Pie Crust Help! 911!

[hunter6009]

Tonight was my first attempt at making my chicken pot pie gluten-free. The insides tasted perfect. I found a great gluten-free Cream of Chicken Soup and everything else tasted the same. However, I used a gluten-free Pie Crust boxed recipe (Gluten Free Pantry Perfect Pie Crust Mix). It looked good and cooked well (brown and flaky) but tasted awful! It was extremely gritty. Now, I've just recently been diagnosed and have only been gluten-free for 4 days now, but please tell me this isn't the future of cooking for me! Please tell me there is a pie crust (premade would be perfect!) or recipe that at least tastes like my pre-gluten-free days! I will not serve this to people outside my family and I love to cook! I flat out refuse to not have tasty food for the rest of my life!

Please help! Anyone have a better recipe or premade crust suggestions???

Thanks!

[Dixiebell]

I used Whole Foods pre-made pie crusts for my thanksgiving pies and they were good.

[GFinDC]

There have been quite a few threads about pies and crusts lately for some reason. Some people made crusts from Midel gluten-free ginger snap cookies, ground up. I think someone else made a crust from almond meal. Others are making crustless pumpkin pies. Seems like people can get pretty creative with the crusts and still have a good pie. I have not tried making a pie yet but will probably try it soon. I may use the almond meal I got at trader Joes a while back. It's just sitting in the refrigerator so I may as well get it out. Try a search on pumpkin and you should get some hits on recipes. There was even a crock pot pumpkin pie recipe posted.

[Juliebove]

I tried a pie crust once and it was gritty. SIL's sister is a baker and she made a gluten-free pie. The crust was gritty. Actually most gluten-free baked things tend to taste gritty to me.

I gave up on doing pot pie. Now I just make chicken stew.

[Takala]

You might be one of those people who thinks rice flour is gritty. I am on the low scale of being able to taste nuances (or I've been doing this for too long ) and I don't notice. My spouse (still eating wheat outside the home sometime) can tell when things have rice flour in them, by the texture. I don't mind bean flours and some people hate it. On the other hand, I think flax is not an improvement over sawdust and tastes bitter, and am puzzled why it keeps showing up in recipes. I have had people tell me amaranth is not their favorite, but I mix it with my other stuff all the time.

I can get better taste, by altering the types of gluten-free flours used, but it is not translating yet to "flaky texture" . But I think I could use it for pizza crust.

The gluten-free Pantry mix has white rice flour, potato starch, corn starch, guar gum, dried honey, and salt.

You might want to experiment with different gluten-free flours other than rice. I know corn starch contributes to "flaky" because I used to add it to wheat flour crusts and it worked well to do that.

The other ingredients the home baker adds are egg, water, vinegar, baking powder, cold butter or shortening, and sometimes sugar. The protein in the egg would replace some of the gluten and add stick - togetherness, the vinegar also does that.

This recipe is supposedly a no fail pat in the pan, gluten-free pie crust form that allegedly can be made without rice flour, if necessary Open Original Shared Link note the lack of egg.

this person used some millet flour on the recipe, (but it has rice) Open Original Shared Link she also has a link to a website with a nut crust recipe Open Original Shared Link

[sa1937]

Has anyone tried making pie crust from gluten-free Bisquick? There are several recipes on the Open Original Shared Link website.

[kitgordon]

I haven't tried the Bisquick one yet, but I will. I actually liked the GlutenFree Pantry Crust, but the Bisquick looks easier.

[GFreeMO]

I have made several pies using the gluten free Bisquick. The apple is the best! I also made a few pumpkin pies with it. The recipes are on the bisquick website under gluten free. I have also made pizza crust with it. It is very good. I added some cheese and hormel peperoni. It was delicious!

[hunter6009]

I think I may have to try the premade from Whole Foods. They were out over Thanksgiving, so my next stop I will attempt to use those with my chicken pot pie. We make these quite frequently. They are such an easy thing to do with leftovers. Whatever I have leftover from the night before (chicken, veggies, cheese, sourcream, white wine, etc) goes into my chicken pot pie. Never the same recipe, but always tasty. Except now that I'm gluten-free my crust last night was terrible!!! ugh! Hopefully I will find one that isn't so gritty. Can't do it!

