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Author:
Franco Salzillo
With a decent gluten-free pie crust, and I mean a flaky, golden, buttery and tasty crust, the sky’s the limit, especially if you can’t eat gluten.
You’ll be able to enjoy sweets and savory pies for lunch or dinner without having to worry about your health or weight. If there’s a recipe you want to know by heart is one for a nice pie crust, and below, you’ll find the best gluten-free pie crust recipe ever.
It all starts with gluten-free all-purpose flour because pie crusts are bread, after all. For that, you’ll need several ingredients that together act like regular wheat flour. White rice flour, cornstarch, tapioca starch, milk powder, potato starch and xanthan gum come together for something very close to the real deal.
Then you just have to add some butter and water, salt and one egg to have a fabulous pie crust. Here’s a secret. If you add even just a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar to your dough, you’ll make your pie crust flakier. I’m not sure why, but that’s how grandma did it, and that’s how I do it. It works!
A pinch of sugar helps too, even for savory pie crusts; it makes the experience more pleasant, but don’t think for a second the pie crust is sweet; it’s just balanced. As they say, a little sugar goes a long way.
Before making your pie, make sure you blind bake the crust by baking it briefly without the filling at high heat. This will harden it and eliminate any extra moisture that might make the pie crust break.
If you’re planning on using your pie crust later, freeze it. Before using, thaw, and blind bake.
For the gluten-free flour (2.5 cups):
For the pie crust:
In a food processor, add the gluten-free flour, salt, butter, vinegar and sugar. Pulse until combined but crumbly.
Slowly pour the water while pulsing to create a dough. You might not need to add all the water.
Preheat the oven to 400°F.
Flour a surface with gluten-free flour, roll the dough thinly and extend it until you can cover the pie mold twice.
Blind-bake the dough for ten minutes (bake it without a filling) before adding with your favorite pie filling.
