Just in time for the holidays it seems fitting to have our November on-line cooking class on making the perfect gluten-free pie. We’ve all been there…gf flour dusted all over us, hands coated in an unidentifiable sticky, gooey mess, tears of frustration running down our faces (considering the endless hours we’ve wasted) and words of obscenity streaming out of our mouths — all in an effort to produce an acceptable gluten-free pie crust. The good news is that it doesn’t have to be this way. It is certainly possible to create a lovely gluten-free flaky pie crust or a perfect cookie crust, however working with the dough can create some challenges. Hopefully with this month’s class we will help alleviate some of the common stresses of working with gluten-free pie dough. In this month’s class we will walk you through how to make 2 different types of pie crusts and offer helpful tips along the way to make your pie turn out wonderfully.

Choosing the Right Gluten-Free Flour

Choosing the appropriate gluten-free flour combination can make all the difference in the world in your pie crust. We, at Glutenfreeda.com, have experimented with many different kinds of gluten-free flours and have found one of the best flour combinations to be The Gluten Free Pantry’s Country French Bread flour mix. This mix already takes into effect the need for combining various flours, such as white rice flour, tapioca flour, cornstarch, and a stabilizer such as guar gum. We have found that using this flour eliminates the need to play "food chemist", eliminates the need to hunt down the right flour ingredients in your Natural Foods store, and ultimately costs less (when you figure how much you will spend on the various flour bags, stabilizers, starches and so forth). The Gluten Free Pantry’s Country French Bread flour mix truly behaves very much like all-purpose flour. It works great in pies, cakes, sauces, and wherever else you may need "all-purpose" flour.

Helpful Equipment

If you have spent any time at all experimenting with gluten-free dough’s, you will probably be painfully aware of its sticky consistency. This is primarily due to the high content of rice flour. Whether you are making pie crust, pizza dough, bread or a simple roux, you will find, if you haven’t already, that gluten-free flour tends to be rather thick and sticky. With pie crusts this causes some potentially serious problems. Rolling out the dough can be a real pain. Perhaps you’ve been here…you have created a ball of pie crust dough. Now it’s time to roll it out. You get your rolling pin out, flour your board and begin rolling. Each pass with the roller you find yourself patching up the tears, scraping dough off your rolling pin — and if you are lucky enough to get it to roll out into an even layer, transferring it to the pie crust is a feat only accomplished by experienced magicians! Sound familiar?

The good news is that it doesn’t have to be so hard. Over the years we’ve searched for kitchen tools that can make this process easier. We have found two tools that help tremendously. First is a non-stick rolling pin. You can find this at most kitchen stores — nothing fancy, simply a basic rolling pin coated with Teflon. Second, is a non-stick, large Silpat. You may be familiar with Silpats for their use as baking sheet liners. They are wonderful mats that transform any baking sheet into a non-stick baking sheet. Fortunately for us, they also make an extra large mat perfect for transforming your surface area into a non-stick surface. Again, you can find these at most kitchen stores. You will still need to lightly dust your surface with gf flour, but it really helps out, not only with pie crusts, but for things like pastries and sugar cookies as well.

Making a Basic Pie Crust

By using The Gluten Free Pantry’s Country French Bread flour mix as a direct substitution for flour you can make pie crusts pretty much just as you used to — with a few alterations. Here is a great pie crust recipe we use for any filled pie.

