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Cinde wearing her Everyday Gluten Free Gourmet apron holding a raw pie crust in a pie plate.

Flaky Gluten Free Pie Pastry

One secret to flaky gluten free pie pastry is to use as little sprinkling flour as possible. Use wrap for this step and you'll have a nice tender dough. Follow all the tips below and you'll be the one saying, "it's as easy as pie!"
5 from 2 votes
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Course: Baking, Dessert, Pastry
Cuisine: Canadian
Keyword: Flaky Pie Pastry, gluten free pie pastry
Servings: 1 double crust pie
Author: Cinde Little

Ingredients

WET INGREDIENTS

  • 6 tablespoon cold water
  • 3 tablespoon sour cream
  • 1 tablespoon rice vinegar

DRY INGREDIENTS

  • 390 grams EGFG gluten free flour blend* (2¾ cups plus 2 Tbsp)
  • 1 tablespoon sugar
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ½ teaspoon xanthan gum
  • 1 cup cold butter
  • sweet rice flour for sprinkling

Instructions

MAKE PASTRY

  • Cut butter into ¼-inch pieces and freeze for 15 minutes. Meanwhile measure the wet and dry ingredients separately.
  • In 1-cup measuring cup combine water, sour cream and vinegar. Stir and set aside.
  • Combine flour, sugar, salt and xanthan gum in the bowl of a food processor. Turn on briefly to combine.
  • Add cold butter to processor and turn on until combined into uniform crumb-like mixture with no visible pieces of butter.
  • Add sour cream mixture, mix until it looks like dough and is sticking together. If it looks dry continue mixing it.
  • Transfer dough to large piece of wax paper. Using your hands mix in any last bits of flour.
  • Divide the dough ball into 2 pieces for pie, or smaller pieces as desired for other recipes.
  • Place each dough ball onto a piece of wax paper large enough to wrap completely. Flatten pastry into a disk and wrap. Refrigerate for 20 minutes.

ROLLING OUT PASTRY

  • Preheat oven as directed in recipe. Remove dough from fridge, unwrap and leave in the center of the wax paper. Top with a second piece of paper to decrease the amount of sprinkling flour needed.
  • Using a rolling pin start in the center of the dough, rolling out toward the edges. Lift the rolling pin at the edges. Avoid rolling off the edge of the dough making the edges thinner than the rest of the pastry.
  • Use a thin cutting board or flexible cutting mat to support pastry and flip it over. Lift the paper to see how sticky it is. Sprinkle with a small amount of flour only if needed. You want the paper to easily peel off so check both sides. Put the paper back on the dough and continue rolling until you have a large circle about ⅛-inch thick. The circle should be 1 or 2 inches larger than your pie plate.
  • Remove wax paper and invert the dough into the pie plate. Working quickly, gently push the edges of the dough into the sloped sides of the pie plate before the pastry cracks. Trim the edges with a knife or scissors.
  • To make a thick edge crust tuck the excess dough under itself, crimping the edge into the rim as you go. Alternately, push the dough into the rim of the pan with your thumb and fingers.
  • Chill pastry in freezer for 15 minutes before baking.
  • Bake according to your recipe.

Notes

*EGFG flour blend: 300g sweet rice flour, 300g potato starch, 200g sorghum flour, 200g millet flour (makes ~8 cups)
**Gluten free bakers use wax paper, plastic wrap (or thicker plastic like a freezer bag) to minimize the amount of flour used when working with dough. Too much will make the dough tough and contribute to a gritty texture. 
For hand pies and pot pies the shape of your pastry won't matter so just focus on making an even thickness.