This extra flaky gluten free pie crust is made with sour cream and rolls out beautifully. You can have the perfect recipe for pie crust in your baking toolbox. It's right here!
Before cookie season comes pie season. That means that we need light and extra flaky gluten free pie crust, and plenty of it. Actually, pie season is really any season. In the summertime, we make pies with summer berries and stone fruits. In the fall and winter, it's all about apple pie, and maybe a pecan pie or two.
Why this is the best gluten free pie crust recipe ever
For years and years (and years), I'd used another recipe that doesn't call for sour cream almost exclusively for single and double crust pies alike. And it's still one of my favorites. But this extra flaky one?
This perfect pie crust is giving my regular gluten free pastry crust a run for its money. It rolls out so beautifully and is just effortlessly flaky. Like all pastry-baking, you just have to be sure to keep everything cold cold cold while you're working with it.
My hope is that you never feel like you have to buy a pre-made crust. Have you ever tried one of those? They're just not up to our standards. :)
Making an extra flaky gluten free pie crust
My basic principles of flaky pastry-making remain the same. Begin with relatively large chunks of butter (no pea-sized bits, please!), coat them in dry ingredients and then flatten them between your thumb and forefinger.
That way, when the butter melts a bit as you're working with the pastry, it will firm back up when you chill the shaped pastry. This time, though, rather than using ice water to bring the dough together, it's sour cream. Sour cream adds a tenderness to the dough that is like nothing else.
Be sure to lift the pie crust up and into the bottom and sides of the pie plate rather than attempting to stretch it. That'll keep it from shrinking during baking.
If you're a visual learner, I've created a how-to video to help show every stage of pie-crust making. It's right above the recipe itself.
The secret is in the sour cream
I've included instructions for parbaking the crust, but your gluten free pie recipe may or may not require that step. Extra tender and extra flaky?
That's right. Thank you, sour cream! Whether you're already planning your gluten free Thanksgiving, or still baking up the best of summer's stone fruits, you can fill this gorgeous crust with all your favorites.
Gluten free pie crust: substitutions
Gluten free, dairy free crust
I often get asked about making this extra flaky gluten free pie crust dairy free. My first and best suggestion is instead to use my recipe for a classic pie crust, and replace the butter with butter-flavored Spectrum nonhydrogenated vegetable shortening. It's a much easier swap, and that is a truly lovely pie crust.
Be sure your all purpose gluten free flour blend is dairy-free, as well, if you're going to make that recipe dairy-free. I recommend my Better Than Cup4Cup blend in pastries like pie crust, which contains milk powder, so be sure to use coconut milk powder to make the blend dairy-free.
But if you'd like to stick with this recipe, I'd try the same swap for butter, and try replacing the sour cream with either Greek-style (strained and thickened) plain nondairy yogurt, or nondairy sour cream. I have not tried that swap, though, so you'll have to experiment!
Gluten free, vegan crust
The only animal products in this or the other pie crust recipe are those derived from dairy. Since there's no meat and no eggs, if you follow the instructions for making this recipe dairy-free, it will also be vegan.
FAQs
Is pie crust gluten free?
No! Pie crust is not gluten free, unless, like this recipe it is made to be gluten free. You must use gluten free flour, not conventional wheat flour, and balance the other ingredients accordingly.
How does an extra flaky gluten free pie crust actually taste?
Gluten free pie crust, when made with the right ingredients, right recipe, and the right technique, tastes light and flaky, but tender and never dry. It enhances every filling, just like the best pastry crusts do!
What's the secret to an extra flaky crust?
The secret to an extra flaky gluten free pie crust is adding a bit of cold sour cream to the mixture. That helps create some extra tenderness without compromising any of the layered flakiness.
Why is it important to keep pastry ingredients cold?
All pastries should be made with cold ingredients, and pie crust is no exception. The cold ingredients, especially the fat (usually butter, but sometimes lard or solid coconut oil or shortening) expand when they hit the heat of the preheated oven and push out the surrounding dry ingredients, creating those flaky, crispy layers we all love.
