Delicious flaky gluten-free, sugar-free pie crust is not only possible. It’s simple. Really simple. Not because I am a genius in the kitchen but because I found a great recipe, adapted it (barely), then made this fabulous apple tart.
One thing I’ve learned about gluten-free, sugar-free baking is to do new things in steps. This makes trouble shooting a breeze because I can perfect each part as I go. It takes patience and time but in the end it saves tons of money and results in less gray hairs.
So, first I practiced the crust. It turned out beautifully the first time. In fact, it was so good that we just ate it plain. I will confess that my Grandma Ruth taught me how to make a good pie crust when I was just waist-high so this wasn’t my first go-round. If you’re a newbie pie crust maker, I’ll give you a few tips:
- The key to flaky pie crust is to use cold butter and make sure the crust is cold when it goes into the oven. The cold butter creates steam when it hits the hot oven, which creates the flaky texture.
- Gluten-free crusts get gummy when they get a little warm so be patient and put it back in refrigerator for 10 minutes or so.
- Don’t overmix or overknead your dough. It can get tough.
- I roll my dough out between two sheets of waxed paper. It works just as well as parchment and, honestly, it’s much more price effective. As you roll the dough out, the paper gets wrinkles in it. No big deal – just lift the paper off, put it back down, and start rolling again.
- To keep the waxed paper from moving all over the counter, I cut it extra long and leave some hanging over the edge of the counter and then lean up against the waxed paper. I might look silly but it works like a charm every time.
- Don’t add too much water to the dough. You want it to stick together just enough. It will look “shaggy.” That’s the perfect consistency.
- Preheat the oven well in advance. I let my oven hang out at the desired temperature for 15 or 20 minutes before putting anything in it.
- There are 3 types of pie crust makers: the ‘make it by hand’ type, the ‘food processor’ type, and the ‘stand-mixer’ type. I fall into the latter category and my recipe is written accordingly. You’ll have to figure out what works best for you, however making a gluten-free pie crust by hand just seems torturous to me.
The tart idea was adapted from my favorite – Ina Garten. I am slightly ashamed to admit that I ate two pieces when it came out of the oven. Joe and I had it for dessert that night, too, and we both went back for seconds. Enough said.
Reminder: Slightly Indulgent Mondays will be up on Sunday at 9 pm CST and there will be another great give-away. Make sure to come back and link up your fabulous food made a little healthier!
This post is linked to:
- Foodie Friday at Designs by Gollum
- Finer Things Friday at Amy’s Finer Things
Update 10/21/09 – This blog post has been submitted to The Gluten-Free Lifestyle Blog Carnival, hosted in November by Sustaining Health Holistically.
What are your best baking tips? Let’s talk about it.
This recipe is adapted from Ina Garten.
Ingredients
- 1 recipe flaky pie crust (below)
- 2 – 3 Granny Smith Apples, depending on the size
- juice of ½ lemon
- 1 – 2 tablespoons agave nectar
- ¼ teaspoon good quality cinnamon
- 2 tablespoons cold, unsalted butter diced in small pieces
- ¼ cup all-fruit apricot preserves
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
- Make pie crust according to recipe. Roll out the crust into a 8 x 10 rectangle between two sheets of waxed paper. Use a kitchen ruler and a chef’s knife to trim the edges neatly. If the dough is too soft to remove the cut edges, put it back in the refrigerator for 10 minutes or so.
- Now comes the fun part. Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray. Rip off a piece of parchment paper that will cover the baking spray. Remove the top piece of waxed paper. Place the parchment paper on top of the dough. Turn the dough over and place on the prepared baking sheet with the parchment paper on the baking sheet. Remove the top piece of waxed paper. Smile. You just made the perfect gluten-free crust. Put the dough back in the refrigerator while you get the apples ready.
- Fill a medium bowl with cold ice water and mix in the lemon juice. This will keep your apples from browning. Peel your apples and put them in the water. Cut them in half, use your knife to cut out the stem and seeds, then use a melon baller to remove any remaining seeds if necessary. Slice ¼ inch thick. Keep the apples in the water until you’re ready to use them.
