GF Pie Dough
Flaky, buttery, and not-annoying
Hey Chew Crew, I’m absolutely stoked to be sharing this recipe with you. I have, over the course of a year now, tried out many different gluten-free pie dough recipes from websites and books and reels. All of them have been variations of annoying, not-pie-like, bland, and downright catastrophic. I was determined to keep testing until I developed a dough that could contain plenty of butter, would puff and flake in the oven, have a cuttable texture, and wouldn’t be a pain to roll out and laminate.
I’m so thrilled to have finally perfected this recipe. This dough is so delicious that even when I blind-baked it and ate it on its own, it was a lovely, salty, buttery snack that was begging for any sort of sweet or savoury filling.
On the main newsletter, I showed you how to make a gorgeous apple crumble pie, and this dough will serve you well whether you’re making any sort of baked or cold-set pie. The only slight downside is this recipe requires a blend of flours/starches, rather than a commercial blend. If you can’t be bothered to buy the seven ingredients needed for the blend, I get it…but I swear I would not ask you to do so if I didn’t think it was worth it. The blend I formulated here is high in tapioca and potato starches and will not resemble any commercial blend. This is because I prioritised elasticity and resilience so that rolling it out is possible without constant cracking and tearing, and also allowed me to keep the xanthan gum low so that the final texture isn’t at all gummy.
Overview
Combine all the dry ingredients and sugar in a large bowl, then add the sour cream and ice-cold water. Mix with a fork until evenly hydrated and beginning to clump. Add all the butter, cutting it into sheets and chunks as you add it to the bowl. Massage the dough gently until it comes together, then transfer the dough to the bench and roll it out and perform 3-4 simple folds. Form into a disc, wrap with plastic/paper, and freeze for 15 minutes, then transfer to the fridge for at least 15 minutes and up to 2 days. Remove the dough from the fridge, gently massage or roll to warm it up, then roll the dough between two sheets of paper until it is 2-3 inches (5-7.5 cm) larger than the diameter of the pie plate. Transfer to the pie plate, fold in the edges, crimp or shape as desired, and freeze for 20 minutes. Dock, fill, and/or blind-bake according to your pie recipe’s instructions.
Recipe
Makes enough for one deep-dish 9-inch (~23 cm) pie plate. Double if making a top crust (or, for minimal waste, multiply x1.8)
Ingredients:
95g superfine white rice flour (Tip 1)
45g superfine brown rice flour, plus extra for dusting
30g cornstarch
90g tapioca starch
15g powdered milk
30g potato starch
2g (~0.5 tsp) xanthan gum
5g (~heaping 1/2 tsp) salt
12g sugar
160g unsalted butter, cold, (or use salted and slightly reduce added salt), preferably a ‘European-style’ butter that is cultured and ~82% butterfat (Tip 2)
45g sour cream
130g ice-cold water
Method:
Weigh all of the dry ingredients and the sugar into a large bowl, then whisk to combine. Add 45g sour cream and 130g of ice-cold water (I put ice into a small bowl, then top it up with water and let it sit for a few minutes before using). Whisk with a fork until the sour cream has incorporated and the texture of everything is consistent. It will still be crumbly.
With the bowl on a scale, slice thin sheets of cold butter directly into the bowl until the total reaches 160g. Gently massage butter with the dough (I use gloves here), separating the butter pieces from each other and allowing some sheets to break into smaller pieces, until the dough starts to hydrate. Focus on the dry bits and massage that portion until everything feels evenly hydrated (Tip 3). If the butter is feeling soft at all, transfer this to the fridge for 20 minutes to firm up. I continue without refrigerating when I’m in a cool kitchen.
Now we will laminate the dough. Dust the bench with brown rice flour, transfer the dough to the bench, dust the top with a bit of flour, and roll the dough into a long rectangle. Perform a simple fold (fold the bottom third up, then the top third over it, like a letter). Repeat this roll-and-fold 2 more times (3 total). If large butter pieces remain visible, repeat once more for a total of 4 folds. Dust with brown rice flour as you go to prevent sticking. Shape the dough into a disc and wrap in plastic or paper. Freeze for 15 minutes, then transfer to the fridge and chill for at least 15 minutes more, or up to 2 days.
