This homemade buttery fresh flour pie crust uses 100% whole grains, via our four grain Dessert Blend, and 100% real butter.  It is flaky and can hold up to the savory weight of a chicken pot pie or sweet filling of a delicious apple pie.  I am a huge pie fan, but I am also pretty particular, because all crusts are not created equal.  I had arguably the best all-purpose crust recipe from my grandma, so I was initially nervous about fresh flour for pie crusts. I realize this is probably a non-issue for most people, but my family and I are rotisserie-chicken-pot-pie lovers, so I'm thrilled to share what I've been working on and what we've been loving. This one is loved by my family and I love the added nutrients and fiber they get while eating this delicious dessert!

As I said, I've been making pies most of my life and for practically all of that time I've also been a fan of using shortening, due to the results.  Honestly, I haven't thought too much about it as an ingredient until a few years ago at the beginning of my ditch and switch deep-dive (funny timing to be writing about this while posting about pie, and yet...here I am!).  Shortening provides wonderful baking results and is used in most of the traditional recipes; however, for reducing intake of poly-unsaturated fats (PUFAs).....it does not score as highly.  This is not intended to add any guilt to anyone for PUFAs, we all get to make our own choices for our own families.  What I AM intending to do is explain why I'm so thrilled to finally have a pie crust recipe for fresh flour with ALL BUTTER.  Sure eating endless butter would be bad and same for endless pie, but that's true for many foods.  Roughly 60% of our brains are actually made out of fat, so essential fatty acids are among the most crucial molecules that determine your brain's ability to thrive. (Source)  I am working on being more picky about the types fats I choose for my family, even for pies.  This is just my story...all this to say, when choosing between shortening and butter it's a no-brainer for my family since we don't have any dairy allergies.  Did you know that one tablespoon of butter has 317 International Units (IU) of retinol?  Retinol is found in animal based products and is the active form (and thus the most usable form) of Vitamin A1. (Source)  It's even a more usable form than the beta-carotene in carrots!

I find that many people are intimidated to make pie. I'd love to encourage you to give it a try!  I find using a pastry cutter made the process so much faster and once you do it a couple times you'll be a pro!  This crust can be made ahead to enable a quick work-night quiche that is both filling and delicious.  I do share tips below for blind baking (baking without filling), but I'll be upfront, I do not do this often at all.  I personally prefer pies that involve filling- apple, cherry, blueberry, chocolate chip, chicken pot-pie, etc. I do not have troubles with shrinking for any of my filled pies, plus I think my fold-under edge method really helps with this.  However, for blind bake scenarios, I have noticed this 100% butter crust does better with pie weights/beans to keep the crust from shrinking. 

Let us know if you have any questions or if you make it share a picture by tagging @unsifted.kc on Instagram!

Happy Unsifted Baking!
- Keira

Unsifted's Pie Crust

PREP: 30 minutes
COOK: 20 minutes
YIELD: 2 large crusts (1 double crust pie)

Ingredients:

Optional Pie Wash:

• Egg white from 1 large egg
• Turbinado sugar (for sweet pies)

Instructions:

1. Prepare the flour:  Mill 2 1/2 cups Dessert Berry Blend on "pastry" setting, then place entire cannister in fridge to cool flour.
   Pro-tip: Especially for fresh flour and full butter, cool ingredients are the name of the game to make a flakey crust.  
2. Cube cold butter:   Cut 1 3/4 cups cold butter into small cubes, then place back in the fridge.
   Pro-tip: For each stick, cut lengthwise, then turn to the other side and cut lengthwise again. Finally, cut down the short distance to make small cubes or pieces. 
3. Mix dry ingredients:  Take flour out of fridge, set aside 1/4 cup for rolling and dump remainder of flour into a medium bowl.  Mix in 1 tbsp sugar and 2 tsp sea salt.
4. Cut in the butter:  Cut in cold butter to flour mixture with a pastry blender, fork, or by hand until mixture resembles pea-sized crumbs.
   Pro-tip: A pastry blender speeds up the process considerably. I have one similar to this.
5. Add egg:  Add egg on top of the flour mixture and beat it to break it with a fork or dough whisk.  
6. Add liquids:  Add 1 tbsp lemon juice and 1/2 cup cold water (save remaining).
7. Form a ball of dough:  Mix with fork until it comes together.  Gather dough into a ball by hand.
   Pro-tip: If there are any remaining dry ingredients, add a teaspoon of water at a time until all mixed in.  Try to use a fork until the end so the warmth from your hands doesn't melt the butter more than needed. Handle dough as little as possible to preserve the butter swirl/chunks in the dough,  Over-handling make a tough crust.
8. Chill the dough:  Move dough to a lightly floured surface and cut into two sections.  Flatten each with palm until about 1-2 inches thick.  Wrap each section with plastic wrap and place in fridge for at least 30 minutes.
   Pro-tip: This is a key step because letting the dough rest allows the gluten to form and keeping it cool will help with rolling out the dough and reduce shrinkage in the oven.
9. Roll out the dough:  Remove a dough disk from the refrigerator, unwrap, and roll into a flat round. 
   Pro-tip:  May use lightly floured surface or place between 2 sheets of parchment paper.  Use rolling pin, roll from the middle rolling upward, turn the dough a quarter, roll from middle upward again, and repeat until form a flat round. Turning the dough helps control the consistency of the thickness and helps keep the dough from sticking.  I prefer using two sheets of parchment paper so it's easier to manage.
10. Put dough in pie plate: Get out a 9 inch pie plate and place flattened dough evenly over top of pie plate.  Gently press the dough down around the inside so it is firmly in place,
    Pro-tip: I love using parchment paper because it makes getting the dough onto the pie plate a breeze. Simply peel one side of the paper off then put back, flip to the other side and peel it off and set it the the side.  Position the dough over the pie plate before peeling off the parchment paper. Voila!
11. Prepare the edges: Trim the excess edges with a knife/scissors to be roughly 2 inches evenly around.  Fold this excess dough under itself to form a thicker double layer all the way around.  Flute edges as desired.
12. Preheat the oven:  Chill crust and preheat oven to 400°F
    Chilling crust here makes a flakier crust. This is optional, but highly recommended and easy to do while oven is pre-heating or you make your filling. This step is especially helpful for 100% butter crusts.
13. Blind baking prep:  Use a fork to poke holes in the bottom, this reduces bubbling up while baking, then lay a piece of parchment paper over the crust.  Fill with pie weights/beans/sugar, see additional tip below.
14. Egg wash: Evenly brush crust with egg whites using pastry brush.  This is optional, but adds a nice gloss and allows sprinkled turbinado sugar to stick to the crust for a sweet pie. Yum!
15. Bake: Fill the crust with your favorite filling and bake as that recipe directs OR blind bake the crust at 400 degrees F for approximately 20 minutes, or until the crust is light brown.
    Pro-tip: Place a jelly roll pan on the next rack down in the oven to catch any butter that may bubble over.
16. Enjoy!

Pro-tips:

• For blind baking tips I recommend reading Sally's Baking Addiction's post here. 
• May freeze the dough or baked crust for up to 2 months wrapped in plastic and again in aluminum foil. 
• If you’re making a no-bake pie, you'll want to let the baked crust cool completely before adding the filling. 
• If you have any extra dough we love to roll it flat and bake it on a cookie sheet with cinnamon and sugar on top. Not a very original name, but my family calls these pie crust cookies and they are delicious!

Keywords: Whole Grain pie crust, High fiber pie crust, Whole wheat pie crust, homemade pie crust, fresh flour pie crust, flexible homemade pie crust