- Place the apples diagonally on the pie crust, overlapping them slightly, starting with the longest length. Work your way out in rows and fill in empty spots with a piece of apple cut to fit. Warm agave in microwave for 15 – 20 seconds and brush over the apples. Sprinkle with cinnamon – you don’t need to use it all. Dot with butter, and then bake for 25 – 30 minutes rotating at the 15 minute mark. The apples should be browned in spots and the edges of the tart will be brown too. Don’t worry if the juices run and brown around the tart. This is ok.
- Mix apricot preserves with 2 tablespoons of water and heat in microwave for 20 seconds. Brush over entire tart and return to oven for another 5 to 8 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool. Gently slide onto a large cutting board and slice into desired size. Serve warm or at room temperate.
This recipe is adapted from Gluten-Free Girl.
Ingredients
- 1 cup white rice flour
- 1/2 sorghum flour
- 1/2 cup potato starch
- 3 tablespoons sweet rice flour
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 8 tablespooons cold butter
- 1/4 cup ice-cold water, or just enough to make the dough stick together
- 1 cold extra large egg
- 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- 1 tablespoon agave
Instructions
- Sift together white rice flour, sorghum flour, potato starch, sweet rice flour, and salt. Place into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Working quickly, dice the butter into small pieces and place it evenly around the flour. Turn the mixer on stir until the flour has a mealy texture and the butter has worked itself into chunks about the size of small peas.
- Put ¼ cup water in a 1 cup glass measuring cup and add ice. Set aside.
- Lightly beat the egg. Add the vinegar and agave to the egg and mix well. Pour egg mix into the flour with the mixer on and stir just until incorporated.
- With mixer on stir, drizzle water into flour mixture just until the dough starts to come together. You can push the dough together with your hands, so don’t worry about loose pieces. It needs to be just wet enough to stick together.
- Turn dough out onto a piece of waxed paper. Depending on what you’re going to make, shape the dough accordingly. If you’re going to make a pie crust, shape the dough into a ball. If you’re going to make a rectangle tart, then shape it into a rectangle. Wrap in waxed paper, then again in saran wrap, and place in the refrigerator for several hours or up to one day.
- Remove dough from refrigerator about 20 minutes before you want to roll it out. Place between two sheets of waxed paper and roll into desired shape and about 1/8 inch thick. If your dough cracks around the edges, just take a wet finger and repair the crack.
Enjoy!
Lauren
posted on October 9, 2009 at 10:02 am
Love this! Apples are essential this time of year, and this tart looks like a lovely way to enjoy them =D.
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Sheila
posted on October 9, 2009 at 11:15 am
Amy, this really sounds good. I can understand why you had two pieces and then ate it for dessert. It looks SO delicious! Thanks for the tutorial on pie crust, too.
Happy Foodie Friday…
XO,
Sheila
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Liz@HoosierHomemade
posted on October 9, 2009 at 11:50 am
You may have just convinced me to try butter instead of my oil.
I thought I was the only one that used my body to keep the pie crust from slipping around
Thanks for sharing another great recipe!
~Liz
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Amy Reply:
October 9th, 2009 at 12:04 pm
What does the oil do for the crust? That’s what I want to know. I think it would make a more tender crust, where butter makes it flaky.
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Mary
posted on October 9, 2009 at 12:18 pm
I’ve bookmarked this recipe to share with family members that are gluten intolerant. Thanks so much! Have a great day.
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Amy Reply:
October 9th, 2009 at 12:29 pm
Thanks, Mary. That’s a huge honor coming from you. Hugs!
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Jessica Meyer
posted on October 9, 2009 at 1:11 pm
This recipe looks so delicious. It would be a great one to use during Thanksgiving. Thanks for the tip
ATXglutenfree
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Geri@heartnsoulcooking
posted on October 9, 2009 at 1:28 pm
GREAT!!! recipe, looks wonderful. THANKS!!! for the recipe. Geri
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Gail
posted on October 9, 2009 at 4:02 pm
Your tart is BEAUTIFUL!!
