Ingredients
- 2 ¼ cups whole wheat pastry flour
- 1 tablespoon sugar or maple syrup (see notes)
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 sticks unsalted butter
- 5 tablespoons cold water
- 1 tablespoon vinegar
Instructions
- In a food processor, pulse the flour, sugar, salt, and butter into the texture of little peas— you don’t want the butter all mixed in!
- Mix in cold water and vinegar. Pulse until the dough forms a ball.
- Divide the ball into two balls, flatten each ball slightly, then wrap it in waxed paper and place it in a zippered bag.
- Chill for 30 minutes in the refrigerator.
- Roll out each crust. Place crust in pan and crimp edge.
- If blind baking your crust, add pie weights (rice, dried beans, weights) until the pan is about 2/3 full. Bake in a 375-degree oven for 20 minutes or until the crust starts to turn a light brown color.
- If baking a traditional pie (not a blind-baked crust), follow the directions for your pie. Always have shields or foil on hand to cover the pie crust if it's baking faster than the pie itself. When baked, this crust's color should be light brown in color.
Notes
We recommend using organic ingredients when possible.
Cut the cold butter into small cubes to minimize the amount of processing needed! How? Cut the stick of butter in half lengthwise, then again lengthwise. Then cube butter into small pieces.
Less is more when using your food processor to make a pie crust. Go slow, and DON’T over-mix. When the dry ingredients + butter are coarse and resemble peas, STOP. Then making sure the pie crust forms a ball in the food processor is crucial. Add the last bit of cold water slowly and pulse. When ready, the dough will literally come together to form a ball. Again, the less processing the better!
When using maple syrup instead of sugar, I suggest cutting back the water to 4 tablespoons to avoid a wet crust. Add the maple syrup to room-temperature water. Then chill the maple syrup water for use in the crust. You can also opt for organic blonde coconut palm sugar in the crust, depending on your food values. For me, I consider this dessert, and I don’t eat dessert very often. So, I’m okay using a little sugar. When I buy sugar, though, it’s organic, fair-trade, sustainable, and unbleached.
Don’t have white vinegar on hand? Vodka makes a great substitution!
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Category: Desserts & Treats
- Cuisine: American