What's the best gluten free flour for pie crust?
The best gluten free flour for flaky pie crust is a version of our gluten free pastry flour, which has some milk powder and some extra cornstarch for lightness and tenderness.
Can I use a food processor or stand mixer for this recipe?
I don't recommend making this pie crust using anything other than a bowl and a spoon, since that makes it possible to create large but flat solid pieces of fat that are evenly distributed throughout the raw dough. That's how you get those layers!
The common method of making the pie crust into “pea-sized pieces” tends to make tougher crusts. A stand mixer is a definite no, but if you must use a food processor, process the dough as little as possible!
Can I use a glass pie pan for this recipe?
Yes, you can bake this crust in a glass pie pan, which will allow you to see the bottom of the crust and accurately judge how much it has browned. Baking in glass is similar to baking in porcelain, as both retain heat very well, so watch carefully to ensure you don't burn your crust.
How do you crimp the edges of a pastry crust?
To crimp the edge, place the thumb and forefinger of one hand about 1-inch apart on the edge of the pie crust pointing from the inside out. From the outside in, press the knuckle of the forefinger of your other hand in the center of the other two fingers.
Gently pinch the inside fingers together around the outside knuckle. Move around the whole perimeter of the crust, repeating the process inch by inch, and you'll have a beautiful crimped edge!
How do you know when the crust is ready?
If you're parbaking your crust, as directed here in this gluten free pie crust recipe, you'll know it's done baking when it is very lightly golden brown on the edges. The bottom of the crust should only be less shiny, but not browned, which will finish when you fill and finish baking.
Extra Flaky Gluten Free Pie Crust
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups (210 g) all purpose gluten free flour blend I highly recommend Cup4Cup, my Better Than Cup4Cup blend, my Mock Cup4Cup, or my Better Batter Pastry Hack blend, plus more for sprinkling
- ¾ teaspoon xanthan gum omit if your blend already contains it
- ¼ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 6 tablespoons (84 g) unsalted butter roughly chopped and chilled
- ½ cup (120 g) sour cream full fat, preferably, chilled
- Ice water by the teaspoonful as necessary
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. Add the sour cream, and mix to moisten the dry ingredients with the sour cream. The dough should be shaggy and somewhat crumbly.
- Knead the dough together with clean hands until it begins to come together. Add ice water by the teaspoon only if necessary for the dough to hold 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 piece of unbleached parchment paper. Sprinkle the dough lightly with more flour, and roll it out into a 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 like you would a business letter. Sprinkle the dough again lightly with flour, and roll out the dough once again into a rectangle about 1 inch thick.
- Twice more, remove the top piece of parchment paper, sprinkle lightly with flour, and fold the dough over on itself like you would a business letter.
Shape the dough in the pie plate.
- Roll out the dough into an approximately 12-inch round, about 3/8-inch thick. Roll the pie crust loosely onto the rolling pin and then unroll it over the prepared pie plate.
- Trim the roughest edges of the crust with kitchen shears. Lift up the edges of the pie crust gently to create slack in the crust, and place the crust into the bottom and up the sides of the pie plate.
- Tuck the excess pie crust under itself, and 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.
- 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 cover the bottom of the crust with pie weights or dried beans.
- Place in the center of the preheated oven and bake until the crust is lightly golden brown on the edges, about 10 minutes.
- Remove the pie weights and parchment and allow the crust to cool before proceeding with your recipe.
Notes
Extra Flaky Gluten Free Pie Crust
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups (210 g) all purpose gluten free flour blend I highly recommend Cup4Cup, my Better Than Cup4Cup blend, my Mock Cup4Cup, or my Better Batter Pastry Hack blend, plus more for sprinkling
- ¾ teaspoon xanthan gum omit if your blend already contains it
- ¼ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 6 tablespoons (84 g) unsalted butter roughly chopped and chilled
- ½ cup (120 g) sour cream full fat, preferably, chilled
- Ice water by the teaspoonful as necessary
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. Add the sour cream, and mix to moisten the dry ingredients with the sour cream. The dough should be shaggy and somewhat crumbly.