Blessings!
Gail
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angi
posted on October 9, 2009 at 7:27 pm
perfect for apple season
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Alta
posted on October 10, 2009 at 8:31 am
This looks great! Have you used this pie crust for other pies? It’s pie-making season, so I’m gearing up for some sort of pie-making extravaganza. (of course, so far, this is all in my head, but still…)
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Amy Reply:
October 10th, 2009 at 9:54 am
No but it will work. I promise. It was a pie crust recipe that I just rolled out flat. I’m going to use it in a pie hopefully this weekend – if you want I’ll be the guinea pig. I’ll share results.
(By the way…Joe got up this morning and asked me to make this again so he can eat it tonight. He never does that!)
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Mari
posted on October 10, 2009 at 10:12 am
This is one recipe that I am dying to try; it’s so beautiful, and the recipe reads like it will be even better than I think. This will make a lovely change from my husband’s pies. His tend to be too crunchy for my taste, but this one looks so good. Just perfect. Thanks for sharing.
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gfe--gluten free easily
posted on October 10, 2009 at 11:34 am
Amy–This is one of those recipe photos that looks so good, so perfect, it doesn’t look real!! Incredible. Love the simple concept, although I’m not sure anything with a crust you have to roll is simple. LOL I’ll trust you though. It all looks wonderfully delectable, so it’s easy to see how you couldn’t stop at one piece.
Have you looked up tastespotting and foodgawker yet? That first or last photo would be awesome for submission. No, I am not connected to either site. I just like to see fab photos get put up on those sites–especially photos of gluten-free dishes. 
In closing … yum,
Shirley
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Jenn
posted on October 10, 2009 at 9:00 pm
Looks delicious! I agree about doing things in steps, whenever I do anything with a GF dough, the most important thing I have found is to let the dough rest, handle what you need to, let it rest, handle it again…
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Amy Reply:
October 11th, 2009 at 11:06 am
There are definitely some GF doughs that need to rest. Not all GF baked goods need to rest – I don’t find this to be true with muffins, cakes, or most fruit-sweetened doughs as getting it into the oven is much more important so it rises properly. But letting this rest makes a huge difference in the final product.
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Linda
posted on October 11, 2009 at 7:11 pm
That looks great. I made a great pumpkin pie last week and was very pleased with how the crust turned out. The recipe I used is similar to yours, but uses more butter. I’m going to try it again cutting back on the butter. I used a silicone mat under the dough and plastic wrap on top. That worked well. The silicone didn’t move around. Thanks for sharing your recipe.
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Sandy Gillett
posted on October 12, 2009 at 5:09 pm
I like the way you make things in squares and rectangles. (I am very linear) Thank you for the flaky pie crust tips.
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Ruth
posted on October 12, 2009 at 6:43 pm
mmmmm! That looks yummy!
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Amy @ Finer Things
posted on October 13, 2009 at 1:57 pm
You should open a restaurant.
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Amy
posted on October 14, 2009 at 2:53 pm
@Amy @ Finer Things, I’d love to someday. I tell Joe that one of these days I’m going to open up a little place with out-of-this-world soups, sandwiches, and desserts.
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Denice
posted on November 11, 2009 at 6:40 am
We just found out that daughter can’t eat gluten, corn, soy or potato.
My daughter had big plans to do the menu planning, and a lot of the cooking and baking for the holidays. Now she is worried that she won’t be able to have any special holiday food so, I’m trying to help her find alternatives. The results of this recipe look similar to the crust my grandmother taught me to make, which would be a delightful comfort during the holidays.
