I’m not gonna lie to you.

Gluten Free/Paleo crust is a total pain in the A$% to work with. And I really mean that. Without gluten to hold it together, it wants to rip and break and fall to pieces and it will probably have you swear and curse like nobody’s business. The kitchen will be a rated R zone. No children allowed. 

BUT, if you asked me whether or not I would make it again,  my answer would be, ABSOLUTELY.

This crust has a faint coconut-y taste, but it is pretty true to the real thing. Flaky, crispy, melt-in-your-mouth crusty goodness. So if you are dealing with food sensitivities, allergies, auto-immune stuff, or just want to keep gluten out of your diet; this is a perfect option to have around when you want to be adventurous and make a holiday pie! Just make sure you have your mindset in the right place! 

Serves: Makes 4 pie crusts

Ingredients:

• 2 cups almond flour, sifted
• 2 cups coconut flour, sifted
• 1 cup tapioca starch
• 1 tsp Himalayan or fine sea salt
• 2 cups lard, frozen and grated (or ghee)
• ½ cup icy cold water
• 2 whole eggs
• 2 tsp white vinegar

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, whisk flours, tapioca starch and salt. Add grated lard (or ghee) and, using your fingers, gently mix and rub it in until the mixture resembles fine crumbs with a few larger pieces.
2. In a measuring cup, whisk water, vinegar and eggs together. Pour over dry ingredients, stirring briskly with your fingers until some kind of a ragged dough starts to form.
3. Turn onto a working surface and gently press into a ball.
4. Cut into 4 wedges and, while being careful not to overwork the dough, form each wedge into a disc. Wrap in plastic film and refrigerate until chilled, about 30 minutes (At this point, you can safely refrigerate the dough for up to 3 days.)
5. Take pastry out of the fridge at least 30 minutes prior to rolling it to give it a chance to come back to room temperature. This will help it roll better and not crack so much.
6. Roll out pastry between 2 sheets of parchment paper. Take care to flip it over from time to time and when you feel that the dough starts to adhere to the paper and not expand all that good, peel the paper off, scrape it clean with a plastic scraper if necessary and place it back over the dough.
7. When disk is large enough to fit into your pie dish, slide it with the parchment paper onto a pizza plate. Peel off top paper and place pie dish over the dough. Flip the whole thing upside down so the dough falls right into the pie dish. Peel off parchment paper, reposition dough if necessary and fix inevitable cracks and breakage.
8. For top crust, if using, simply turn the disk over the pie filling while it still has the bottom parchment paper attached to it, then peel it off once the disk is in the right position. Press down and seal both layers by pinching the edges together. For better adherence, brush the bottom edge with beaten egg, coconut milk or a mixture of both before adding the top layer.
9. Brush egg / coconut milk mixture all over the top crust (if using) and bake in 400°F oven for about 18-20 minutes or until golden brown.

Coach Tips: 

1. If you wanted to give a little bit more of a buttery rich flavor to your pie crust, you could replace about half a cup of lard with ghee. Just freeze and grate it in the same fashion.

2. You need to refrigerate this for a half hour then leave on the counter for another half hour. Don’t ask. That’s just the way it is… pie dough is funny like that. But I’m telling you, if you attempt to roll this while it’s cold, it’ll only crack on you like it’s trying to auto-destroy or something. And if you don’t refrigerate it, it’ll be way too soft.

   So be patient. Wait. Making pie dough is a food of love!

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