How to Make Gluten Free Pie Crust – My nearly fool-proof method for flaky, gluten free crust every time.
True story friends: I didn’t eat pie for over a year and a half. Why? Nothing self-righteous, nothing against pie… I was just afraid.
To start with, gluten free flours are expensive. Even the less expensive ones come out to at least $3-4 per pound. And, well, most GF recipes call for more than one flour.
Gluten free baking is not cheap, my friends. And there are few things sadder to me than baking something gluten and dairy free only to have it not turn out. It’s like I can see the unsavory remains of my failed attempt in the form of dollar signs (“oh, but I used 2 free-range eggs in that… and three kinds of flour…and THE GOOD chocolate!”)
So, I didn’t eat pie. Because I was too scared to try (and waste ingredients).
Now that we’re well into this gluten and dairy eating business, I decided to give it another try because Thanksgiving without pie is just not cutting it. I tried Bob’s Red Mill’s new 1-to-1 Gluten Free Flour blend, which is supposed to work as a cup-for-cup substitution in any typical wheat flour recipe for cakes, cookies, etc.
Then I swallowed my pride, decided to adapt my old recipe for The Only Pie Crust Recipe You’ll Ever Need to Know, and put it to the test. Here’s how I make gluten free pie crust…
1. I gathered my ingredients–Spectrum brand (non-hydrogenated) shortening, Bob’s Red Mill 1-to-1 Gluten Free Baking Flour, salt, honey, and water (not pictured yet).
2. Blend 1 cup shortening into 2 cups flour, using a pastry cutter (seen here) or two forks. You’ll want to keep blending until it’s very fine and the mixture starts coming together.
3. Add salt and honey to the shortening/flour mixture. Mix your slurry by combining 1/2 cup water and 1/3 cup flour mixture in a small bowl. Pour the slurry over everything and toss with a large fork until the mixture is one cohesive ball.
4. Divide the dough in half. Flatten each half into a little disc and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate 20-30 minutes, or until mostly chilled.
Note: if you only need one crust for your pie recipe, place the second wrapped disc of dough into a freezer-safe zip top bag and freeze it for up to 3 months.
5. Lay one piece of parchment paper down on the counter or work surface you’ll be using. Unwrap one disc of dough and place on the parchment. Cover with a second piece of parchment. Roll out to a 9 1/2-10″ circle (it doesn’t have to be perfect). If the dough is cracking quite a bit, it’s just a bit too cold. Give it 2-3 minutes to warm up a bit, then try again.
Note: If you don’t have/like parchment paper, you can also try waxed paper. If you’d rather not use any of it, you can flour the counter, but it might dry out your dough and make it harder to transfer to the pie plate.
6. Remove the top piece of parchment and lay the open side down into your pie plate. Gently and slowly, peel back the second piece of parchment, then pat the dough down into the pie plate. If the dough has any cracks in it, use your fingers as needed to patch up any seams.
7. Even out the edges by either trimming them or folding any extra dough under. Then crimp with your fingers as shown, or press down the edges with a fork. Fill with your desired filling, and bake as usual. If you notice the edges browning at any point, you can tent them with foil (this hasn’t been a big issue for me.
And That’s It!
For the filling, I used this recipe by Deliciously Organic for pecan pie (with no corn syrup!), substituting coconut oil for the butter. The crust was mouthwatering, and had just the right flakiness.
We’ve also tried this recipe with our favorite Cherry Pie filling with great results. That recipe uses a top crust, and it worked like a charm.
Notes on the Recipe:
This is a shortening-containing recipe. Before you shoot me, keep reading. These days, I use Spectrum brand
If you want to try it with butter, I think it will work (I could use butter in my old recipe). You’ll just want to dice it into tiny cubes, make sure they’re good and cold before combining them with the flour mixture, and then be sure to use very cold water for the slurry. Again, we cannot eat dairy any longer, so I’m afraid I can’t try it myself. If anyone out there does use butter successfully, I’d love your feedback!
I haven’t tested this recipe with any other flour blend. I’ve seen the Bob’s Red Mill 1-to-1 gluten free flour blend at Target, Fry’s (owned by Kroger), and Sprouts, but I’m sure it’ll pop up all over soon enough. You can also order directly from the BRM site.
- 2 cups Bob's Red Mill 1-to-1 Gluten Free Flour Blend
- 1 cup Spectrum shortening
- 1 Tbsp honey
- 1 tsp salt
- ⅓ cup flour blend
- ½ cup water
- Blend 1 cup shortening into 2 cups flour, using a pastry cutter (seen here) or two forks. You'll want to keep blending until it's very fine and the mixture starts coming together. Add salt and honey to the shortening/flour mixture.
- Mix your slurry by combining ½ cup water and ⅓ cup flour mixture in a small bowl. Pour the slurry over everything and toss with a large fork until the mixture is one cohesive ball.