- Knead the dough together with clean hands until it begins to come together. Add ice water by the teaspoon only if necessary for the dough to hold 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 piece of unbleached parchment paper. Sprinkle the dough lightly with more flour, and roll it out into a 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 like you would a business letter. Sprinkle the dough again lightly with flour, and roll out the dough once again into a rectangle about 1 inch thick.
- Twice more, remove the top piece of parchment paper, sprinkle lightly with flour, and fold the dough over on itself like you would a business letter.
Shape the dough in the pie plate.
- Roll out the dough into an approximately 12-inch round, about 3/8-inch thick. Roll the pie crust loosely onto the rolling pin and then unroll it over the prepared pie plate.
- Trim the roughest edges of the crust with kitchen shears. Lift up the edges of the pie crust gently to create slack in the crust, and place the crust into the bottom and up the sides of the pie plate.
- Tuck the excess pie crust under itself, and 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.
- 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 cover the bottom of the crust with pie weights or dried beans.
- Place in the center of the preheated oven and bake until the crust is lightly golden brown on the edges, about 10 minutes.
- Remove the pie weights and parchment and allow the crust to cool before proceeding with your recipe.
Mabel says
Well, the result is in on my first pie! My family, who is not GF, could not really tell the difference in my pie crusts. They all said it was a good pie crust. My first friend said this was a good pie crust!! YEAH! I am so excited. Now to be able to make cinnamon rolls. He will be ecstatic!!
Mabel says
I just got done mixing up the dough!! It is in the frig cooling!! WOW!! It feels just like my other dough!! I am making a strawberry/rhubarb pie for some of my customers. Hope it works. 2 questions. I make all my other pies with lard. Can I use that instead of butter? I make a lot of 2 crust pies. Do I need to refrigerate the pies before baking or can I put right into the oven?
Nicole Hunn says
I haven’t tried this recipe with lard, Mabel, but I don’t see why you can’t use it instead of butter. As with all pastry, you want it cold before it goes in the oven!
LaDoris says
This crust is the best gluten free crust I have made. It’s reliable and easy to make.
LaDoris says
This pie crust is the bomb! I made an apple pie with this crust and feel the love everytime I take a bite. You have done a great job. Thank you so much!
Connie says
I would love to know where to get a pastry cloth such as the one you use in the video. It appears to be wrapped around something also. Could you share that information? Thanks!
Nicole Hunn says
Hi, Connie, of course! It’s called the “Bethany Pastry Cloth,” and you purchase it as two parts: the board and the cloth. Here is an affiliate link to buy both of them together on amazon: Bethany Pastry Cloth and board, but of course feel free to shop around!
Davida says
Thank you for sharing this pie crust recipe, Nicole. It is absolutely the best GF pie crust recipe that I’ve tried (& I’ve tried many). It’s now my go-to recipe. Love it. Thanks again!
Nicole Hunn says
Awesome, Davida!
Marcia Sobel says
In the directions you say “a metal pie pan” yet in your video that pie pan looks to be ceramic. Would it make a difference if you used metal, or glass, or ceramic? Sounds like a super recipe, by the way.
Nicole Hunn says
You really can use any sort of pie pan you like, Marcia, but if you use glass or a dark colored pan, your crust/pie will cook faster, that’s all!
Mary MacLean says
If you are using this recipe for a filled pie (apple), would you still partake the crust? And if so, how long would you bake an apple pie after partaking the crust?
Nicole Hunn says
Hi, Mary,
It really depends upon the recipe you’re using. I would either follow that recipe, if you have one, or search for “apple pie” here using the search bar and use my apple pie recipe. Just follow the instructions! There is no one-size-fits-all.
Mabel says
OK> I was going to ask you for a GF pie crust. I bake for a Farmer’s Market and a few people want GF. But where do I find all those Cup4cup flour.
Nicole Hunn says
Hi, Mabel,
Please follow the link in the recipe to my all purpose gluten free flour blend recipes.
