the pie crust challenge
 

Nothing like waiting until the last minute (guests are already here!) to try and find a pie crust recipe! Our challenges are:

no dairy
no eggs
no meat by-products (such as gelatin)
no gluten (obviously!)
no corn (i.e. xanthan gum)
no soy (i.e. tofu)

I can replace any milk with homemade cashew milk. I can probably use flax eggs for the eggs, but it looks like Ener-G egg replacer is out due to corn. I've seen gelatin used as a sub for xanthan gum, but that won't work for us - would agar agar flakes work? If push comes to shove, I can use a "raw crust" made with almonds and dates, but it isn't as good cooked as it is raw. Anyone? :o

anyone tried these?
 

Ok, did some searching. Has anyone tried either of these recipes?

Amaranth Pie Crust
http://www.bobsredmill.com/recipe/detail.php?rid=34

Teff 5-minute Pie Crust
http://www.bobsredmill.com/recipe/detail.php?rid=366

I haven't tried either of those recipes, but here are some links to recipes from OBT.

Puddings & Pie Shells
Page 1 http://72.14.203.104/search?q=cache:...ient=firefox-a

Page 3 http://72.14.203.104/search?q=cache:...ient=firefox-a

SleepingBean's Coconut Crust from Thanksgiving Thread
http://72.14.203.104/search?q=cache:...ient=firefox-a

Sorry I can't help much. I use a mix for my pie crusts as I was never able to figure out a good pie crust recipe. I've seen some pretty creative options over the years, but I wouldn't have a clue to know where to look for them. Quite a challenge when so much is 'out'! Maybe a 'naked' pie without a crust?

Cara

By tomorrow night, I hope to have perfected my GF, DF, SF, Corn free flakey crust. My recipe does, however, have egg. You can experiment with substituting something for the egg, but I believe you must have some source of protein, at least this is what we figured out in my GF baking class last weekend. I have not yet tested this, but give it a try. It's very close, but I'm not sure what to sub for the egg.

1/2 cup brown rice flour
1/4 cup sweet rice flour
1/4 tapioca starch
1 1/2 tsp date sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup cold palm oil shortening (Spectrum vegetable shortening brand)
1/8 cup cold ghee (Technically, this does not have any of the milk solids, so it's dairy free. If you are sensitive to it, just substitute with vegetable shortening)
1 egg (if it's egg yolks you react to, you can just use the egg whites. Otherwise, you will have to experiment with something to substitute for it, but I believe it has to be a protein source)
1 Tbsp cider vinegar
1/8 tsp cinnamon for sweet pies

The easy way to make this is to put everything in a food processor and mix with a pastry blade until you get a ball of dough. If you want to roll it out, chill it before you do so, and then roll between two sheets of wax paper. Also, if its really soft, you might have to add a little more flour. If you don't care about rolling it out, you can grease your pie pan and press it directly in the pie pan with your fingers.

Pre-cook at 400 for 10 minutes.

Maybe someone can chime in about a replacement for the egg. We already know Egg replacer won't work for you, and I doubt it would work in this recipe anyways.

If you don't care about flakey, try this recipe if from Rebecca Reilly's cookbook, Gluten-Free Baking

Oil Crust

1 1/4 cups Basic Gluten Free Mix (you can try the mix from above as I think it's better than Rebecca's)
1/4 cup sweet rice flour
2 Tbsp sugar (sub with date sugar if you like)
2 Tbsp finely ground almonds, walnuts, or hazelnuts
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup oil

Mix together the gluten free mix, sweet rice flour, sugar, nuts, and salt. Pour the oil into the dry ingredients and mix together using a fork.

To prebake, preheat the oven to 375. Pat the dough into your pie pan and bake for 12 minutes.

More info tomorrow night, I hope!

Claire

I might have one... it is from my Perky's Nutty Rice box. I found the recipe online also, but I have to run the pup out so I can't double check and cross check the list of ingredients. The cereal ingredients are rice flour, rice bran, raisin juice concentrate, honey, salt.

http://www.perkysnaturalfoods.com/recipes.asp

Thanks for all the helpful suggestions! I will have to do some experimenting! :)