- Divide the dough in half. Flatten each half into a little disc and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate 20-30 minutes, or until mostly chilled.
- Note: if you only need one crust for your pie recipe, place the second wrapped disc of dough into a freezer-safe zip top bag and freeze it for up to 3 months.
- Lay one piece of parchment paper down on the counter or work surface you'll be using. Unwrap one disc of dough and place on the parchment. Cover with a second piece of parchment. Roll out to a 9½-10" circle (it doesn't have to be perfect). If the dough is cracking quite a bit, it's just a bit to cold. Give it 2-3 minutes to warm up a bit then try again.
- Note: If you don't have/like parchment paper, you can also try waxed paper. If you'd rather not use any of it, you can flour the counter, but it might dry out your dough and make it harder to transfer to the pie plate.
- Remove the top piece of parchment and lay the open side down into your pie plate. Gently and slowly, peel back the second piece of parchment, then pat the dough down into the pie plate. If the dough has any cracks in it, use your fingers as needed to patch up any seams.
- Even out the edges by either trimming or folding any extra dough under. Then crimp with your fingers as shown, or press down the edges with a fork. Fill with your desired filling, and bake as usual. If you notice the edges browning at any point, you can tent them with foil (this hasn't been a big issue for me.
- Just follow your pie filling recipe directions. If your cherry pie bakes for 45 minutes, bake it 45 minutes. If your apple pie bakes for 50 minutes, bake it 50 minutes. This has worked for me for apple, berry, pecan, and pumpkin pies without any problem.
- If you are baking the crust alone to fill with a cold cream later, you can bake it at 375 degrees for about 30 minutes, or until it's just starting to color around the edges and it's completely set. Don't forget to prick the bottom a few times with a fork (or use pie weights) to prevent the bottom from puffing up too much. Also be sure to let it cool completely before adding your filling.
Disclosure: This is not a sponsored post. I did not receive any compensation or free products for the writing of this post. All opinions are my own.
That pie looks delicious! I’ve always been super intimidated to make pie crust, but this looks pretty easy!
Paige
http://thehappyflammily.com
You DO make it look easy… and I’m going to hope for the best when I try this in a few short weeks.
Boy Howdy! Does this Pecan Pie look divine!
Pecan pie is one of my favorites. My mother-in-law has celiac and usually just eats her pie crustless (I know…), I’ll need to tell her about this Bob’s Red Mill kind!
I have an illogical aversion to rice flour. I will try this with my sorghum blend and get back to you if it works. Even if I make it twice to turn out once, it is less than buying a crust from Sprout’s. (And i can choose my flours!)
Blend DID NOT WORK in this recipe!
But I found a sorghum crust here that worked great. http://wholegrainscouncil.org/node/6739/print. And I used the double wrap to roll to get a double crust.
Thanks for the inspiration!
I’m sorry it didn’t work for you! I made four pies for Thanksgiving using this blend, and 2 others in the weeks prior without a problem. I’m so sorry! Thanks for sharing the other recipe in case anyone else has trouble.
My blend, not BRM.
Oh, okay. I was going to be extra sad if it hadn’t turned out for you with the Bob’s blend 🙂
Made blueberry hand pies using this pie crust recipe yesterday substituting butter for shortening and it was amazing!
I had bought the 1 to 1 flour first, used traditional approach, and ended up with sticky mess and gave up that day. Then found your recipe since BRM did not have a crust recipe and tried again today! Success! It was for quiche so I omitted honey. The key was chilling the dough and rolling out between parchment paper, my new favorite way for rolling out dough. Had a little trouble peeling off paper once in tin, but a little patching isn’t unusual. The top piece of parchment peeled off easily–maybe I will try rolling it out, flipping and rolling from other side a couple of times, with the hope that both sides will peel off easily, having come in contact with the rolling pin. Thank you!
Oh, I’m so glad it worked for you! I had so many failed crusts before this one.
I will give this a try. I am not sure what your dietary restrictions are with dairy, but I found I could use ghee as the protein has been removed. For me it has opened all doors (although its pricey)! Thanks for the recipe. I will try.
We’re HUGE ghee fans. I haven’t tried it in this recipe, but I bet the flavor would be awesome!
I made this with butter – it was perfect! A little harder to work with when rolling than a wheat flour crust, but so worth the effort. Crust was flaky, browned nicely. Thank you so much!
Does the shortening need to be cold like butter is supposed to be when making crust?
It doesn’t need to be cold, but can be. Your choice!
Made this today for my grandkids as they have several allergies. First time they have ever had pie! It was really good! thanks so much for the recipe and tips!
I’m so glad they enjoyed it! Here’s to many more pies to come!