I’ve noticed that GF foods often use potato starch. I had thought I could substitute sweet rice flour or tapioca flour when a recipe called for a couple of Tbs of potato starch, but this recipe calls for 1/2 cup potato starch not a couple of Tbs and sweet rice flour is already in the mix. Does anyone know what the crust results might be if I increase the sweet rice flour or substitute tapioca flour or arrow root? or how about increasing the sorghum or adding teff flour?
I’d definitely appreciate any input that might put me on the track to success quicker than my own trial and error. I’m afraid I don’t have much emotional courage when it comes to food failures. I had some bad experiences in the past with my own food allergies and I’d like to avoid a possible downward emotional spiral.
This time with the adjustment to these additional allergies it sure is nice to have the internet and people like you all that frequent this blog. Thank you for giving kitchen and people tested information. This time I don’t feel all alone.
Thank you for your time and input.
Sorry this got so long.
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Amy Reply:
November 11th, 2009 at 8:07 am
@Denice, I have not made this with anything but potato starch but you might try arrowroot or tapioca. They both are thickeners and might work well. I’ve never tried increasing the sorghum either so I can’t tell you about that.
I used to get upset when I had a baking disaster but I’ve come to a place where I look what I did, decide what went wrong, and then try again. Now I know I’m just one step closer to the product I want. It’s a little cliche, but the truth really is that failure is not getting up again after you fall. The real success is in trying one more time.
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Alta
posted on November 20, 2009 at 2:16 pm
Amy – will the pie crust freeze well? I’m looking to plan ahead as much as possible for thanksgiving, and I want to try out your crust. Was thinking maybe if I put it in the pan ahead of time and froze it, I’d save myself that much time. Thoughts? Also, where do you find your sweet rice flour?
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Amy Reply:
November 20th, 2009 at 3:59 pm
Good question. It stays well baked in the fridge, at least with filling in it. I made a pie last week and we kept it in the fridge. Tested the crust yesterday and it was still great. I had some already baked pie crust from the butternut squash tart I made in the freezer – I just popped it in the microwave to see what happpened. It was mushy. If it was me, I’d make one tonight, roll it out tomorrow, freeze it and bake it on Sunday or Monday. I know, more time now but it would save time later if it worked.
Sweet rice flour 0 I buy Ener-G brand at Central Market. They might have it at Whole Foods, too. I just can’t remember right now.
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Loflin
posted on December 1, 2009 at 12:04 pm
I made your apple tart for the day before Thanksgiving and it was gone before all the guests arrived Thanksgiving Day! Thankfully I rolled out the extra crust dough and put it in the freezer so I was able to make another one smaller one just for me Friday after everyone left!
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Amy Reply:
December 1st, 2009 at 2:35 pm
@Loflin, So you froze the dough and it worked?? That has been the big buzz around here and on Twitter. I’m thrilled you enjoyed the tart and that you had enough for yourself. Thanks for letting me know!
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Loflin Reply:
December 1st, 2009 at 4:58 pm
@Amy, Both times I made the tart, one side of the crust was a bit soggy from the apple juice. I just cooked it a bit longer. I have 2 more rectangular crusts in the freezer, so I guess I’ll just HAVE to try it out again.
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Amy Reply:
December 1st, 2009 at 5:13 pm
@Loflin, I wonder why – my crust has never been soggy. It actually gets crispy around the edges. Does your baking sheet flax during baking?
Amy Reply:
December 1st, 2009 at 5:15 pm
@Loflin, What kind of apples are you using?
Loflin Reply:
December 1st, 2009 at 9:41 pm
@Amy, My cookie sheet does flex during baking, so next time I’m going to try an old airbake pan I have. It does get crispy on 2 edges, but usually soggy on 2 edges no matter how I rotate the pan. I’m using Granny Smith apples as specified…they’re my favorite. I can’t eat raw apples b/c of intolerances, but cooked are just fine.
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Amy Reply:
December 1st, 2009 at 9:56 pm
@Loflin, Maybe it’s the pan…it’s hard to tell. The juices do run off but they just caramelize, not get soggy. I am making this again this weekend so I’ll watch mine and see if I notice anything.
