11.24.2020
GLUTEN FREE PIE CRUST
Gluten and Lactose-Free
One 9” crust
This pie crust was made with King Arthur’s Gluten-Free All-Purpose Flour using their recipe. I did some riffing.
Please note that when you use a particular gluten-free flour blend, you MUST use the recipe they give you as that recipe is tested to work for that flour blend. You can riff a bit as I did.
I have been trying to make pie crusts with ghee and having abysmal results and decided to do some research into what and how I should go about making such a crust and came across just one method. But it was done by several people with slight adjustments.
It is labor intensive, first make the ghee, then cool it slightly, then put ice into it (the ghee will form clumps around the ice) then squeeze out the water, flatten the ghee clumps into a flat brick, then remove the water, then freeze it, finally it is ready to use as you would butter in making a pie crust! Look at the bottom for how to make ghee into a ‘frozen brick’ recipe.
The pie crust rolled* out great, was tasty, cut nicely, but I must admit that the first one I made was not what I expected. As you can see from the photograph it looked fantastic!
As I go on to make more crusts with this method, I will write my latest results at the top of this page under the ‘One 9” crust’.
If you are inexperienced in rolling-out pie crusts look below for an easy method. This will be under ‘Tips’ in the Index also.
Let’s take out what we need:
Measure everything and place in the refrigerator for 20 minutes to cool in a large bowl (flour, sugar, clear gel, xanthan gum, guar gum, kosher salt, baking powder.) Make sure your kitchen is cool and clean up.
King Arthur’s Gluten-Free All-Purpose Flour – 184g
Sugar – 2 T
Clear Gel – 2 t (option, unflavored Knoxx gelatin)
Xanthan gum – ½ t
Kosher salt – ½ t
Baking Powder – 1 t
Frozen ‘prepared’ ghee – 85 g, shredded (large holes in a box grater)
Egg – 1
Lemon juice – 2 t
Ice water – 4 to 6 T
Let's make a pie crust:
Measure out 6 T water in a measuring cup, add ice stir and set aside.
Prepare a metal pie tin (glass if you don’t have metal, please check for doneness 5 minutes before your target time if you are using glass) by lightly spraying a gluten-free cook-spray on it and set it aside.
Whisk the egg, lemon juice, and 4 T of ice water and set aside.
Take out the bowl from the refrigerator and mix everything to together with a large metal spoon.
Sprinkle the shredded ghee over the flour mixture and mix quickly with the metal spoon to incorporate.
Sprinkle the egg mixture over the flour and ghee mixture, toss about quickly, if the dough feels very dry and does not clump when squeezed together add more ice water by the teaspoon. I used all 6 T.
Scoop the dough onto a piece of parchment paper, then using clean, cold hands mush into round flat disk about 1” thick. Fold the parchment around the disk and refrigerate for 15 minutes.
Remove from the refrigerator, sprinkle a little flour over a piece of parchment paper and move the disk onto it then sprinkle a little flour over the dough disk and cover with the piece of parchment paper that you used to wrap around the dough disk.
Roll-out the dough to fit the pie tin, with ½" overhang. (measure down one side, the bottom and up the other side to make sure you have the correct size.)
My favorite way to transfer the rolled-out dough is to fold it gently into four, then place it in the prepared pie tin and open it up. Press down the bottom, ease rather than pull the dough up sides. Cut off all extra dough leaving about ½" which you will fold under the dough at the rim.
Now to crimp the edges. Use thumb to make a shell-like design. Use a fork or my favorite is to use index finger of one hand and the thumb and index finger of the other hand and make the pretty ‘crimped’ edge. Push the two fingers from the outside of the dough rim while pushing with the index finger and from the inside continue all around.
Remove and cool slightly. Fill the pie with your prepared filling. Place the pie on the middle rack and turn down the oven to 350F and bake according to your filling recipe.
TO MAKE FROZEN GHEE:
First make a large block of ice 4x6? In a mini loaf pan? When that is ready pour or scoop out 2 c of ghee into a deep heavy bottomed skillet. Warm up the ghee on low and place the frozen lump of ice into the middle of the ghee and turn it around and around until all the ghee is clumped up and sticking to the ice lump.
Scrape the clumped ghee off the ice and place the ghee in two mini loaf pans covered in plastic wrap. Fold the plastic over the ghee clumps and place one pan in the other. Invert and press to remove water and flatten the clumps. Do this with both pans. Remove from the pans and place in a zip top freezer bag and freeze until needed.
ROLL ING-OUT DOUGH:
Place the dough disk on a piece of parchment paper which has been lightly sprinkled with flour, sprinkle the top of the dough and cover with the piece of parchment used for wrapping up the disk to refrigerator.
It is a good idea to get a set of pie rolling guides. I got mine on sale from Williams Sonoma when the 57th street store was closing. These help in rolling out your dough evenly.
Roll out from the middle to the top, then from the middle to the bottom. Turn the dough a quarter turn and do the same. Turn a quarter again. Peel off the top parchment and reposition it back on the dough. Roll out, turn a quarter and roll out.
Peel and reposition the parchment. Now, turn the dough over, so the bottom is on top. Peel and reposition the parchment. Refrigerate for 15 minutes. Remove from refrigerator and continue to roll, reposition etc. When you have rolled out to the desired size, place in the pie tin.
Keep any extra dough to patch and make designs or cut out into shapes, sprinkle a bit of sugar on top and bake 10 to 15 minutes to make some cookies.
After you have blind baked the pie crust, if there are tears, patch them with a little piece of left-over pie dough wetted with a bit of water.
Enjoy!