Nicola says
I like the sound of this. I make scones with sheep yogurt and they are fantastic. My daughter is gluten and dairy intolerant and I am dairy (cows milk products that is). We get by quite well, only eating out is a problem. Here in the UK we have Dove flour, plain, self-raising and bread flour. Do you know how that compares to yours? Thanks for your ideas.
calle says
Wow this sounds wonderful.
Question where are the different flour blend recipes located?
Jill says
This is gorgeous! I made your crust from the pie in a bag to try it out for Thanksgiving and while it was better than any other GF crust I’ve tried, it didn’t have the texture I’m used to. It seemed more like a cookie even though there was no sugar in it. Normally I use shortening rather than butter for my standard (non-GF) crusts. Do you think the pie in a bag recipe would be more flaky if I made it with shortening? Or maybe I should just try this one. Any insight you could give would be greatly appreciated. LOVE your blog!
Kim Erdogan says
I wonder if yogurt would work instead of sour cream?
Terra Frank says
By sheer mistake (grabbed the wrong container from the refrigerator and didn’t realize my mistake until the crust was in the oven) I substituted plain whole milk yogurt for sour cream. The crust was fantastic! I can’t wait to try the recipe as written! Lol
Lauren Morra says
What a gorgeous pie crust! Pinning!
Nicole Hunn says
Thanks, Laura!
Carole says
What if all your pie pans are glass ???
Made the honey muffins and they disappeared quickly.
Nicole Hunn says
I really don’t recommend baking pies in a glass pie pan, Carole, as it bakes faster and pies are more likely to burn. But you can try lining the outside of the bottom and sides of the pan with a few layers of foil during baking. So glad you liked the honey muffins!
suzeyg3 says
Hi, will this dough freeze? I like to have a couple of different pastries in the freezer.
Especially with Christmas coming up, not to mention my Birthday lol xxx
Nicole Hunn says
It sure will, Suzey! You can freeze it before or after shaping it, but just be sure to wrap it well because freezer burn will dry it out otherwise! And happy birthday. :)
suzeyg3 says
Thanks Nichole.
That will be really handy. I didn’t phrase that very well.
I meant both my Birthday and Christmas are coming up.
So I won’t actually be a year older till th 29th.
My fault. I have made some cheese scones from a frozen recipe from you. And they hace come out brilliantly.
Hany when the batteries run out on your kitchen scales and you have used all the spare ones lol.
Suzey xxx
youngbaker2002 says
o my gosh!!!
Kathe says
Hi , my question is our kiddos are gluten and diary so would using the vegan sour cream and vegan butter work also since the fats are so different ?
Nicole Hunn says
For a non-dairy butter replacement for pie crust, Kathe, I always recommend shortening. I use Spectrum nonhydrogenated vegetable shortening. I’d recommend using my basic pie crust recipe (just follow the link!), though, as I’m really not sure about the vegan sour cream.
Tina Stalter says
I have used pureed silken tofu with a little oil to replace sour cream in some of my recipes. It might work here too.
Nicola says
Hi, if your little ones only cows milk intolerant, try sheep yogurt. It’s great. I understand from a cafe owner here in the uk that soya yogurt replacement is also good. Try it!
Kay Edeal says
I made the GF apple pie in a bag.. that crust was hard and tough on edges of pie. I usually use the GF flour and use beaten egg and vinegar or lemon juice mix for cold liquid; more tenderness.
Nicole Hunn says
It sounds like you overworked the crust, Kay, and perhaps your edges were too thick/dry. When prepared according to the recipe instructions with the ingredients specified, the crust shouldn’t be tough anywhere at all.
Jennifer S. says
I will use this if I’m in charge of pies this year!
Michelle Parker Howard says
So which would you prefer for apple pie? I’m attempting my first GF apple pie for Thanksgiving and was planning on your “pie in a bag” recipe. Would this crust be preferable to that one?
Nicole Hunn says
Good question, Michelle. I still love that pie crust, but I honestly think this would be even better. ?