How to Make an Easy Gluten-Free Pie Crust Recipe

Learn how to make a wonderfully flaky gluten-free pie crust that will become a staple for all of your pies for the holidays.

Making pie from scratch can seem like a daunting task, especially if you don’t do bake often. Having a perfectly flaky, tender crust makes or breaks a pie, so it’s important to have a pie crust you can trust. If you’ve tried to find pre-made gluten-free pie crusts, you probably know how hard it is to find any options at all, let alone a pie crust that has just the right texture.

How to make a gluten-free pie crust

Ingredients:

• 1½ cups gluten-free all-purpose flour
• ¼ tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp kosher salt
• 84 g unsalted butter
• ½ cup milk kefir
• 2 tsp apple cider vinegar in 1 cup of ice water
• ½ cup cornmeal

Instructions:

Making the dough:

• Place dry ingredients into a large mixing bowl and mix together.

• Cut the butter into tablespoon-sized chunks and toss it in the dry mixture, mixing and breaking it down with your hands until the butter chunks are roughly the size of blueberries and spread throughout the mixture.
• Add in the milk kefir.
• Slowly mix the apple cider vinegar/ice water into the mixture one tablespoon at a time. Toss the dough with your hands after every added tablespoon.
• Mix the dough until it holds together without being sticky. It should still be a little crumbly when it reaches the ideal texture.

• Mold your dough into a ball and wrap it tightly in plastic wrap. Then, put the dough ball in the refrigerator for 30 minutes
• After 30 minutes, the dough should be firm. You may need to let it sit at room temperature for a few minutes before it becomes soft enough to roll out.

• Roll the dough into a rectangle with the short side facing you

• Fold the edge furthest from you toward the middle, then fold the side closest to you over the other fold (similar to how you would fold a letter).
• Press the dough back into one solid piece and repeat Steps 8–9.
• Mold the dough into a ball again and place it in the fridge for another 30 minutes.

Turning the dough into crust:

• After 30 minutes, remove the dough from the fridge and roll it into a circle. Make sure you roll the circle so it is at least two inches wider than pie tin’s lip.
• Transfer the dough to the pie tin. Try not to stretch the dough into place or it might tear. If it does tear, just use your fingers to pinch it back together.

• Create a lip at the edges by folding excess dough under itself, then crimp the edges as desired.
• Now, preheat your oven to 350℉. Keep the pie crust in the fridge while you wait.
  • Depending on your recipe, you may want to blind bake your pie before adding the filling. This can be especially helpful for more liquid fillings, such as with fruit pies.
  • To blind bake, cover the unfilled crust with aluminum foil, then add oven-safe pie weights to the center, making sure to evenly cover the entire bottom of the crust.
  • From there, bake the crust for 30–40 minutes or until the edges are lightly browned.
• Once the oven reaches 350℉, take the crust out of the fridge and fill it with whatever filling you are using. At this point, you can also cover the top of your pie with more crust, creating something like the classic weave.
• Cover the pie with aluminum foil, then bake for 30–40 minutes.
• After the first bake, remove the aluminum foil and bake the uncovered pie for another 15–20 minutes.
• Then, remove the pie from the oven and let cool for at least 1 hour.
  • You can eat the pie before an hour, but letting the pie cool will both keep you from burning your mouth and give the filling a chance to set so that it doesn’t fall apart when you cut the pie.

How to prevent your pie crust from getting soggy or dry

Different gluten-free flour blends tend to deliver vastly different results from one another. Because of this, gluten-free baking is much more about getting the right texture rather than following the recipe to a T. I like to use the Namaste’s gluten-free all-purpose flour blend. Keep in mind that even if you choose to use the same flour blend I do, various factors in your house might be different, like the humidity. So don’t be too surprised if you have to make some adjustments to the recipe to get the dough to turn out the way you want it.

How to fix a soggy pie crust:

No one wants a soggy pie crust. Part of the charm of a pie is biting into it and having that crispy crunch to go along with the sweet, soft filling. There are a few ways to combat sogginess. One way we have found is by placing a baking sheet underneath the pie tin. This extra layer between the tin and the heater helps in a few ways. It allows the heat to spread more evenly throughout the pie tin, and the extra layer protects the bottom of the pie from overheating.

