Description
My Vegan Flakey Pie Crust is probably the only recipe you’ll need. Not only is it super easy to make, but it also has a few ingredients, and works with any type of pie filling you can imagine. This buttery pie crust will definitely give your fillings a good balance of savory and sweet. Trust me, you’re not gonna need store-bought crust every again.
Ingredients
- 2 sticks (16 tablespoons/224g) – vegan butter, I used Earth Balance
- 2 ½ cups (320g) – all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup (50g) – granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon – salt
- 7–10 tablespoons – ice-cold water
Equipment:
- Food processor https://amzn.to/399BJCT or pastry blender https://amzn.to/3kZeFZU
- 8–9 inch pie pan
- Large baking sheet pan
- Fork
- Paring knife or kitchen shears
Instructions
- Before starting, cut the butter into cubes and set it in the freezer for 15 minutes. Then, in a measuring cup combine some ice and water. You’ll need enough ice water so you can measure out 6-7 tablespoons from it.
- In the bowl of the food processor, add flour, sugar, and salt. Pulse a couple of times to combine.
- When the butter is frozen, add it into the food processor with the dry ingredients. Pulse until you get pea-size pieces of butter.
- Next, add in a couple of tablespoons of ice-cold water at a time, and keep pulse until it starts to clump together. I used 9 tablespoons of water. (See notes)
- Once the dough starts to clump together, stop there. Don’t pulse any further or you’ll start working the gluten. Transfer the dough to a work surface, and lightly knead with your hands until you get a cohesive dough.
- Shape the dough into a 1-inch disk and wrap it in saran wrap or place it into a reusable zip bag. Place it in the fridge to chill and rest for an hour or two.
- After an hour or two, remove the dough from the fridge. If the dough seems too hard to roll out, allow it to warm up at room temperature for 10-15 minutes. (See notes)
- Before you start rolling, liberally dust your work surface with flour. Also, add flour to the top of the dough and your rolling pin. Roll your dough by starting from the center and outwards, turning the dough after each roll. This will help prevent your dough from sticking. Occasionally add more flour underneath the dough, so it doesn’t stick to the work surface. (See notes)
- The dough should be around ¼ inch thick and at least 3-4 inches larger than your pie pan.
- Gently lift the pie crust from the work surface by wrapping it onto the rolling pin. Starting from one end to the other end.
- Transfer and gently unwrap the pie crust over the pie pan. Let dough gently drop into the bottom and sides of the pan. Smooth out any wrinkles with your fingertips.
- Place the pan with the crust, in the fridge and allow it to rest for 15 minutes. Best to place it on top of a large rimmed baking sheet for easy transfer.
- After, 15 minutes, take a pair of kitchen shears or a paring knife and trim the excess crust hanging over. Leaving about 1 1/2-inches of the crust hanging from the edge.
- Fold the edge under itself so that it’s flushed to the edge of your pie plate. Crimp it with either your fingers or the tines of a fork. Chill in the fridge for 30 minutes to an hour.
- From here, you can either blind bake it or bake it along with the filling. Please follow the directions from the pie recipe you are going to use to fill this pie crust.
To blind bake:
- While your crust is chilling in the fridge, preheat the oven to 400° Fahrenheit.
- When the dough is cold, use a fork to prick the bottom of the crust. Place a piece of parchment over the crust and cover the bottom with the dry beans or rice. Place the pie pan onto a large rimmed baking sheet. (See notes)
- Bake the crust for 12 minutes. After 12 minutes, carefully remove the pie crust and gently and carefully remove the parchment paper and pie weights.
- Place the crust back into the oven to bake for another 10 minutes. Remove from the oven. The crust should be dried out and starting to brown, allow the crust to cool to room temp before adding in the filling.
Notes
- Adding a couple of tablespoons of water at a time will help you gauge how much water you will need. Sometimes you will need less, sometimes you will need more. This will also depend on the brand of flour you are using. Remember you can only add, and not subtract. So always start with a little at a time.
- If you try to roll out the dough while very hard, it could cause cracking.
- Turning the dough as you roll, will not only keep your crust from sticking to the working surface but will also help keep the crust in a more uniform circle.
- Whats with the multiple chill time? Chilling the dough in the fridge does a couple of things. It helps relax the gluten, which then helps the crust from shrinking when you bake it. And it also keeps the butter in the dough cold, so when you bake, it melts and created flakey pockets in the crust. Please do not skip these steps!
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