Gluten Free Pie Crust

Gluten Free Pie Crust

from http://glutenfreegirl.com/gluten-free-pie-crust/

This was my first attempt at making gluten free pie crust. I have eaten rice flour based gf pie crusts before and was not impressed. In fact, I was sad. If that was what I had to look forward to in a gf pie crust, pie might not be worth making. Then I took a chance on this recipe because I trust Shauna Ahern, the Gluten Free Girl blogger, and her husband, the Chef. Turns out I trusted well. Yum!
 
There are 6 kinds of flour and 2 thickeners in here, though not much of any of them, AND it is done by weight. Weighing is what makes gluten free flour type recipes work. Also, I love to weigh stuff.  Makes me feel like I'm back at work in the soils lab in college :)  Here we go:

5 ounces (1 1/4 c.) almond flour *
2 ounces (2/3 c.) gluten free oat flour
2 ounces (2/3 c.) tapioca flour
2 ounces (1/2 c.) teff flour
3 ounces (1/2 c.) potato starch (not flour)
2 ounces (1/4 c.) sweet rice flour
2 tsp. xanthan gum
1/4 tsp. guar gum
1/2 tsp. kosher salt (I used 1 tsp. regular salt. I like saltier crusts.)
5 Tbsp. butter, cold
4 Tbsp. leaf lard, cold
[I used 9 Tbsp. (4 1/2 ounces) butter because I had no leaf lard. Also, leaf lard is Expen$ive. Good, though, apparently.]
1 large egg
6 to 8 Tbsp. ice cold water
*Almond flour is finely ground almonds without the skins. Almond meal has the skins ground in, and can be coarser.

Shauna says,
"Mixing the dry ingredients:  In a large bowl, mix the almond flour, oat flour, tapioca flour, teff flour and potato starch. I use a whisk here, and slow down as I mix them, repeatedly, until they have become one flour.  Add the xanthan and guar gums and the salt.  Mix well.

Adding the fats:  Add small pieces of the ice cold butter to the flour mixture, not much bigger than a pea. (Or, if you'd like to,... freeze your butter beforehand, then grate the frozen butter into the flours. Move quickly.) Afterward, if you have it, add the leaf lard in small portions, of equal size.

Making the sandy dough:  Use your hands to scoop up the flours and mix in the fats.  Go slowly.  Rub your hands together.  Feel the fats work into the flours with your fingers.  I like to lift and rub, scoop and let them all fall through my fingers.  You'll know when you are done.  You'll feel done.  The flours will look sandy now.

Finishing the dough: Combine the egg with 3 Tbsp. of the water and whisk them together.  Here's where you can go two ways. If you want to do everything by hand, then do so.  Add the eggy water to the dough.  Work the dough together with your hands, or a rubber spatula, or whatever feels right.  When the dough feels coherent, stop.

Or, you can do what I have reluctantly realized makes gluten-free pie dough even better than making it by hand: finish it in the food processor.  Move the sandy dough to the food processor and turn it on.  As the dough is running around and around, drizzle in the eggy water.  Stop to feel the dough.  If it still feels dry and not quite there, then drizzle in a bit more water.  If you go too far and the dough begins to feel sticky or wet, sprinkle in a bit of potato starch to dry it out.  Again, after you make pies for awhile, you'll know this by feel alone. [My note: I grated my frozen butter, and almost my fingers. Next time I'm going to use the Cuisinart grating disk - chilled- and grate the butter that way with an inch or so of flour already in the work bowl, then switch the grater to the metal blade, add the rest of the flour and mix in the butter that way, then drizzle in the eggy water.]

Making the crust:  Wrap the pie dough in plastic wrap (or in a bowl) and let it rest in the refrigerator for 15 minutes or so.. Take it out, [split it into 2 equal hunks for the top and bottom crusts] and roll out the dough between two pieces of parchment paper [or plastic wrap]. This means you won't work any extra flour into the dough.  Roll it out as thin as you can.  Thinner.  Thinner.  Come on, you can do it -- thinner still.  Carefully, lift the top piece of parchment paper and turn the dough upside down on the top of a pie plate.  Rearrange until it is flat. If the dough breaks, don't despair.  Simply lift pieces of the dough off the counter and meld it with the rest of the dough.  Remember, there's no gluten, so you can't overwork the dough. Play with it, like you're a kid again.  Place the pie dough in the pie plate and crimp. When you have a pie dough fully built, you are ready to make pie.

Put the pie pan in the refrigerator while you preheat the oven to 325 and make the filling. ... Fill the pie pan with the...filling.  Put several pats of butter over the top.

Roll out the remaining pie dough between two pieces of parchment paper Remove the top layer and lay the pie dough over the filling. Pinch the edges together, then crimp the pie dough. Brush with an egg wash if you want a golden crust [ I didn't] Make a few small slits in the top crust.

Bake at 325 until the crust is golden brown and the filling starting to bubble out of the slits on top, about 40 minutes. [It took my pie about 80 minutes, maybe because my berry filling was still partly frozen] Remove from oven and let the pie cool. [I made a triple berry pie filling and cooling it to room temperature let it set up beautifully.]

Please eat pie." [Ok! No problem!]

Makes 1 pie, with enough crust for bottom and top [and several yummy cinnamon-sugar pie crust crackers! I baked those for about 20 minutes at 325. This dough would make good savory crackers, too. Must experiment!].