The Best, Flakiest, Grain Free, Totally AIP Pie Crust
A blind baked pie crust, baked up nice and flaky just waiting to be filled
The Last AIP Pie Crust Recipe You’ll Ever Need.
Boy that feels weird to say, and to be honest I don’t know that I will ever truly give up on my quest for the perfect AIP Pie Crust. As someone who used to do a lot of baking commissions, a puffed and flaky all-butter pie crust was the pinnacle of pie prowess. A flaky all butter pie crust is three things, all purpose flour, butter and a little bit of water, making it gluten free/grain free and dairy free was no short leap. Paleo folks got the good end of the stick here, almond flour pie crusts are pretty legit, but more and more nutrition conscious folks are trying to eliminate oxidized PUFA’s from their diet, which means nuts have to be raw and whole, and most require eggs as a binder.
Cassava flour is the obvious choice for replacing AP flour, but comes with its own challenges. Otto’s recommends replacing flour 1:1 by weight or approximately 3/4 cup per 1 cup flour a recipe calls for. Seems pretty straight forward, right? Wrong! Cassava is more dense, but also less absorbent, pretty significantly less absorbent. It can be weird to work with sometimes.
The biggest issue getting a flaky All-Purpose pie crust is not overworking the dough; keeping the butter pieces big enough that they create steam and “puff” the pastry and also not working the gluten too much which will make the finished product tough. Here’s where it all goes off the rails—Cassava flour dough lacks plasticity because it has NO gluten. AIP pie crusts are typically a combination of cassava flour and coconut oil or palm shortening, both which have a lower melting point, just the action of mixing a pie crust until it comes together is enough to incorporate the fat into the flour. The resulting dough doesn’t have enough structure (gluten) to trap the minimal steam released by these fats with almost zero moisture content. That being said, the resulting pie crust isn’t the worst thing I’ve ever eaten, but its sandy/mealy texture is more reminiscent of a store-bought pie crust and nothing like a skillfully prepared, flaky all butter crust.
Enter my all time favorite cooking fat—tallow. Yes, you can buy it at the store, I’ve even seen it at places like Walmart, but it costs a pretty penny as you might expect from a high quality fat. I personally like to render my own (there’s a whole tutorial here) because it’s cheaper and pretty minimal on the effort spectrum.
I tell you all of this to say, this isn’t the place to start making substitutions. Even rendered lard, the pastry chef prized pork fat, has not stood up well to this test, even when keeping the dough cold. I’m not sure why, but can only guess it has something to do with the cassava.
I promise if you follow the directions to a T you will end up with layers of flaky, crispy pie crust. That being said, I have tested multiple times as a blind baked or par-baked crust, but I have not attempted to make a double crust pie YET, so I am not sure it will bake up the same. I wanted to get this recipe out in to the wild ASAP so you have time to use it for Thanksgiving (peep my AIP pumpkin pie here), but I will be back to let y’all know if it works for a double crust pie just as soon as I can!
This crust goes beautifully with my egg-free, dairy-free pumpkin pie filling!
Ingredients
**Makes ONE single 9-inch, regular or deep dish pie crust
1 + 1/4 cup Otto’s Cassava Flour
1 tsp sea salt
1/2 cup tallow (beef or lamb)
1/2 cup (or 4.4 oz tub) Coconut Yogurt
1 Tbsp Maple Syrup
scant 1/2 cup ice cold water
Instructions
Combine 1 cup Cassava flour and sea salt in a mixing bowl, set aside. Reserve the 1/4 cup for rolling
Add Maple to a measuring cup, then fill to 1/2 cup with ice cold water, stir to combine
Use a fork to chip tallow into pea size pieces, a cheese grater works awesomely for this too
Toss tallow with flour mixture so all the pieces are coated with flour and any big clumps are broken up
Add the coconut yogurt and combine with a fork until it is thoroughly incorporated
Pour in the water and stir just until combined. The dough will be somewhat sticky, but will come together in a ball.
Flatten the dough into a disk and wrap in plastic wrap. Chill in the fridge for 30-60 minutes before rolling
On a sheet of parchment or butcher paper, sprinkle a generous amount of the reserved cassava on the parchment and your rolling pin, and begin rolling the dough to the size of the pie dish, flouring the top as necessary to prevent the rolling pin from sticking. It should be just shy of 1/4 inch when complete. The crust will likely be stuck to the parchment, don’t panic. Pop it in the fridge with the aid of a sheet pan for just a few minutes and you will be able to easily peel the paper off after transferring the crust to your pie pan.
This crust will crack. It may fall apart as you try to carefully settle it in to your pie pan. Don’t fret, get it in there as best as you can, use any pieces that break off to patch the holes and build up the lip of the pie crust. It needs to be sitting on- top of the rim to avoid shrinking and slipping down while it bakes. Crimp, fork, the edge as desired.
Place the prepared crust in to the refrigerator for 10-15 minutes to firm up. Set the oven to 400 degrees F
Remove from the fridge and dock the crust with a fork. Line the crust with foil, pressing carefully along the bottom edge of the pie until the foil is in complete contact with the crust. Add pie weights or dry beans if you have them. I don’t find this to be completely necessary here as long as the crust is docked, the pie is cold, and the foil is tight against the bottom and sides.
Place pie crust into a preheated oven and bake for 20 minutes, then remove foil and bake for another 10-20 minutes(10 for a par-bake, 20 for a fully baked crust). When you remove the foil, the bottom will likely look super gummy and may even inflate away from the pan despite generous docking. No biggie, just cut a few slits with a paring knife to let the air out before the second round of baking, they’ll seal up and your filling won’t leak out, don’t worry.
Shield the edges with foil if they are looking too golden before the bottom is done.
For a parbaked pie (like pumpkin, apple streusel, etc) let the crust come to room temperature while you prepare the filling. It will allow the steam to escape preventing the dreaded soggy bottom.