Another solution to soggy crusts is blind bake your pie. To blind bake a pie, you cover it with tinfoil and fill the center with pie weights instead of filling. From there, you bake the weighted crust for 30–40 minutes or until the edges are lightly browned. This can help the crust harden before getting soaked by the filling.

How to fix a dry pie crust:

If you’re finding your pie is crumbling as you’re trying to roll it out, it’s probably too dry. All you need to do is add a tablespoon of ice cold water and mix it in. Keep adding a tablespoon of water until your crust is no longer crumbling and can hold together.

How to store gluten-free pie crust

If you decide to pre-make a couple of gluten-free pie crusts for future pies, you have a couple of options:

Freezing the crust will allow you to store it for a few months. The easiest way is to wrap the dough ball in aluminum foil or plastic wrap. You can also freeze your crust in your pie tin if you prefer. Just be sure to thaw your crust until it is pliable (a little above room temperature) before baking or rolling out.

Easy Gluten-Free Pie Crust Recipe

Yield: 1 Pie crust

Prep Time: 1 hour 30 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour

Total Time: 1 hour

Learn how to make the most tender and flaky gluten-free pie crust that will surely be a show stopper for your next pie!

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Ingredients

• 1½ cups gluten-free all-purpose flour
• ¼ tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp kosher salt
• 84 g unsalted butter
• ½ cup milk kefir
• 2 tsp apple cider vinegar in 1 cup of ice water
• ½ cup cornmeal

Instructions

Making the dough:

1. Place dry ingredients into a large mixing bowl and mix together.
2. Cut the butter into tablespoon-sized chunks and toss it in the dry mixture, mixing with your hands and breaking it down until there are butter chunks roughly the size of blueberries spread throughout the mixture.
3. Add in the milk kefir.
4. Slowly mix the apple cider vinegar/ice water into the mixture one tablespoon at a time. Toss the dough with your hands after every added tablespoon.
5. Mix the dough until it holds together without being sticky. It should still be a little crumbly when it reaches the ideal texture.
6. Mold the dough into a ball and wrap it tightly in plastic wrap. Then, put the dough disk in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
7. After 30 minutes, the dough should be firm. You may need to let it sit at room temperature for a few minutes before it becomes soft enough to roll out.
8. Roll the dough into a rectangle with the short side facing you.
9. Fold the edge furthest from you toward the middle, then fold the side closest to you over the other fold (similar to how you would fold a letter).
10. Press the dough back into one solid piece and repeat Steps 8–9.
11. Mold the dough into a ball and place it back in the fridge for another 30 minutes.





Turning the dough into crust:


1. After 30 minutes, remove the dough from the fridge and roll the dough into a circle. Make sure you roll the circle so it is at least two inches wider than pie tin's rim.
2. Transfer the dough to the pie tin. Try not to stretch the dough into place or it might tear. If it does tear, you can just mold it back together with your fingers
3. Create a lip at the edges by folding excess dough under itself, then crimp the edges as desired.
4. Now, preheat your oven to 350℉. Keep the pie crust in the fridge while you wait.
5. Once the oven reaches 350℉ take the pie out of the fridge and fill it with whatever filling you are using. At this point, you can also cover the top of your pie with more crust, creating something like the classic weave.
6. Cover the pie with aluminum foil, then bake for 30–40 minutes.
7. After the first bake, remove the aluminum foil and bake the uncovered pie for another 15–20 minutes.
8. Then, remove the pie from the oven and let cool for at least 1 hour.

Notes

Depending on your recipe, you may want to blind bake your pie before adding the filling. This can be especially helpful for more liquid fillings such as with fruit pies.

To blind bake, cover the unfilled crust with aluminum foil, then add oven-safe pie weights to the center, making sure to evenly cover the entire bottom of the crust.

From there, bake the crust for 30–40 minutes or until the edges are lightly browned.

Once the pie has finished baking, you can eat the pie before it sits for at least an hour, but letting the pie cool will both keep you from burning your mouth and give the filling a chance to set so that it doesn't fall apart when you cut the pie.

What’s your favorite pie? Comment below!