Cut two sheets of kitchen paper (baking parchment) large enough that the dough can be rolled to about 2–3 inches wider than your pie plate. Remove the dough from the fridge and gently press for a few minutes to bring up the temperature of the butter slightly. Remove from the plastic/paper, transfer to a bench dusted with brown rice flour and gently, slowly roll the dough into a circle. If you see any butter cracking or splitting, wait for a few minutes until the butter has warmed slightly. Transfer the dough to the kitchen paper and cover the top with the second sheet, dusting both sides with a little rice flour. Continue rolling the dough, always pressing from the centre and toward an edge, rotating as you go, until the dough has reached all four edges of the paper. It does not need to fill out the corners. Imagine a circle connecting each of the four edges, and if your dough is covering this circle, you’re done. Flip the dough upside down and back as you roll, and periodically lift the paper off the dough to dust any sections that stick.
Lift one of the papers off the dough. Beginning at the midway of one of the edges, use a paring knife or pastry wheel and draw a circle that connects the midway of each edge. You will have a large circle and excess dough at the edges. Push these cut-off pieces away and reserve them for later (if you’re blind-baking, these pieces can be used to patch up the dough if you get cracks or holes). If the dough feels flimsy at all, freeze or refrigerate just long enough to firm up without becoming rigid (10-15 min). Bring your pie plate to you. Grab the edges of the paper and confidently invert the paper, with the dough on top, over the pie plate. Lift and shift the dough so that it is centred in the plate, which you can do by feeling how much dough is extending past each edge of the plate. Peel off the paper that is now on top of the dough.
Gently lift the dough and allow it to fall into the pie plate, guiding it so it is flush with the bottom and all sides. Fold 1-2 inches (2.5-5 cm) of the edges underneath itself and press to seal. Crimp edges or decorate as desired. Dock the dough if the recipe calls for it. Transfer to the freezer while you preheat the oven, or at least 20 minutes.
Fill and/or bake according to your pie recipe’s instructions.
If blind baking:
Initial bake: 200°C (400°F) fan / 220°C (425°F) conventional, ~20 min
Remove weights
Reduce oven to 190°C (375°F) fan / 200°C (400°F) conventional
Bake until bottom is golden.
Follow your recipe’s instructions if they disagree with this, as the writer may have their reasons. When you remove the pie weights, if there are any tears or holes, press in some of the reserved dough from cutting earlier. You can also egg wash near the end of the bake to seal everything so that custards can be poured in without worrying about leaking.
Storage: Dough can be made 2 days in advance or frozen 1 month in advance (though I haven’t tested this myself). Blind-baked pie crust can be made 1 day in advance, but a fresh crust is always better.
Tip 1: It is very important that the rice flours are superfine. The trademark ‘graininess’ that people complain when tasting gluten-free baked goods is very often the result of rice flour that has been too coarsely milled. I’m in the US now and have been using the Anthony’s brand fine rice flours, and they have worked beautifully, though they are not prominently labeled as ‘fine’ or ‘superfine’. When shopping for rice flours, read reviews to see if others have said they are fine or coarse.
Tip 2: Butter that has been cultured and is especially high in butterfat is more pliable, meaning it can be laminated without cracking or smearing. This isn’t as essential as when you’re laminating croissants or puff pastry, so feel free to use a cheaper butter if needed. I have used Kerrygold and Tillamook (which is just as high in butterfat but not cultured and is cheaper) and both have worked well, though Kerrygold is notably easier to laminate with.
Tip 3: This step balances two goals: retaining discrete pieces of butter while smearing just enough to finish hydrating the flours. On one hand, we are relying on the butter for moisture, but we want as many pieces of butter as possible as these will become sandwiched between layers of dough and give our pie flakiness and a pleasant bite. If we evenly distributed the butter into the dough, like in a food processor, we would get something more like tart pastry: homogenous and cookie-like.
I recommend purchasing a scale that detects tenths of grams, because xanthan gum is both very ‘packable’ (ie the quantity can change significantly if compressed or if scooped while fluffy) and very potent, meaning small differences in quantity can impact your bakes. I use a JSR-150 for weighing gum/salt/baking powder/etc. I purchased it from BakeryBits for £17.
I am confident this dough will become your go-to recipe and I can’t wait for you to give it a go and let me know what you think.
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