Saturday, November 1, 2008

November

With Halloween behind us (and I hope it was enjoyable and safe for everyone!) it is now November and time to start thinking about Thanksgiving! Yes, Thanksgiving is all the way at the end of the month, but it may take a little time to put together a Thanksgiving meal that is allergy-friendly but maintains many of the traditional elements associated with Thanksgiving dinner. With that in mind, I am working on pie crust recipes. I have one that I have tried a few times, and I would be happy to get a little input from others. So, for your eating pleasure, here is the rough draft of my pie crust:

Pie Crust
1/4 C shortening or margarine
1/2 C sugar
2 C oat flour
1/4 C rice milk

Use a pastry blender to blend the shortening and sugar until it looks like crumbs. Add oat flour and mix well. Finally add rice milk and mix until the dough sticks together in a ball. The consistency of the dough should be similar to sugar cookie dough.


Place the ball of dough on a surface dusted with oat flour. Roll it into a circle approximately 12 inches in diameter. Gently lift the crust into the pie pan. Trim edges. If you need to precook your pie crust, bake it for 12 to 15 minutes in a 350 oven.


I made this recipe this evening and I filled it with cherries mixed with sugar and cornstarch (6 cups cherries, 1 1/2 cups sugar, 1/4 cup cornstarch). Since the filling was rather wet, but the pie needed to cook with the filling in it, I only pre-cooked the crust for about 7 minutes. Immediately after removing the crust from the oven, I filled it with the cherry mixture and popped it back in for about an hour, until the filling was bubbly in the center. It turned out pretty well.


The other little tip that might be helpful is that when you roll your dough out, it is easiest if you roll it onto a flexible, movable surface, such as a Silpat or some plastic wrap. That way, when you've got it the size you want, you can more easily move the dough into the pie plate. Another option is to roll it on a hard surface (dusted with oat flour, of course) and when you're all done, place a piece of plastic wrap over the dough. Then pick up the edge of the dough (and plastic wrap) and roll it onto your rolling pin so that the plastic wrap is toward the rolling pin. Then you can simply unroll your dough onto the pie plate.


Enjoy!!

5 comments:

  1. Thanks Emily! I'm working on one too! I'll let you know what I come up with!!!

    PS: Have you ever tried Mestemacher Bread? I found a store in NYC that carries it. I got wheat free Pumpernickel, Rye and Sunflower bread! They contain gluten but not wheat...and they are good! However, Treavor won't eat it. He keeps saying, "No mommy, wheat!!!"

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  2. Hi -
    Just read what you said about Halloween. We solved it in our house very easily. I provide a homemade Halloween treat to all the kids. Our kids in turn put their candy out for the Candy Witch, who leaves presents. The more candy, the bigger the present. Its great! Even our eldest who doesn't have food constraints would not give up the candy witch!

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  3. I don't make pies terribly often, but I'm going to have to experiment with this crust!

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  4. Wow! This is awesome. I fell in love with your peach pie and I feel like I might have some hope in baking it. Thanks! Oh can you email me the entire recipe if you don't mind.

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  5. My Peach Pie Recipe:

    For the crust, use the recipe in the post. I pre-baked the crust for about 7 or 8 minutes.

    For the filling, use 6 cups of peaches, drained of any juice (if they are frozen, thaw and then drain), 2 tablespoons of tapioca, 1 teaspoon of cinnamon, and 1/2 to 1 cup of sugar (depending on how sweet the peaches are). Mix that together and pour it into the crust.

    Then make a crumb topping with 1 cup oat flour, 1 cup oats, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1 teaspoon of cinnamon and 1/2 cup of margarine, butter, or shortening. Mix this until crumbly and spread it evenly over the peaches in the pie crust.

    Bake at 425 for 10 minutes, then bring the temperature down to about 375 for another 40 to 50 minutes. Allow it to cool and enjoy!

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