Basic Pie Crust | カンタンパイクラスト

Basic Pie Crust Recipe

Ingredients

1 1/4 c gluten free flour, 1 to 1 baking flour recipe
1/2 tsp coconut sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 c unsalted butter, cubed + frozen
1/4 c ice water

Method

First, cube butter and place in a small bowl in the freezer while you gather the rest of your ingredients (the colder the butter, the better). When you have all your ingredients together, add flour, sugar, and salt into a food processor*. Add butter cubes a few a time, pulsing the food processor between additions to incorporate the butter (you want your mixture to be small pea size crumbs. Begin adding water 1 tbsp at a time until the dough starts to come together, you may not need to use the entire 1/4 cup. Turn dough out on to a piece of plastic wrap. Working quickly form dough into a ball, wrap in the plastic wrap , then shape into a disc. It’s important that you keep your dough as cool as possible when working with it. You don’t want to start melting the butter, as it will separate from your crust while baking and you won’t get that delicious flakey crust. Refrigerate dough for at least an hour or overnight.

*You can use a pastry blender and mixing bowl, but a food processor will make the job much easier and will result in your butter being evenly distributed with a consistently flaky crust.

To make the crust, preheat oven to 375 degrees F and lightly butter a 9 inch pie plate. While the oven is heating, place pie disc between to pieces of parchment paper dusted with a little GF flour. Roll dough out to approximately 12 inches and 1/8″ thick for a 9 inch with enough room to crimp the edges. Bake crust in preheated oven for 20 minutes at 375 degrees F or until crust is a light golden brown color. Allow to cool completely before putting your pie together.

A note on butter

I tend to go for a European style butter, like KerryGold, instead of an American style butter. You tend to get a richer flavor, which is great for pastry crust. American butter can be a little watery with a more neutral flavor. Either is fine, but if you’re looking for a killer pie crust go for the European butter.

For my vegan friends, you can totally use this recipe. I typically use Earth Balance Baking Sticks, I would omit the salt from the recipe if you go this route. However, there are several vegan options for butter alternatives that could be fun to experiment with.