Gluten Free Pie Crust

Ahh! After trying another pie crust recipe or mix from a store I'm ready to scream!

Did you ever try making a pie by rolling your crust between two pieces of wax paper and then inverting it into your pie pan only to see it bust into a million pieces? Or worse yet your tape comes loose from the paper so you're trying to hold the paper with your hip while you roll the dough. I realize that not everyone can make pies, but there was a time when I could but since going Gluten free baking pies just seemed to be something that I couldn't do.

Then one day I was making my dumpling recipe a lightbulb came on and I remembered how my Grandma would add a little baking powder to her pie crusts and put the scraps into the freezer. She would then pull them out and drop them into her chicken broth to make dumplings.

Hmmm. So if pie crust could become dumplings then why couldn't my tried and true dumpling recipe become pie crust?

I tried that, but the crust was so tough you couldn't cut it with a fork but I was on the right track I think the trick must have been in just the right amount of xantham gum.

My first recipe came out good, but was too bland. I never knew that pie crust had so much taste until I started trying to make my own gf recipe.

My next recipe had taste but didn't hold together as well on the counter. So after many trials and errors finally the recipe that worked to my liking was this.

1 cup of GF flour (I used Krusteaz)

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp xantham gum

1/2 tsp GF baking powder

1 egg

1 TBSP butter (not margirin)

1/3 cup ice water

Combine the first four ingredients with a pastry cutter. Melt your butter and stir into the dry ingredients. Add enough water one tablespoon at a time until your dough cleans the side of the bowl. Treat it lightly but make sure that it holds together well. The more you work with it the tougher it will become, and while this is great for those dumplings it won't make a very pleasant pie.

Roll the dough out onto a floured surface. Place it into a pie pan and follow your favorite recipe from there.

If you want a two crust pie make two separate recipes. I don't recommend doubling the recipe because it becomes too hard to work with.

#glutenfree #celiac #wheatfree #barleyfree #soyfree #ryefree