Thanks for sharing the recipe. There aren’t a lot of pie crust recipes for the 1 to 1 flour, probably because Bob’s has a gluten-free pie crust mix. There were a few problems with the recipe for me. I understand that not all recipes will work for everyone for whatever reason.
For one, I don’t see how 1/2 cup of water is at all enough. If other people had to add water, I wish they would have commented. I used ice water, so I’m not sure if that affected it. I was able to roll out the first half of the dough, but it kept breaking in the middle, even though that’s where most of the dough was? I also had trouble getting it to ball together with just the 1/2 cup of water. I followed the recipe exactly, but I used regular shortening.
When I rolled out the second half, I went ahead and just added a teaspoon of egg white wash and kneaded it in. That helped, but it was still crumbling at the edges and not staying together well. Also, there was NO extra crust. This means that if you don’t place your top crust directly in the middle, you will have to pray that you can center it without breaking it.
All that being said, it did bake into a pie crust, but it wasn’t pretty. I wanted to upload a picture, but the comments don’t allow, so I’ll try to put it on my website at some point. I put an egg white wash on the base and an egg yolk wash on the top. It did brown and the bottom crust held up to the very juicy blueberries inside for 24 hours. Not sure it will last much longer. I think the fat that you choose is really important for the taste in this recipe. Shortening doesn’t have a great taste to it.
I’m sorry this one wasn’t to your liking. It sounds like you’re on a good path to finding a method and recipe you love!
hi how long would you bake this for?
Gianna – Are you baking it by itself or with a filling? If you are baking it by itself (so you can fill it with a cold cream filling, for instance), I’d watch it carefully and start with about 12-15 minutes (per this tutorial). You want it to just be set and the edges are starting to get barely golden.
Hi Emily,
I used your pastry recipe this weekend to make pies for thanksgiving. I substituted the shortening with equal parts cold cubes butter and margarine. I had to fold the dough twice to bring it together, which was easy to do. The pastry itself rolled out beautifully and evenly and held up well once baked and cut. I look forward to baking with this recipe again. Thanks for sharing this with us.
Jess – I am SO happy to hear that! Thank you so much for sharing. (And happy belated Thanksgiving!)
Hello! I just found your pie crust recipe! I want to make my son a gluten free peanut butter meringue pie so I’m wondering would I bake the crust first or fill it then bake it all together. I’m not doing so well with my gluten free baking!
Monica – I know it can be tricky at first! Since it’s a cold-filling pie, I’d bake the crust first, let it cool, then fill it. Then, you’ll follow your recipe instructions for the meringue (some have you put it under the broiler, others have you use a kitchen torch, etc.).
I am excited to try this crust recipe. I am looking to make an apple pie. Will I need to double the recipe? Thank you.
Joy – This recipe is enough for a double crust (1 top and 1 bottom). You shouldn’t need to double it 🙂 Happy Thanksgiving!
Um…my daughter and I have the dough done. Great instructions. But there is NOTHING here about actually baking it! How can you leave those details out? Am I missing something? Was super happy to find a dough and way of making gluten free crust that seemed easy (and was) – now I am hacking around trying to figure out at what temp and how long to bake it. Bummer!
Christina – I’m happy to adjust the recipe. The reason I didn’t include instructions is because you would bake it according to your pie recipe directions. (i.e. If your apple pie bakes at 375 degrees for 45-50 minutes, you’d bake it at that temperature/for that time.) If you are baking the crust alone to fill with a cold cream later, you can bake it at 375 degrees for about 30 minutes, or until it’s just starting to color around the edges and it’s completely set.
The best, easiest, most flaky GF crust I have ever made. I have used them all, but this was amazing. I used a very lightly floured pie bag to roll and real butter, the ridiculously expensive one from Ireland. I have learned there is a place for all flour blends in GF baking and this is definitely my crust blend. Thanks from a combined celiac and non celiac family.
Oh my goodness, thank you! I’m SO so glad you enjoyed it!
Thank you for this recipe! I have been trying for several years to make GF pie crust. Usually have to patch a lot together, lol. The technique with the parchment (plus chilling) works so wonderfully! I just made this (we’re having a late Thanksgiving tomorrow) for pumpkin pie. I have to avoid numerous allergens for my son – and he loves pumpkin pie so much. Now it will look pretty, too.
Cathy – You made my day! I’m so glad you enjoyed this recipe!
We successfully made this with butter! Had to add a little extra water, but it turned out perfect. We used it savory with a chicken pot pie.
Oh yum! Chicken Pot Pie sounds amazing right now!
I have been gf for 10 years now, and this is the very best pie crust recipe I have found. I used it to make a savory chicken pie, and the whole family loved it. Way better than my old gf pie crust recipe. Thanks so much for sharing!
That’s SO wonderful! Thank you for sharing that with me!!!