Gluten-Free Pie Crust That Is Easily Shapeable

Years ago when I first cut out gluten, I remember trying to make a pie. I was left with little Frankenstein pieces of dough that were both sticky yet wouldn't stick together... I tried gluing them in my pie pan with wet hands, but the puzzle kept breaking apart (like my starving little heart!) Sounds familiar? Thankfully those are just sad memories. Now that I have created an amazing easily shapeable and flaky gluten-free pie crust recipe, gorgeous dough lattices and intricate designs are in my future! At my cottage bakery, I often get requests for a gluten-free dairy-free pie crust, or for a gluten-free vegan pie crust, and I simply modify this recipe to fulfill those orders. Read on and I'll show you how!

The cool thing about pie crust is that it's pretty timeless and obviously versatile. Savory, sweet, comfort, dessert, you name it, pies does it.

This pie crust recipe requires my specially formulated gluten-free pastry flour. Please click through for the recipe/flour substitutions (including a dairy-free option), or for tested commercial blends. If you do make my pastry flour mix, you can also use it for my puff pastry recipe, though that recipe requires slightly more time and elbow grease. Easy as pie is a true expression!

Ingredients

• Gluten-free pastry flour, please click through for the specifics
• Butter (or vegan butter like Miyoko's)
• Sour cream
• Baking powder
• Salt
• Ice water

One of the ingredients that really helps this pie crust is the additional saturated fats in the form of sour cream. This was inspired both by Chef Alina's cream cheese crust, and Gluten-Free on a Shoestring sour cream crust.

I have a little secret: I like to substitute the ice water for ingredients that pack more flavor. For example, if I am making an apple pie, I use ice apple cider; for chicken pot pie, ice chicken broth, and so on.

See recipe card for quantities.

Instructions

Pie dough is pretty easy to make. The best advice I have for you is when you add the ice water, go slowly and trust your baker's instincts for texture.

Add cold butter to the gluten-free pastry flour. The butter stick should be cut up in half tablespoon unit, so the butter is thin and squeezable.

Squeeze butter and gluten-free pastry flour between your fingers. The goal is to cover the butter. Repeat for all pieces of butter.

It should look like rough corn meal, but it's okay if there are larger of pieces of butter. Imperfections make interesting texture.

Add the sour cream and mix well.

Add iced water slowly, mixing well after each addition.

Stop when you form a cohesive ball of dough. Not too wet, but no dry areas. Wrap tightly in plastic and refrigerate.

Hint: the dough should be refrigerated at least four hours (overnight is fine too) so that the flours absorb liquids fully and that the butter hardens. This will make the dough easier to roll. Please don't skip this step, I want you to have a gluten-free pie crust that is easily shapeable! If short on time, you can try freezing the dough in 10 minutes increments until it is workable.

You can watch me work the dough below. I like to do what Kat from the Loopy Whisk suggests, which is to laminate the dough at least once to make a flaky gluten-free pie crust, and really making it easier to work with. I do this at the 18 second mark. At the end, you will also see me crimp the edges, which is a stylistic choice.

Look at how the dough handles, isn't this gluten-free pie crust beautiful, easily shapeable and flaky?

Your pie crust is now ready to use in your recipe!

Substitutions

Good news, this gluten-free pie crust can be dairy-free and/or vegan too!

• Dairy-free - you need to use the dairy-free version of my gluten-free pastry flour blend, which requires either coconut milk powder or oat milk powder. Additionally, use vegan butter rich in saturated fats, like Miyoko's or Trader Joe's. You can swap the sour cream for vegan yogurt. Note that more vegan butter instead of sour cream also works.
• Egg-free - this recipe contains no egg, but most of us use an egg-wash to brown the crust. You can omit this step, and instead brush melted vegan butter on the crust and use large grain sugar sprinkles on top.

And voila, now you have a gluten-free dairy-free pie crust, or a gluten-free vegan pie crust! I make it several times a month at my cottage bakery, and while the dough is slightly less pliable, I promise you can still make beautiful lattices! In fact, check out my gluten-free vegan apple pie!

Variations

I love infusing my pie crust with flavors! You can do this through dry, wet or "fat" ingredients.

