Gluten Free Pie Crust 2
Ingredients
4 cups all purpose gluten free flour, plus more for sprinkling
2 teaspoons xanthan gum (omit if your blend already contains it)
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
16 tablespoons unsalted butter, diced and chilled
1 cup to 1 1/3 cups cold water
Directions
Make the dough: In a large bowl, place the flour, xanthan gum, baking powder, and salt, and whisk to combine well. Add the chopped and chilled butter, and toss to coat it in the dry ingredients. Flatten each chunk of butter between your thumb and forefinger so that it’s about 1/8-inch thick. Create a well in the center of the dry ingredients and slowly add the water, mixing gently until the dough begins to come together. Press together With floured hands, press together the dough into a disk. If there are any crumbly, dry spots at this point, add more water by the teaspoonful and press together with your hands.
Begin to shape the dough: Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured surface. Sprinkle the top lightly with more flour, and roll out into a rough rectangle that is about 1 inch thick. Sprinkle the dough lightly with more flour, fold it over on itself in thirds like you would a business letter, sprinkle again with flour, and roll out the dough once again into a rectangle about 1 inch thick. Repeat the process of rolling, sprinkling and folding at least once more, this time ending with a rectangle about 1/2-inch thick. Using a pizza wheel, pastry cutter or sharp knife, slice the rectangle in half along the length, creating two rectangles of equal size, and roll each separately in thirds once more. Wrap each piece of dough securely in plastic wrap, and place in the refrigerator to chill until firm (30 minutes to an hour).
Finish shaping the crust: Once the dough has chilled, remove one piece from the refrigerator, unwrap it and place it on a lightly floured surface. Sprinkle the top lightly with more flour, and roll into an approximately 12-inch square. Trim the edges to create a round about 12-inches in diameter. Gently fold the round in half and lift it into a greased pie plate. Unfold the round in the plate, lift up the edges of the pie crust gently to create slack in the crust, and press it gently and evenly into the bottom and up the sides of the pie plate. Tuck the edges of the dough underneath itself so that the dough overhangs the edges by only about 1/4-inch. Crimp the edges of the dough gently all the way around by pinching the dough at regular intervals with one hand, and creating a crimped impression with the forefinger of the other hand. Cover the pie crust with plastic wrap and place it in the refrigerator to chill until firm, at least 30 minutes (and up to 3 days). When you are ready to complete a double-crust pie, fill the pie, then follow the same procedure for shaping the second half of the pie crust, placing it on the top of the filling, and repeating the same crimping process in reverse, then pressing the edges together. Chill before baking and finish according to the instructions in whatever recipe you are using.