Thanks everyone!

[Tina B]

I used Whole Foods pre-made pie crusts for my thanksgiving pies and they were good.

Ditto, very good and already in the pan.

[mbrookes]

I hope y'all know how lucky you are to have Whole Food near-by. The closest one to me is 4 hours away in New Orleans. I may make a run down there and stock up on all the goodies I hear about from y'all.

[Swimmr]

Tonight was my first attempt at making my chicken pot pie gluten-free. The insides tasted perfect. I found a great gluten-free Cream of Chicken Soup and everything else tasted the same. However, I used a gluten-free Pie Crust boxed recipe (Gluten Free Pantry Perfect Pie Crust Mix). It looked good and cooked well (brown and flaky) but tasted awful! It was extremely gritty. Now, I've just recently been diagnosed and have only been gluten-free for 4 days now, but please tell me this isn't the future of cooking for me! Please tell me there is a pie crust (premade would be perfect!) or recipe that at least tastes like my pre-gluten-free days! I will not serve this to people outside my family and I love to cook! I flat out refuse to not have tasty food for the rest of my life!

Please help! Anyone have a better recipe or premade crust suggestions???

Thanks!

I hate Gluten Free Pantry's ANYthing. That and the pie crust mix contains traces of soy, so I don't mess with it.

My mom found and modified an AWESOME pie crust recipe - graham cracker style. The recipe can be modified from pie crust to cookies with nothing more than using a pie pan vs a cookie sheet. For thanksgiving she mixed the graham cracker with her regular pie crust to make a firmer or sturdier pie crust. However it browned faster than her regular pie crust, so she says she's got more "testing" to do She is the creative one. I get so frustrated that I start throwing things away, and I hate wasting money and failing at baking because baking has always been a breeze for me, until the Celiac thing came up.

Anyways, here is the graham cracker recipe. It's awesome for any pie crust in my opinion. I made a key lime pie for Thanksgiving and it was A M A Z I N G.

-2 cups gluten free flour (I used Namaste)

-2 tsp xanthan gum

-3/4 cup confectioner's sugar

-1 tsp baking powder

-1/2 tsp salt

-1/2 tsp cinnamon

-1/2 cup butter (if using salted butter, omit salt from dry ingredients)

-2 tbsp honey

-2 tbsp cold milk

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Cut two sheets of parchment paper large enough for rolled out pie crust.

In a medium mixing bow, whisk together the flour, confectioner's sugar, baking powder, xanthan gum, cinnamon and salt. Cut in the butter till semi-dispersed. (I absolutely hate this step)

In separate bowl combine honey and milk till honey is dissolved completely. Add this mixture to the dry mix and mix till dough comes together. This is where I use my fingers and smoosh the dough through my fingers because for some reason gluten free pie crusts just do NOT work for me. I grab two handfuls and then squeeze till it squishes out the cracks of my fingers...I do this till it's together enough to turn out on a floured surface and I start folding and kneading till it's in a good mass.

Form into a ball and place between the two pieces of parchment. Flatten and then begin rolling till it's desired size/thickness. I generally make my pie crusts a little thicker since they're more fragile.

Place rolled pie crust into pie pan, mold to fit, trim edges. The excess dough can be made to make cookies.

For a pre-baked crust, just slide it in the oven for about 15 minutes. I made mine thicker and it took 22 minutes.

FOR COOKIES

*Just roll it out and cut squares or use a cookie cutter. Place on a baking sheet and prick the cookie shapes with a fork or toothpick evenly. Bake for 15 minutes

They are really good. Husband loved them.

