Extra Flaky Gluten Free Pie Crust Recipe
This gluten free pie crust holds together beautifully, tastes just like the real thing, and works for everything from fruit pies to pot pies and quiche.
Servings: 1 10-inch pie crust
Equipment
- Rolling Pin
- Pie weights
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups all purpose gluten free flour blend (See Recipe Notes) plus more for sprinkling
- ¾ teaspoon xanthan gum omit if your blend already contains it (use a heaping 3/4 teaspoon)
- ¼ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter roughly chopped and chilled
- ½ cup sour cream full fat, preferably, chilled
- Ice water by the teaspoonful as necessary
- Egg white for brushing (optional)
Instructions
Make the pie crust dough
- In a large bowl, place the flour, xanthan gum, baking powder and salt, and whisk to combine well.
- Add the chopped and chilled butter, and toss to coat it in the dry ingredients.
- Flatten each chunk of butter between your thumb and forefinger to make flat shards of butter, coated fully in flour.
- Create a well in the center of the dry ingredients with the butter shards, add the sour cream, and mix to moisten the dry ingredients with the sour cream. The dough should be shaggy and still somewhat crumbly.
- If there are any portions of the dough that are especially dry, try to isolate them in the mixing bowl, drizzle ice water by the teaspoon on only those parts and then mix to moisten them.
- Drizzle in more ice water only as necessary to moisten lightly all of the dry ingredients. Knead the dough together with clean hands until it begins to come together.
- Turn the dough out onto a sheet of plastic wrap, and press into a disk as you close the plastic wrap around the dough. It will still seem rough.
- Place the dough in the refrigerator to chill for 30 minutes.
- Preheat your oven to 375°F. Grease a 9-inch metal pie plate generously and set aside.
Smooth out the chilled dough
- Once the dough has chilled, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface, and sprinkle the top lightly with more flour.
- Roll the dough out into a rough rectangle that is about 1 inch thick, moving the dough frequently and sprinkling it lightly with flour if it begins to stick. Fold the dough over on itself in thirds like you would a business letter.
- Sprinkle the dough again lightly with flour, and roll out the dough once again into a rough rectangle about 1 inch thick. Fold again in thirds.
- Working quickly, sprinkle the dough lightly with flour, and roll out once more into a rough rectangle, for a total of 3 times.
- Fold the dough in thirds again, then fold in the sides to make a square packet of dough. Press the dough together, and try to round the sides into a disk.
- If the dough feels warm at all, or like the butter is melting, cover it with plastic wrap and chill it until the butter is firm again.
Shape the dough in the pie plate
- Roll the dough out into an approximately 11-inch round, about 3/8-inch thick. Roll from the middle to the edges in every direction to help create a round. If the dough splits on the edges, pinch them together.
- Roll the pie crust loosely onto the rolling pin and then unroll it over the prepared pie plate.
- Trim any especially rough edges of the crust with kitchen shears or a sharp knife. Lift up the edges of the pie crust gently to create slack in the crust, and place the crust neatly on the bottom and up the sides of the pie plate.
- Tuck the excess pie crust under itself along the perimeter of the crust, where it overhangs the pie plate. Crimp the edge gently all the way around the crust by pinching the dough at regular intervals with one hand, and creating a crimped impression with the forefinger of the other hand.
- Cover the pie crust with plastic wrap and place it in the refrigerator to chill until firm, at least 30 minutes (and up to 3 days).
Parbake the crust (See Recipe Notes)
- Remove the pie crust from the refrigerator and unwrap and discard the plastic. Pierce the bottom of the pie crust all over with the tines of a fork.
- Place a sheet of parchment paper on top of the raw crust and fill the crust with pie weights or dried beans. Filling the pie crust will help keep the bottom from expanding and the edges from falling down into the pie dish.
- Place the plate in the center of the preheated oven and bake for about 10 minutes, or until the crust is just beginning to turn very lightly golden brown on some edges.
- Remove the pie weights and parchment. The bottom of the crust should be less shiny but not browned. If it's still shiny, brush the bottom of the crust with the optional egg white, and return the pie crust to the oven and bake for another 2 to 4 minutes.
- Allow the parbaked crust to cool before proceeding with your recipe.
Video
Notes
Flour blends
My favorite gluten free flour blends are Better Batter's original blend gluten free flour and Nicole's Best multipurpose blend. Bob's Red Mill 1-to-1 Gluten Free Baking Flour should also work, but you’ll need to add an extra ¾ teaspoon xanthan gum. Cup4Cup changed its formula and doesn't seem to work as well as it has in the past, so I don't recommend it. To make your own blend using one of my “mock” recipes, please see the all purpose gluten free flour blends page. For even more flakiness, try my gluten free pastry flour blend.Dairy free options
- Butter: Use 3 tablespoons shortening + 3 tablespoons vegan block butter (like Miyoko’s).
- Sour Cream: Substitute with nondairy sour cream or Greek-style nondairy yogurt.
- Water-only version: Skip the sour cream and increase baking powder to ½ teaspoon. Start with 3/8 cup (3 fl oz) ice water and add more by the teaspoon as needed.
Parbaking & Blind Baking
- Parbake for baked fillings: Bake with weights at 375°F for 10 minutes.
- Blind bake for no-bake fillings: After parbaking, bake 10–12 more minutes until golden.
- Optional: Brush with egg white before the second bake for extra insurance against sogginess.
Nutrition
Serving: 1pie crust | Calories: 1588kcal | Carbohydrates: 172g | Protein: 12g | Fat: 90g | Saturated Fat: 55g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 3g | Monounsaturated Fat: 23g | Trans Fat: 3g | Cholesterol: 248mg | Sodium: 1492mg | Potassium: 172mg | Fiber: 10g | Sugar: 4g | Vitamin A: 2816IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 196mg | Iron: 0.2mg