Pamela Sinclair: Flaky Pie Crust

I have to admit, I never used to care much for pie crusts in my pre-gluten-free days. It always seemed so uninteresting, so bland, just something to hold in pie filling. Graham cracker crusts were a different matter, of course. But on the whole, pies and quiches didn't really appeal to me because they were wrapped up in such an awful crust.

Not so anymore. I've been making quiche almost every week. It's the perfect vehicle to use up leftovers, plus it can be breakfast, lunch, or dinner. I usually make a quiche on the weekend, then eat it for breakfast all week long. Sometimes, when I don't have time to fix dinner, it's great to just be able to heat up a slice of quiche, and dinner is served.

I've been using this crust recipe for the whole time, but I've made so many changes to it that mine is a completely different beast, so I thought I'd share it here. Unlike the pie crusts of old, this one is flaky and buttery and I just can't seem to get enough of it.

And if you've always thought pie crust is too hard, you couldn't be more wrong. Once you get the hang of it, you can crank one of these bad boys out in twenty minutes or less.

Flaky Gluten-Free Pie Crust

1/3 cup millet
1/3 cup potato starch
1/2 cup white rice flour
2 tablespoons tapioca flour
1 tablespoon psyllium husk
2 tablespoons flaxseed meal
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
6 tablespoons cold butter, cut into 6 pieces
2 eggs, lightly beaten
2 teaspoons lemon juice
2-3 tablespoons heavy cream

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease and flour a pie plate using butter and any gluten-free starch (corn, tapioca, potato...it doesn't really matter).

Whisk together the dry ingredients. Using a pastry cutter, cut in the butter until the butter pieces are about pea-sized. Mix in the eggs, then the lemon juice, and then the cream, about a tablespoon at a time. You want the dough to come together to form a ball, but still be slightly dry, not wet and sticky. Avoid overmixing - you don't want to break up the butter too much, or the crust won't be very flaky.

Once all the ingredients are incorporated, roll out the dough between two pieces of waxed paper. You want the crust to be a little more than a quarter of an inch thick. Peel off the top layer of waxed paper, put the pie plate facedown on the dough, then flip it all over, gently pressing the dough into the plate.

Peel off the remaining waxed paper, then quickly smooth out any holes in the crust using extra dough. You want to be quick so the heat from your fingers doesn't melt the butter. Keeping the butter cold and working quickly helps you get that flaky crust. Use the tines of a fork to pierce holes in the bottom of the crust, and if you like, press down the edges of the crust to get a fluted look.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes. Voila - you have a pie crust ready for any filling you can think of!

Here's what the mixture should look like after you've cut in the butter. Some folks use two knives or even their fingers, but I prefer a pastry cutter.

Dough ready to be rolled out

Waxed paper keeps it all together and helps the dough keep from sticking to the rolling pin.

The hardest part...just go for it! No matter how good you get at it, there will always be some piecing together, so don't worry if it's not perfect. Even Julia had to work at it.