Alta (Tasty Eats At Home)
posted on February 18, 2010 at 1:05 pm
So I made a turkey pot pie last night using this pie crust. While I still need to work on the filling part, the crust was probably the best crust I’ve ever made – GF or not! I eliminated the agave nectar for a savory crust and bumped up the salt a bit – but WOW. It was relatively workable (the previous GF crusts I’ve tried were super-crumbly and there was no avoiding it breaking when trying to put into a pan) and so flaky, light, and perfect. I think we might just have to have dinner-in-pie-form a lot in the next few weeks!
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Amy Reply:
February 19th, 2010 at 4:08 pm
@Alta (Tasty Eats At Home), Wonderful!! I have never made a pot pie from scratch but I am craving one now after hearing how wonderful this turned out.
It really is a great crust, isn’t it?
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Maggie
posted on October 31, 2010 at 9:33 am
Amy I love reading your older posts! I didn’t know you at this time! This looks amazing and so professional! Impressive. xo
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Amy Reply:
November 3rd, 2010 at 10:12 am
@Maggie, I can crank out some great stuff when I have the time!! LOL!! Lately it’s been throw and go.
This is Joe’s favorite. I need to make it again with the new pie crust I’ve been working with…I think it would be even better.
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Janis
posted on October 31, 2010 at 10:49 am
Hi,
I’d like to try this recipe, but can’t find sorghum flour in the stores. What would be a good substitute for it? Thanks.
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Amy Reply:
November 3rd, 2010 at 10:11 am
@Janis, Try millet. That works well. Another great one is garbanzo-fava flour by Bob’s Red Mill. Brown rice flour would work, too, but I’d whirl it in my coffee grinder first because it can be a little grainy. Have fun, Janis!!
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honeyfrog
posted on November 19, 2010 at 8:31 am
So, what does the sweet rice flour add to this recipe?
Can I sub an extra few TBs of white rice flour for the sweet rice?
Melissa
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Amy Reply:
November 19th, 2010 at 9:36 am
@honeyfrog, You can try it but I’ve found that sweet rice flour works best for creating a flaky crust. Let me know if you use white rice flour, Melissa. I’d love to hear what you think.
Hugs,
Amy
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lana
posted on November 20, 2010 at 2:05 pm
This pie crust sound delicious. If I substitute white rice flour with brown rice and potato starch for amarath flour, would it be the same results?
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Amy Reply:
November 21st, 2010 at 2:53 pm
@lana, Good question, Lana. I don’t know. I’ve found pie crusts to be fussy. I don’t think amaranth would work in place of the potato starch – they have such different properties. You can always give it a try.
Hugs,
Amy
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Kathy Palace
posted on June 17, 2011 at 6:03 pm
Forgive, you have a recipe called “Flaky Pie Crust” and I was wondering about the amount of “ice-cold water” is it 1/4 Cup?
Thank you very much,
Kathy
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Amy Reply:
June 21st, 2011 at 8:21 am
@Kathy Palace, Thanks for letting me know – yes, it’s 1/4 cup. I fixed the recipe, too.
Hugs,
Amy
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Shu Han
posted on September 17, 2011 at 1:23 am
I also made my first venture into gf shortcrust pastry! I’m not celiac, but I seem to break out when I have wheat ): Looking forward to trying out more gf recipes!
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Sonya
posted on October 18, 2011 at 10:07 am
Hi Amy! I’m so glad to have found your website, as my husband was just diagnosed with Celiac’s a couple of months ago. Thank you for sharing your story and your forays into SF and GF cooking–your blog is a joy to read. And I love that you’re in Dallas–we are in Allen.
I am working on tweaking some Thanksgiving favorites to be GF and have a couple of questions about your pastry crust. Have you converted this recipe to grams as you have with some others? If not, can you tell me if I should measure your recipes by dipping the measuring cups directly into the flours, or spooning the flours into the cups?
Thanks, and I look forward to trying this and many other of your recipes!
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