Gluten Free, Dairy Free, Soy Free, Paleo
Inspired by Grandma's traditional pie crust, this paleo version is easy to make and comes out tender and flaky. It has no added sugar and is perfect for sweet and savory pies and quiches alike!
Why I Love This Recipe
This Paleo Pie Crust is perfect for holiday baking! Whether you're making pumpkin and apple pies for desserts or quiches to serve for breakfast and brunch you'll love this simple recipe. It comes together easily and holds it's shape without being overly firm or crumbly.
It's a simple to make recipe that uses a combination of almond, coconut and tapioca flour combined with palm shortening and a egg. Ice cold water helps prevent the fat from warming up too much and melting. And the flour blend creates a dough that's easy to work with and not sticky. The end result is a tender and tasty paleo crust that is so good you would never know it's gluten free!
Grandma is the pie guru of the Dyer/Adams clan! Each holiday, we all look forward to her mouthwatering apple and pumpkin pies. When my husband started having more severe reactions to gluten, he was especially sad to give up this special treat from his childhood. Consequently, I was very grateful to have her original recipe as a platform to create this allergy friendly version! Thanks again Grandma for passing down your cooking traditions!
Working with gluten free pie dough
Since this pie crust doesn't contain gluten, it will break when you try to transfer it to a pie dish. Not to worry, it is a very forgiving dough! You can mold it similar to play doh. I use the scraps that fall off the edges to help repair any breaks or thin spots in the crust. After that, if I want a ruffled edge, I add extra scraps as evenly as possible to the edges to have enough to work with. Here is a link with instructions on how to create different decorative pie crust edges.
If it rolls out very lopsided, like in the photo below, I cut off the longer edges and place on sparser spots. It's up to you. I think it makes transferring and filling in the edges after transfer easier.
Tips for baking a gluten free crust
Keep in mind: Gluten free pie crusts brown more quickly and burn easily compared to traditional crusts. So, this crust will need to be shielded for most of it’s time in the oven to turn out beautiful and tender around the edges. I personally prefer to cover the pie with foil for the first part of baking.
- If it's a double crust pie, remove the foil for the last 10-15 minutes of baking to allow the crust to brown.
- However, if it's a single crust the method of covering this crust changes depending on how long the pie needs to bake.
- If the pie bakes 35 minutes or less cover with foil for the first 10 minutes. Then, remove the foil and very carefully lay a pie shield around the crust for the next 10 minutes (because the crust will start to brown slightly even with the shield on). Finally, remove the shield for the last 10-15 minutes.
- Or keep the foil on until the last 10-15 minutes. It's a good compromise, I just prefer using the pie shield for a little extra browning without burning. Choose what's best for you!
- If the pie bakes more than 35 minutes, cover with foil for the first 20-30 minutes. Then, remove the foil and very carefully lay a pie shield around the crust for the next 10 minutes (because the crust will start to brown slightly even with the shield on). Finally, remove the shield for the last 10-15 minutes.
- Or keep the foil on until the last 10-15 minutes. It's a good compromise, I just prefer using the pie shield for a little extra browning without burning. Choose what's best for you!
- If the pie bakes 35 minutes or less cover with foil for the first 10 minutes. Then, remove the foil and very carefully lay a pie shield around the crust for the next 10 minutes (because the crust will start to brown slightly even with the shield on). Finally, remove the shield for the last 10-15 minutes.
What is xanthan gum?
Xanthan gum can be found in the allergy friendly section of most grocery stores’ baking aisle. It’s Whole30 and Paleo approved and helps to bind this gluten-free dough together. It allows this pie crust to hold it’s structure. Many pre-mixed gluten free flours contain a binder of some sort, usually xanthan or guar gum. I have tried this recipe minus xanthan gum, the crust turns out too crumbly and doesn't hold together well.
Note: The nutritional value is calculated based on a single pie crust.
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📖 Recipe
Paleo Pie Crust {Gluten Free, Dairy Free}
Equipment
- measuring cups and spoons
- 1 medium mixing bowl
- 1 pastry cutter
- parchment paper
- 1 Rolling Pin
- 1 9 in pie plate
Ingredients
Single Pie Crust
- 1 cup almond flour
- ½ cup coconut flour sifted
- ½ cup tapioca flour
- 1 scant tsp salt
- 1 teaspoon xanthan gum
- ½ cup palm shortening
- 1 egg beaten
- 3½ tablespoon ice cold water
- extra tapioca flour or arrowroot flower for rolling
Double Pie Crust
- 2 cups almond flour
- 1 cup coconut flour sifted
- 1 cup tapioca flour
- 1½ teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoon xanthan gum
- 1 cup palm shortening
- 2 eggs beaten
- 7 tablespoon ice cold water
- extra tapioca flour or arrowroot flower for rolling
Instructions
- In a medium mixing bowl add dry ingredients: almond flour, coconut flour, tapioca flour, salt and xanthan gum. Use a whisk to fully combine.
- Add palm shortening and use a pastry cutter (or two forks) to cut in the fat until it looks like slightly clumping sand.
- Add in the egg and continue to mix using the pastry cutter until fully incorporated/absorbed in the dough.
- Sprinkle ice cold water in 1 tablespoon at a time continuing to use the pastry cutter to fully incorporate before adding more water.
- Dough should be moist, but not really sticky and able to hold together easily. Form dough into a ball.
- Give yourself a head start on rolling out the pie crust. Flatten the dough into as thin a disc as you can with your hands. Push together any splits that happen along the edges at this stage.
- Lay a large piece of parchment paper on the countertop and dust lightly with arrowroot powder or tapioca flour. Place disc shaped dough on top and add a very light dusting of flour on top. Top with a large sheet of parchment paper.
- Begin rolling the dough. Start from the center working out in all directions, using your hands to turn the parchment paper (which will turn the dough) as you go. You can use your hands to help mold the dough into a more even circle as you're rolling. However, since parts of it break during transfer, I prefer to even the edges once the dough is in the pie dish.
- Roll until your dough's edges are 1½-2 inches past your pie dish. I hold my dish over it and eye ball it. Keep in mind this dough does not roll out perfectly even around the edges. The goal is to keep an even thickness in the center and even out the edging later.
- Remove top parchment paper and discard. Place the pie dish upside down in the center of the dough. Slide one hand underneath the bottom parchment paper and keep the other firmly on the bottom of the pie dish. Gently, slowly flip everything over together. Use the parchment paper to push the crust into the dish as much as possible. Then gently remove the parchment paper and discard.
- Your crust will have broken some in the bottom. Push it back together like play doh so there are no cracks and dough is completely sealed in every area. It will have broken off on the edges. Grab scrap pieces and reconstruct! Use the link above in cooking tips to decide how you'd like to do the edges.
- To par-bake preheat oven to 425℉. Refrigerate pie crust for 30 minutes. For most pie fillings you can poke holes to prevent the crust from deforming in the oven. For other pies that might leak out the bottom during baking (like pecan pie) you need to carefully top with parchment paper and fill with dried beans, dried rice, or pie weights*. Cover with foil as gluten free pie dough browns/burns easily. Bake 9 minutes. Remove to a wire rack and allow to cool.
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