This is my favourite pie crust, gluten free or not. In fact, my husband says this is better than what I use to make with light spelt flour before needing to be gluten free.
This recipe makes enough for 2 X 9" double crust pies. If you just want to make one pie, you can divide the ingredient list to 1/4 of the recipe to make just one pice crust Or make the full batch divide into four portions, wrap well in plastic wrap or bags and freeze the remaining dough for later...it's as easy as that!
You need a scale for this recipe to turn out right.
Servings: 4- 9" pie crusts
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: varies minutes
Ingredients
Dry
160g tapioca starch
124g organic gluten free corn starch
96g sweet glutenous rice flour
52g sorghum flour
48g potato starch
48g organic sugar
9g guar gum
3g fine sea salt
Extra sweet rice flour for dusting and rolling out pastry.
Wet
1-pound (454g) of cold unsalted butter cut into cubes
4 large eggs, preferably organic free range
1 Tbsp pure gluten free vodka (optional but makes the pastry even more flaky)
4 sections of parchment paper and plastic wrap.
Option:
Make pastry flour blend and store in a mason jar. To make just one crust use the following ratio.
136g pastry flour blend
1/2 cup unsalted butter chilled and diced
1 egg
3/4 tsp vodka (optional)
Instructions
I do this recipe in my food processor but you can also do this in a large bowl or a stand mixer.
Add all weighed ingredients to a large food processor fitted with metal blade.
Pulse a few seconds to mix the flours well.
Add the cubed butter and pulse until it resembles medium size peas.
Add eggs and vodka and pulse until it comes together and just starts to form a ball.
Using a rubber spatula scrap out all the mixture onto a lightly sweet rice flour dusted area. Knead it together to form a well mixed ball. Cut into 4 even sections. If you want to make sure they are all the same size, weight the ball and divide that weight into 1/4 pieces.
Flatten each piece into a disk on parchment paper then wrap well in plastic wrap. Place in fridge for 2 hours or up to 3 days. This also freezes well. Make sure to thaw in the fridge 6-8hrs from frozen.
To use this pie crust, you must knead it after the refrigeration time to make it malleable. I know, this goes agains everything you have ever been taught about handling pie dough, but trust me, this works.
Remove from fridge and let rest 5 minutes. Then on a lightly sweet rice flour surface start to fold the dough in half, then in half again, then pressing and turning until it comes to a nice ball that is easy to work with.
On a piece of parchment paper, lightly sprinkle more sweet rice flour. Put ball of dough in centre, dust a little more and place a piece of plastic wrap over the top. Using the hands on a clock as reference, start rolling to twelve o'clock, then three, then 6 then 9. Lift plastic wrap if it starts to wrinkle as this will prevent it from spreading when you roll.
Repeat in this motion until your crust is 1/8" thick or thicker if you prefer.
If I am making a double crust or even a single crust pie, I always place it in the freezer for 10 minutes before baking. This helps keep the shape of your dough from shrinking or falling on one side.
If you are making a single crust pie or quiche, I recommend par-baking with a parchment liner and fill with bean weights.
Baking time varies based on type of filling, but for a fruit pie I go with 400F for 40 minutes. Single pre-baked pie crust 400F for 20 minutes for fully cooked and 12-15 for par-baked. If your oven bakes hot, you'll want to reduce to 375F
Adapted from: The Everyday Art of Gluten-Free