[Ginsou]

Tonight was my first attempt at making my chicken pot pie gluten-free. The insides tasted perfect. I found a great gluten-free Cream of Chicken Soup and everything else tasted the same. However, I used a gluten-free Pie Crust boxed recipe (Gluten Free Pantry Perfect Pie Crust Mix). It looked good and cooked well (brown and flaky) but tasted awful! It was extremely gritty. Now, I've just recently been diagnosed and have only been gluten-free for 4 days now, but please tell me this isn't the future of cooking for me! Please tell me there is a pie crust (premade would be perfect!) or recipe that at least tastes like my pre-gluten-free days! I will not serve this to people outside my family and I love to cook! I flat out refuse to not have tasty food for the rest of my life!

Please help! Anyone have a better recipe or premade crust suggestions???

Thanks!

Until you find the perfect store bought mix, I would recommend Bette Hagman's recipe. I also had bad luck with Gluten Free Pantry Pie mix. When I used Bette Hagman's recipe and made an apple pie, my neighbors did not know the difference. It does take some time to make, tho.

1 cup white rice flour

3/4 cup tapioca flour

3/4 cup cornstarch

1 rounded teaspoon xanthan gum

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 Tablespoon sugar

3/4 cup shortening (I use Spectrum)

1 egg, lightly beaten

1 Tablespoon vinegar (I use white)

2 to 3 Tablespoons ice water

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flours, cornstarch, xanthan gum, salt, and sugar. Cut in the shortening (I use 2 knives). Blend together the beaten egg, vinegar, and cold water. Stir into the flour mixture, holding back some, until the pastry holds together and forms a ball. (Kneading will not toughen this pastry).

Form 2 balls and place in a bowl;cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Remove and roll one ball at a time between 2 sheets of plastic wrap that have been dusted with sweet rice flour. To place in a pie tin: Remove top sheet of plastic, and using the other for east of handling, invert the dough and drop it in the pan. Shape it into the curves before removing the second piece of plastic wrap. For a crust to be used later, bake in a preheated 450 degree oven for 10 to 12 minutes. For a filled pie, following directions for that pie. Makes two 9" crusts or a double-crusted pie.

Note: I've never been able to roll out cold dough....I let it sit on the counter until it is more pliable. I also wet the counter top before putting down the plastic wrap....it grips better. I have large pie plates, and find that I really need to make 1 1/2 times this recipe to make a 9" double-crusted pie. I've tried several box products, and always find myself going back to this recipe.

[MelindaLee]

I used Betty Hagman's vinegar pie crust for my pot pie. It was WONDERFUL, even my dh who doesn't like most of my gluten-free breads, loved this. It isn't gritty like most (I don't like those, either) I really didn't think it was any more difficult than the usual pie crusts I used to make before going gluten-free. I put down one sheet of wax paper, and use a sheet of plastic wrap on the top. I have found this to be the best with most gluten-free things I roll out. Sweet rice flour (or glutinous rice flour) is a good one to use for rolling things out, too. (I can get the flour for $0.79 a 20 oz bag at my local grocery store in the asian food section!)

[Ginsou]

I used Betty Hagman's vinegar pie crust for my pot pie. It was WONDERFUL, even my dh who doesn't like most of my gluten-free breads, loved this. It isn't gritty like most (I don't like those, either) I really didn't think it was any more difficult than the usual pie crusts I used to make before going gluten-free. I put down one sheet of wax paper, and use a sheet of plastic wrap on the top. I have found this to be the best with most gluten-free things I roll out. Sweet rice flour (or glutinous rice flour) is a good one to use for rolling things out, too. (I can get the flour for $0.79 a 20 oz bag at my local grocery store in the asian food section!)

Most of the gluten free pie crust recipes say to chill the dough for an hour or so. Today I was reading Elizabeth Barbone's cookbook and she confirms what I have suspected in my 3 years of gluten free pie crust making: "If you try to roll cold piecrust it will break apart.Take it out of the refrigerator 15 minutes before you plan to roll it out". Hooray for Elizabeth Barbone.....I'll have to try her piecrust recipe and compare it with Bette Hageman's.

Melinda, I like the idea of using wax paper on the bottom...makes it easier to slip your hand under the crust and flip it onto the plate.