Gluten free pie crust recipe please

[ponder]

My Aunt and Uncle are visiting and my Uncle has celiacs disease. We have been doing really well with meals so far, but I really need a pie crust recipe that works. I found Hodsons Mill gluten free baking mix at the store and tried the recipe i found online and it was horrible. Tough and had no flavor. We all pretty much just ate the coconut meringue pie out of the crust. My uncle loves my coconut meringue pie so I would like to make it again before he leaves. Any help is appreciated, but I may just end up making it with regular crust and he'll eat everything but the crust.

 

[tsavvy]

I'm gluten free and have a few GF friends/family members. For almost any dessert/baking needs, I use Pamela's pancake and baking mix: http://www.amazon.com/Pamelas-Ultim...350070997&sr=8-1&keywords=pamelas+pancake+mix. It is awesome -- just replace the flour in any regular recipe with the Pamela's mix. Super easy and always yummy It does have salt, baking soda, and baking powder in it, just cut back on the amount of those ingredients called for in a regular recipe. Pamela's also makes a bread/baking mix that I don't like as much as the pancake/baking mix. I can't recommend Pamela's pancake/baking mix highly enough - it is really easy to use. I've used other gluten-free flours and had my baked goods end up like hockey pucks

Here's a basic recipe if you don't have a pie crust recipe that you like:
1 1/2 cups Pamela's Pancake/Baking mix (or any other gluten free flour/mix)
1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, chilled (you can replace some butter with shortening for flakier crust)
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
3 to 4 tablespoons ice cold water

Directions: Preheat oven to 350°. In bowl, cut chilled butter into flour (either use two knives, paddle attachment on mixer, or pulse slowly with food processor). Slowly add water until dough comes together, not sticky. Add flour if too wet; add additional water if dough is too dry. Roll out dough on silpat mat or between two pieces of parchment paper (I flour whatever flat surface is available and roll out the dough). Bake the crust for 24 - 28 minutes if your pie filling will not be baked. If you are making a fruit or other pie filling that needs to be baked, just prebake the crust for 5 or so minutes, then add the filling and bake the rest of the way. If I'm baking something at high temperatures, I'll put aluminum foil around the edges of the crust before baking and take it off about halfway through so the edges don't get too browned.

For a quick and easy option, Kinnikinnick makes a very good frozen GF crust. I've used it for a few bridal showers and other events where I've had to bring multiple quiches/pies and no one has noticed it is GF.

 

[tsavvy]

Yikes - sorry previous post was so long! I wanted to add, some celiacs are extremely sensitive to gluten and won't eat the filling if it has touched a wheat-based crust. If you end up not making a gluten-free crust, you may just want to cook his pie filling in a separate little ramekin.

 

[minousbijoux]

I don't know if this is helpful at all, or whether the recipe needs it at all, but I just read or saw one of those Cooks Illustrated best pie dough ever tests they do (you know, the guy with the bowtie on pbs?). Anyway, they always spend weeks experimenting and trying everything under the sun (and for all I know, they probably have tested recipes for GF pie dough) to make the best recipe they can. For pie dough, their experiments showed that adding vodka (like one TBS or such), along with water and normal agreements, made the dough even light and flakier - the theory being that water and vodka evaporate at different temps and therefore different times when its baking, guaranteeing an even flakier crust (since the evaporating steam is what makes it light). That all said, I don't have a recipe, sorry but I thought you might want to go on their website and/or experiment...

Good luck and let us know!

 

[ponder]

The good thing is that he is not super sensitive. He can actually handle it in very small trace amounts. If he eats too much he gets intestinal discomfort and hives. I will try the straight up substitution and see how that works, instead of the modified recipe.

 

[Efe]

Here is a link to a recipe for gluten free pie crust from a wonderful gluten free bakery in Sperryville, VA called Triple Oak Bakery:

http://www.theauberginechef.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Triple-Oak-Bakery-Pie-Crust.pdf

I have never tried the recipe, but her stuff is fantastic.