Pie Crust From Heaven

 

OK, first let me explain to you how much I absolutely love pie crust. If left here by myself with a pie, I can probably easily eat the whole thing for breakfast, lunch, and dinner in two days flat. Pie crust is comfort food, plain and simple. It has “grandma” and “warm” and “cozy” and “home” written all over it.

When I had to remove gluten from my diet one of my first thoughts was, “No pie dough?”.  Life is too short to not have pie.  You can go to your local grocer and purchase their gluten-free, ready made crusts that taste like a mixture of cardboard, sand, and glue in a pinch. But if I told you this recipe makes four pie crusts that are deliciously flaky, scrumptious and you can freeze the dough to have it ready any time, you would be crazy to settle for cardboard and glue.

It’s also veratile! Here are some examples:

(Click on the link to get the recipes)

Peach Hand Pies 

Individual Chicken Pot Pies

Raspberry & Apricot Pie Dough Cookies

Mixed Berry Valentine Pie

Mini Mixed Fruit Pies & Cherry Pie

Sunday Morning Quiche

Apple Galette

Fig Pillows

Rustic Berry Tart

Spinach Tart

Rustic Vegetable Tart 

Pie Crust From Heaven

*makes four pie crusts

5 to 5 1/2 cups Mama’s Almond Blend All Purpose Gluten Free Flour (plus more for turning out and rolling, it will be pretty wet when you turn it out of the bowl, don’t panic, it all comes together.)

4 tsp. xanthan gum

1 Tbsp. sea salt

1 1/2 Tbsps. sugar (if I’m using this for a savory recipe, I only add 1 Tbsp. of sugar)

1 lb. of Spectrum Shortening (Remember, this makes the equivalent of 4 crusts…don’t freak out.)

1 egg (beaten with fork in measuring cup and then filled to 1 cup with water)

Place 5 cups of Mama’s Almond Flour in large bowl.  I use the spoon in cup method and level with a knife.  Mama’s Almond Flour is very soft and dense, not dry and grainy like wheat flour.  I think if you used the scoop and scrape method it would pack into the measuring cup and you would end up with way too much flour and a dry crust. Add salt, sugar, xanthan gum, whisk to combine.  Next scoop 1 lb of shortenig onto flour mixture.

Work the shortening into dough with your hands, sifting through your fingers until the shortening is somewhat combined and the flour resembles small pea size (about) pieces.

Next, whisk 1 egg in a measuring cup and fill to 1 cup with water.

Add the egg and water in a well in the center of mixture. Work together with a fork just until mixed.

Scoop out onto floured ( Mama’s Almond Flour)  parchment paper.

Work it a little to form it into a smooth-ish log. But don’t overwork it!

Cut into four sections.

Pat into discs, wrap with plastic wrap and either freeze in freezer bags for use later or chill in fridge for same day or next day use. If you’re going to freeze the dough for use later, simply remove it from the freezer and put in the fridge the night before, or, thaw on counter for 20 minutes.

When rolling gluten free pie dough, be sure to start on floured parchment paper.  Gluten free dough is sticky and will need flour underneath it and flour on top of it as you are rolling it out.  I use the parchment paper to help me get it into the pie plate.  Sometimes, but not always, it even works to roll it up on your rolling pin like a regular gluten crust.  If it tears on you, don’t panic, you can start again or you can patch it by pinching the dough together in the pan, no one will ever know.  With a little practice, you’ll have a perfect pie crust in no time.