That is Extremely Suggest, a column devoted to what we’re consuming, consuming, and shopping for.
I’m a fairly first rate gluten-free baker, however gluten-free pie crust makes me wish to pull my hair out each single time. It’s not as a result of I’m under-practiced (I’ve been baking since childhood), or as a result of I’m against fiddly kitchen duties (ask me about my gluten-free sourdough!), however pie crust isn’t precisely an off-the-cuff endeavor. To make a gluten-free pie crust—or, even worse, a gluten- and dairy-free pie crust—is to enter an alternate realm the place your elements are working towards you and all hope is mainly misplaced. And infrequently, you may have solely mediocre outcomes to point out in your efforts.
It’s sufficient to make an individual surprise: Is making pie crust from scratch even value it? To reply that query, I turned to King Arthur Flour, maker of gluten-free mixes that yield the fluffiest pancakes, essentially the most fail-proof yellow cake, and phenomenal batches of blueberry muffins. If anybody might create a combination from which a ravishing crust may emerge, Excalibur-like, into my flour-dusted fingers, it’s King Arthur. So I armed myself with a couple of containers of His Majesty’s gluten-free pie crust combine and got down to bake some check pies.
Let me be sincere right here: This combine isn’t going to vary your life, however it should make it simpler. I preserve many several types of gluten-free flour available, and most recipes contain weighing and measuring the contents of no less than a couple of completely different baggage. With the King Arthur combine, all you’ll want so as to add is chilly butter (or margarine) and water, which is a welcome simplification if you’re juggling vacation kitchen duties.
All gluten-free pie crust is fragile and downright tough to work with, and this one is not any exception. After including the instructed quantity of water, I used to be left with a shaggy pile of powder that refused to stay collectively. I added a couple of extra tablespoons of water and ended up with a dough that rolled out properly between sheets of parchment. It did break across the edges when transferred to the pie pan once I tried a double-crust apple pie, however this was nothing that couldn’t be fastened with a little bit patching.
I’ll admit I had issues in regards to the last results of that first pie, however they turned out to be largely unfounded. Once I pulled the golden-crusted pie from the oven, I texted a photograph to my good friend.
“My ugly pie,” I declared.
“Okay wait,” she mentioned. “It’s sloppy however it’s not ugly.”
The longer I checked out it, the extra I noticed it wasn’t sloppy, it was do-it-yourself and charming.
Whereas a double-crust pie is completely doable, single-crust pies are the place this combine shines. Forward of Thanksgiving, I churned two single-crust pumpkin pies out of a single field of combine in report time. I efficiently transported them to 2 separate feasts, the place they received rave evaluations.
Though this pie crust isn’t excellent (maybe no gluten-free pie crust is), I have already got an additional field of this combine stashed away for emergency baking wants. It tastes simply nearly as good because the stuff I make from scratch, however makes use of far fewer elements. Pies already really feel like two recipes in a single—the crust and the filling—so the benefit of utilizing a pie crust combine is very interesting. I’d fairly be certain my apples are completely spiced or my pumpkin easily pureed than fear about measuring six sorts of gluten-free flour.
If nothing else, King Arthur’s gluten-free pie crust combine decreases the countertop mess and will increase predictability. What extra might you actually ask for, particularly throughout vacation baking season?
