Ingredients
-
1 cup whole-wheat pastry flour
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
6 tablespoons earth balance vegan margarine (make sure it's good and cold)
1 teaspoon canola oil (olive, sunflower, and vegetable oils work too)
2 -4 tablespoons plain unsweetened soymilk (or other nondairy milk, approx see directions)
OPTIONAL
onion powder (1 teaspoon for savory pies)
cinnamon sugar (1 teaspoon for sweet pies)
sugar (1 teaspoon for sweet pies)
pumpkin pie spice (1 teaspoon for pumpkin pies with pumpkin puree in place of soymilk)
Preparation
-
Sift the flour, salt, and spice of your choice together in a bowl. Feel free to use a different spice; I like to use onion powder for pot pies and quiches but a little sugar or cinnamon-sugar for sweet pies. Nutritional yeast is also a nice addition to make the crust bind better and add a nice cheezy aftertaste.
Since we're using Earth Balance in stick form, cut the stick down to 6 tablespoons-- and cut little pieces into the bowl, about bean-size pieces.
Add the oil-- any neutral oil works all around, but I like to use olive oil for savory pies.
Blend by hand until a ball forms. There should be some extra flour around the ball, use as much soymilk as you need to get the whole thing to stick together. 2-4 tablespoons is just an estimate.
When there's no more flour bits laying around and a complete ball is formed, roll out onto a sheet of parchment paper and pop in the freezer for a few minutes. This will make rolling and extracting easier.
Lightly grease a 9\" pie pan with the oil of your choice (I prefer olive for savory pies and canola for sweet pies.) About 1/2-1 teaspoon should do it.
Roll the cold dough out into the pan, evenly covering the bottom and the sides. Use a fork to poke holes in the bottom so it aerates, and crimp the sides up with the edges of the fork.
Bake at 450F for 10-12 minutes or until lightly browned. After a little cooling it's now ready to use for your pie needs, and also freezes well if you wanted to prebake it for a future pie!
Leave a comment