Ingredients:

• 1-1/4 cup gf flour
• 6 Tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
• 2 Tablespoons cold vegetable shortening
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup ice water, or more as needed

Directions:

Step 1: Place the gf flour and salt in a medium bowl and stir with a whisk.
Step 2: Using a pastry cutter or 2 knives, cut the butter and shortening into the flour mixture until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
Step 3: Add 2 tablespoons of ice water and mix with a fork until just incorporated. Continue to add more ice water as needed, a tablespoon at a time, until you dough will hold together nicely. The dough should be not so wet that it becomes sticky and yet not too dry that it will not come together into a ball.
Step 4: Form the dough into a disk, wrap tightly with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 1 hour.
Step 5: Remove the dough from the refrigerator and place on a lightly gf floured surface. (See notes above on Helpful Equipment.) If you can’t find an extra large Silpat, or you still find rolling out the dough to be cumbersome, lay a large sheet of plastic wrap on your work surface (you may need to overlap two pieces so that the plastic wrap will be at least as large as your finished circle will be). Place your dough in the center and top with another sheet of plastic wrap. Begin rolling out the dough as you normally would so that the dough forms a circle of even thickness, at least 4 inches bigger than your pie pan. Remove the top layer of plastic wrap and invert the circle on top of your pie pan. Carefully form it to the bottom and sides of the pie pan. Carefully remove the top layer (previously the bottom layer) of plastic wrap. (You still may find that you might need to patch the crust a little — but not to worry — you will never be able to tell when the pie is finished.) Tuck under the edges and crimp the edge with your thumb and forefinger to create a decorative edge. Prick the bottom of the shell with a fork, cover and refrigerate for 20-30 minutes.
Step 6: Preheat the oven to 400 °F. Bake the crust for 15 minutes or until light brown in color. Remove from the oven and let cool completely. Now you are ready to fill the shell with your favorite pie filling

We have several pies that use basically the same method as above. Many of our pies use this basic pie crust and technique. For the holidays consider our Apple Cranberry Pie — the perfect combination of sweet & tart, packaged in a beautiful pie crust. Or try our Maple Sugar Pumpkin Pie with Rum Cream — a fancy twist on traditional pumpkin pie topped with a rum flavored whipped cream. Other great holiday options include our Coconut Pie and Chocolate Pecan Pie.

Packaged Pie Crust Mixes

It is well worth noting in this class that a great package mix for pie crust. The Gluten Free Pantry also produces a pie crust mix called "Perfect Pie Crust". This crust turns out equally delicious. The ingredients are a little different but the method to create the pie crust is basically the same as above.

Making a Cookie Crust:

Cookie crusts are the easiest pie crust to make. We have used several different cookies for our cookie crusts — some packaged and some homemade. It really is up to you as to which cookie you prefer. Of course our preferred cookies are Glutenfreeda’s Real Cookies. These cookies are a cinch to bake (since everything is done for you) and wonderful when made into pie crusts. Try our Frozen Peanut Butter Chocolate Pie for a perfect example of how wonderful these cookies are for pie crusts! Pamela’s makes a shortbread cookie that works well. It is neutral enough in flavor which makes it a good choice for most pies. If you would like to create your own cookie, we have had wonderful success using our Chocolate Hazelnut cookies and several different types of biscotti - Orange Pecan Biscotti, Chocolate Almond Biscotti (without the chocolate coating) and Pistachio Orange Biscotti. The steps to creating a great cookie crust are rather simple:

Step 1: Choose your favorite pre-baked gluten-free cookie and process it in food processor until it crumbled. (For a 9-inch pie crust you’ll need about 1-1/2 to 2 cups of crumbled cookies.) Be careful not to over-process. The crumbs should still have a fairly rough texture.

Step 2: Add melted or softened butter to the food processor and pulse until just combined.

Step 3: Pat the crumb mixture into the pie dish to coat the sides and bottom of pan.

Step 4: Bake for 15 minutes at 350 °F or until lightly browned. Let cool.

Step 5: Fill with your favorite filling and proceed with your recipe as directed.

We have several other delicious cookie crumb crust pies we’re sure you’ll enjoy. Check out our Ice Cream Pie, Banana Cream Pie with Chocolate Cookie Crust or our Peanut Butter Cup Pie!

We hope this class helps you in your quest to accomplish the perfect gluten-free pie crust. ‘Tis the season for pies…after all, what would Thanksgiving be with out Pumpkin Pie?

-Enjoy!

-Glutenfreeda