butter, or salted butter, if you prefer.
eggs – Don’t skip the eggs. The eggs help bind the crust to make up for the lack of gluten in the crust. Sorry, I can’t recommend an alternative for vegans.
vinegar – Don’t skip the vinegar either. The vinegar keeps the crust tender. Trust me, without it, you will have a tough crust. Don’t worry, you don’t taste the vinegar at all.
flour – I highly recommend using Cup4cup multipurpose flour. I tested this crust using another brand, and it was tough, and hard to work with. I had the most consistent results that tasted the most like a regular pie crust with cup4cup. However, I haven’t tested it with all brands of gluten free flour blends, so if I do try another brand with success, I will update this recipe. I found the best place to buy cup4cup, in my city at least, is on Amazon. You can purchase it here.
Dusting flour for rolling the dough – To reserve the cup4cup for using in the pie crust, I used a cheaper gluten free flour by using a combo of cornstarch, and white rice flour (both of which, are ingredients in cup4cup). The combo of both gives the right amount of texture and grip from the white rice, and the cornstarch provides the right amount of fine, easily spreadable fluffiness.
Freezing pie crust – If you are making a single crust pie, then you will have one pie crust leftover. You can store it in the freezer for up to 6 months. Tightly wrap it in plastic wrap, then place it in a ziploc bag that is labeled. When you’re ready to use it, defrost the crust in the fridge overnight. You could also do this for a double crust recipe if you want to make the crust in advance…or, just to keep crust at the ready for whenever you want to make a pie.
This recipe is adapted from the book, Art of the Pie by Kate McDermott – it’s also a great resource for any pie making. I also adapted a lot of methods from the video: “How to make Pie dough & crust” with Erin McDowell.
