Bette Hagman’s Four Flour Pastry (Gluten Free Pie Crust)

Submitted by Emily Elizabeth

"This recipe was a life saver when I was diagnosed with Celiac Disease and thought I could no longer make my favorite pies. I have made this recipe multiple times for non-celiacs and everyone loves it. My husband even says that he likes it better than the old pie crusts I used to make! I have tweaked Bette's recipe only slightly by adding more water and adding more detail to the directions. I have gone into great detail in the directions in hopes of helping those of you who are new to making gluten free pie crusts. It can be a bit tricky at first, but once you get the hang of it, it is quite easy!"

 

• Ready In: 27mins
• Ingredients: 16
• Yields: 2 pie shells
• Serves: 16

ingredients

• Pie Crust

• 2 cups flour (use Four Flour Bean Mix below)
• 1⁄4 cup sweet rice flour
• 1 teaspoon xanthan gum
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1⁄2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 1⁄3 cup margarine or 1/3 cup butter
• 1⁄3 cup Butter Flavor Crisco
• 3 tablespoons liquid egg substitute or 1 small egg
• 1 tablespoon vinegar
• 6 -8 tablespoons ice water (divided)
• sweet rice flour, for rolling

• Four flour Bean Mix (make this up and keep on hand in the pantry)

• 2 cups garfava bean flour
• 1 cup sorghum flour
• 3 cups cornstarch
• 3 cups tapioca flour

directions

1. In a medium bowl whisk together the flours, xanthan gum, baking powder, salt and sugar. Cut in the margarine and Crisco with a pastry cutter or two knives in small pieces until you have shortening the size of lima beans (not cornmeal).
2. In a separate bowl, beat together the egg, vinegar and 3 tablespoons of the ice water with a fork. Pour egg mixture into the dry ingredients and stir with your fork (about 20-30 seconds). Add 3 more tablespoons of ice water and stir for another 20-30 seconds. Continue to add water, 1 tbsp at a time, and stir until there are no crumbs left at the bottom of the bowl (I usually add 2 more tablespoons of the ice water).
3. Generously sprinkle your pastry cloth with sweet rice flour and rub around so it coats the area you will be working on. Roll your rolling pin through the flour on the cloth so it is fully coated as well.
4. Divide dough into two halves and roll the first half out so it is about ¼ of an inch thick. Put the pin at one edge of the dough, lift up your pastry cloth and roll it over the rolling pin so the dough rolls up on top of the rolling pin. Lay the pastry cloth back on the counter and continue to roll the rolling pin so the dough is wrapped around it partially (enough so that when you let go, the dough stays on top of the pin). Move your pie plate next to the rolling pin. Lift up the rolling pin, gently holding the dough on top so it does not slide off, and drag the dangling edge so that it is laying about an inch over the edge of the pie plate. Carefully unroll the crust the rest of the way into the pan.
5. Trim the edges of your crust so it hangs 1 inch over the edge of the pie plate. Lift the over hanging crust and fold under about 1 1/2 inch of the crust so you can see the rim of your pie plate all the way around.
6. Add the pie filling and roll out the second half of the dough. Either place the second crust over the filling or into another pie plate. Pinch the edges using your thumb and pointer finger on both hands to make a decorative sealed edging.
7. Bake as directed for the filling used. Put strips of tin foil over the edges of the crust until the last 15 minutes of baking to prevent the crust from browning too much.
8. For a baked pie shell, prick the pastry with a fork on the sides and bottom. Bake in a preheated 425 degree oven for about 12-14 minutes. Cool before filling. Makes one 2-crust pie or 2 pie shells.

Reviews

[opal1295]

My mom has had Celiac disease for almost 20 years and she taught me to bake but this is one of the best gluten free pie crusts I have every made! Instead of the four bean flour blend I used Bob's Red Mill biscuit and baking flour (which has baking powder so I did not add that either) and used Bob's Red Mill rice flour blend in place of the sweet rice flour. I also did not roll it out but instead patted it down directly into the pan. Otherwise I followed every other instruction exactly. I used over half the crust mix to make a thick crust and used it for a cold berry cream pie I made for my mom. Delicious!

 

[DeliciousAsItLooks]

This crust turned out very well. I'm not very good at making pies, so I find it even more difficult to make gluten-free pies, but this one wasn't too bad. I used my own gluten-free flour blend and guar gum (since I am sensitive to xanthan). I don't have pastry cloth, so I just used parchment paper to roll it out on and turn into the pie plate. It worked pretty well, although I did have to do a little patchwork. I made a peach struesel pie and nobody could tell that it was gluten-free. A lovely pie crust!

 

[3RiversCook]

Very good recipe I did use the Bette All Purpose mix that is rice,potato, and tapioca instead of the bean mix. The baking powder helps with shrinkage. This is a good pie crust.

 

[MoJoLo]

Very good pie crust, similar to gluten filled variety. I really enjoy Bette Hagman's recipes, but had to return her books to the library before I had a chance to copy down my favorite recipes. Thank you for posting this!