Dairy Free Keto Pie Crust - Flaky Pie Crust Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What is the secret to a flaky crust? ›

Cold butter is the key to flaky crusts. Do not skip this step. You must put your butter in the freezer to get it nice and cold. Many people do not like working with frozen butter, but it makes all the difference in the world when you create your pie dough.

We have two separate keto pie crust recipes for you here. One is sweet, and the other is a savory keto pie crust which can be used for quiches or savory pies. Both recipes are very easy to make and extremely tasty!

Sprinkle dried breadcrumbs or crushed cornflakes, or other types of cereal, on the bottom crust before filling and baking in the oven. The layer will absorb moisture and prevent the filling from turning the crust soggy.

The acidic properties of vinegar inhibit gluten, some will say. This theory proposes that once the water and flour are combined, gluten starts forming, causing the dough to grow tough. Adding an acid, the theory goes, stops the gluten in its tracks and rescues the crust from toughness.

Butter for flakiness and flavor, and shortening for its high melting point and ability to help the crust hold shape. You can use butter-flavor shortening if desired. If you want to skip the shortening, feel free to try this all-butter pie crust instead.

Cauliflower Crust Versus Keto Crust

When talking low-carb, bringing up keto is a must. Depending on your diet, 16 grams of carbohydrates in our cauliflower crust might not be too much. If it is though, we recommend our keto crust!

We ordered their Keto-friendly cauliflower crust pizza with chicken, spinach, bacon, tomatoes, and a few more ingredients. Honestly you could not tell it wasn't a breaded pizza crust. I even got my 9 year old grandson to try it and he liked it.

Yes, you can enjoy low-carb pizza on a keto diet by using alternative crusts made from ingredients like cauliflower, almond flour, or cheese. Load up your pizza with healthy fats and protein-rich toppings to enhance satiety and keep you feeling full longer.

My pie crust is tough, not flaky!

Tough refers to the texture of the crust and flaky refers to the air pockets that form flaky layers in the crust. In both cases, the secret is to avoid overworking the dough.

Which is the best fat to use when making a flaky pie crust? ›

The pros: Butter has the best flavor. A butter pie crust forms light, lofty, flaky layers while it bakes. The flakiness comes partially from the water content of butter, which evaporates as the pie bakes and turns to steam, separating and puffing up the layers in dough.

The number one tip most pie dough recipes will emphasize is using cold butter, cold water, cold hands—really cold everything. The colder the butter (or shortening) stays in the dough, the more it can stay self-contained until it hits the oven, creating bigger pockets of air.

I like to use pastry flour because it contains less gluten than all-purpose flour and therefore creates a more tender crust, but all-purpose flour will work just fine if that's what you have on hand. The “2” is fat. Butter is the most common type of fat used, but other solid fats will work as well.

#2—Add cold water

Before you start making the dough, fill a glass with ice and water. Add the ice water gradually to the dough, about one tablespoon or so at a time, and stop when the dough is just moist enough to hold together when a handful is squeezed.

Like all carby (non-celiac-friendly) baked goods, pie crust is based on a complex network of gluten proteins interacting with fantastic fats. To make crust flaky, you have to interrupt some of the connections in the gluten network and form air pockets—otherwise, it will end up tough and chewy.

The goal is to add just enough water to barely hold the flour together. If you add so much water that the dough easily forms a wet pack, the pastry will be tough instead of tender. This means using far less water than you're likely accustomed to.

You've added too much water to the flour but not enough fat. It is important to keep the pastry cool during rolling and the oven needs to be hot.