• Dry - are you making a berry pie? Buy some freeze-dried berries (Walmart and Target both have them for example), pulse them in your food processor until they're in powdered form, and add a tablespoon per pie crust dough recipe! Yum!
• Wet - instead of iced water, use iced apple cider for apple pie, or iced chicken broth for chicken pot pie!
• Fat - swap the sour cream for blueberry yogurt, or strawberry yogurt, or any flavor your heart desires!

Equipment

• Rolling pin
• Pizza cutter (or sharp knife)
• Rolling mat (or parchment paper)
• Pie pan - for this recipe I am using a disposable 9 inch pie pan

Storage

I prefer making my ball of dough the day before I plan on baking a pie. You can also fully assemble your pie (bottom, filling and top), wrap it in plastic, and leave it in the fridge overnight. If you'd like to work even more ahead of time, you could freeze the dough ball (wrapped in plastic) for 2 weeks. When you're ready, thaw in the fridge overnight; shape and bake your pie the next day!

FAQ

Gluten-Free Easily Shapeable Pie Crust

What a gamechanger it is, to work with a gluten-free pie crust that is easily shapeable and rolls like a dream! It is both delicious for the guests AND fun for the baker to work with! This recipe is for ONE 9 inch pie crust, please double it for a recipe requiring top-bottom crusts, and see FAQs for making a 10 inch pie crust.

5 from 7 votes

Print Pin Rate

Course: Dessert, Main Course

Cuisine: American, French

Keyword: dairy-free, gluten-free

Prep Time: 20 minutes minutes

Resting Time: 12 hours hours

Total Time: 12 hours hours 20 minutes minutes

Servings: 8

Calories: 134.6kcal

Author: Naelle @ GlutenFreeDIYers

Cost: 6.50

Equipment

• 1 rolling pin
• 1 Pizza Cutter or sharp knife
• 1 rolling mat or parchment paper
• 1 pie pan 9 inch

Ingredients

 

US CustomaryMetric

 

1x2x3x

• 158 grams gluten-free pastry flour plus more for rolling
• ¼ teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 63 grams non-salted butter
• 40 grams sour cream
• 30 grams ice water (or liquid, see variation section) plus more, as necessary for texture

Makes: 9inch0 x 0inch round

Instructions

Make the Dough

• Combine the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl.
• Cut the cold butter into small ½ tablespoon squares.
• Add the butter to the dry ingredients, flattening each chunks between your fingers.
• Once the dough looks like coarse corn meal, add the sour cream. Mix well. It will be crumbly.
• Add ice water (or ice liquid of choice, see variation section), a tablespoon at a time, until the right consistency is reached: the dough should hold its shape in a ball, with no dry areas.
• Wrap the dough ball in plastic, and refrigerate overnight (I recommend at least 4 hours).

Roll the Dough

• Turn the dough on a lightly floured rolling mat or parchment paper.
• Sprinkle the top with more gluten-free pastry flour, and begin rolling.
• Roll a rectangle and complete one lamination (see the video in the instruction section).
• Roll the dough into an ~11 inch circle, often moving, flipping and re-sprinkling the dough with gluten-free pastry flour so it doesn't stick.
• Place the pie pan face down on the dough and use the pan as a guide to trim extra dough using the pizza cutter. The trimmed circle should be 1-1.5 inch larger than the pie pan.

Shape the Dough

• Place the pie pan on its bottom next to your work surface and gently pick up the dough circle, to lay it in the pie pan.
• Push the dough down snuggly in the pie pan.
• Crimp the edge around the pie pan, pinching the dough at regular intervals (mine are large in the video, but you can choose closer intervals)
• You are now ready for your pie recipe! Depending on your recipe, you may choose to parbake (usually for quiche) or fill and bake immediately. You can also cover the pie crust with plastic wrap and refrigerate until the next day when you are ready to bake.

Nutrition

Serving: 33g | Calories: 134.6kcal | Carbohydrates: 16g | Protein: 1.6g | Fat: 7.2g | Saturated Fat: 4.5g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.04g | Monounsaturated Fat: 0.2g | Cholesterol: 3mg | Sodium: 210.8mg | Potassium: 43.8mg | Sugar: 0.9g | Vitamin A: 31.1IU | Vitamin C: 0.04mg | Calcium: 36.7mg | Iron: 0.2mg

Need ideas of how to use your gluten-free pie crust? Check out this amazing strawberry-rhubarb pie recipe! Just bring my pie crust! Or try my pies: