Summer

Grain-Free Boysenberry Peach Pie

August  9, 2013
5
1 Ratings
Photo by Shauna Ahern
  • Makes 1 double crust 9-inch pie
Author Notes

Tell people the crust is gluten-free? They're likely to not want to take a bite. How could pie without gluten be any good? Here's a surprise: it might be better without gluten. It's certainly easier to make! Pie dough made with gluten easily grows tough. That's one of the properties of gluten. Make a gluten-free pie dough and play with it without fear. Some of the dough sticks to the parchment paper and comes off from the rest of the dough? No problem. Just pat it into the pan and it will still be good. —glutenfreegirl

What You'll Need
Ingredients
  • For the crust:
  • 250 grams finely ground almond flour
  • 100 grams buckwheat flour
  • 70 grams arrowroot powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 14 tablespoons unsalted butter (or vegan butter)
  • 1/3 to 1/2 cups ice-cold water
  • For the filling:
  • 4 cups peach slices, peeled
  • 1 cup ripe boysenberries
  • 1/2 lemon, juiced
  • 1/4 cup coconut sugar
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Directions
  1. For the crust, combine the almond flour, buckwheat flour, and arrowroot powder into one flour. Measure out 350 grams of the flour mixture and put it into the bowl of a food processor, along with the salt. (Set aside the rest.) Pulse the flour and salt together until they are fluffy and aerated. Add the cold butter cubes. Pulse 6 to 10 times until the butter is cut into the flour, reduced to the size of lima beans. Slowly, dribble in 1/3 of a cup of cold water and pulse. The dough should not be a coherent ball. Instead, look to see that the flour is damp. If you pick up a piece of the dough, it should stick together in your fingers. If there are patches of dry flour, dribble in more cold water, 1 tablespoon at a time.
  2. Pour half the dough onto a clean surface. (I like to use parchment paper or plastic wrap here.) It should be a tumble of butter and flours, loosely joined. Gather all the dough between your hands and gently cup it, pressing it together and forming a disk of dough. Wrap the disk of dough in parchment or plastic wrap and put it in the refrigerator to chill. Repeat with the remaining half of the dough. Let the dough rest for 30 minutes while you prepare the fruit filling.
  3. Put the peaches and boysenberries into a large bowl. Squeeze the lemon juice over them and stir gently. Mix the remaining 70 grams of flour mixture with the coconut sugar and nutmeg. Sprinkle it over the fruit. Gently, fold the flour into the fruit. Set aside the filling.
  4. Heat the oven to 425° F. Take the disks of dough out of the refrigerator. Put 2 pieces of parchment paper on the kitchen counter. To prevent sticking, lightly grease the sides of the paper that will be touching the dough. Put one of the disks of dough between the greased pieces of paper. Pat down the disc a bit and lay the rolling pin on top. Imagine the dough is the face of a clock. Roll out once at 12 o'clock. Then, lift the rolling pin and roll out the dough at 12:10. Moving in "10-minute" increments, roll out the pie dough to slightly larger than your pie pan. Don't rush. Think of this as pie meditation. Roll out the dough evenly.
  5. Lift the top paper. Put a 9-inch glass pie pan upside down on top of the dough. Flip the pan and dough over together. Carefully, strip away the remaining piece of paper Pat the dough down into the pan, gently. If some of the pie dough sticks to the paper, no worries. Peel off that dough and pat it into the rest of the pie dough .There no gluten, so the pie crust won't get tough.
  6. Crimping the edges. Lightly wet your fingers. Crimp the edges of the pie crust by pressing from the inside of the pie pan with the thumb and first finger on your left hand while pressing between those from the outside with the first finger of your right hand. Go slowly and enjoy it.
  7. Fill the pie dough with the fruit mixture. It should mound pretty high.
  8. Roll out the remaining dough the same way as the top crust. Lay the top dough onto the pie gently. Tuck the edges into the crimped crust. Make 2 or 3 small slits in the top crust to allow the steam out. (If you want an especially golden finished crust, brush the top of the dough with a beaten egg now.)
  9. Bake the pie at 425° F for 15 minutes, then turn down the heat to 375°. Bake until the crust is golden brown and the juices from the fruit are spilling out the sides, about 45 minutes. Let the pie cool for at least 2 hours before cutting into it. I know that sounds ludicrous but trust me, it's worth it.

See what other Food52ers are saying.

  • Hannah Conley
    Hannah Conley
  • thirschfeld
    thirschfeld
  • ktenneso
    ktenneso
  • DJean
    DJean
Shauna writes about food. Danny cooks it. We grow excited every Saturday morning to go to the farmers' market. This time of year, a Billy Allstot tomato is enough to make us look like goons at the stand, jumping up and down with excitement. We will eat one slice with sea salt, standing over the sink. Another goes to our baby daughter. The rest might go into the smoker to make smoked tomato salsa, or thrown together with watermelon and good olive oil for a watermelon gazpacho, or stacked with smoked salmon and drizzled with horseradish sour cream. Every day is new. I have no idea what we're having for dinner tonight. But I'm sure interested to find out.

7 Reviews

ktenneso June 2, 2019
Just made this and followed the instructions exactly but this came out really dry. Any suggestions?
 
DJean November 16, 2015
Sorry, may just be my tablet view. I'm sure last ingredient in Crust should be 1/3 to 1/2 cups ice-cold water.
 
DJean November 16, 2015
What is the missing last ingredient listed under Crust - 1/2 ?? Thank you.
 
Hannah C. August 6, 2014
Isn't Buckwheat a grain? Saying something is grain free is different than saying something is gluten free. THere are many people now who are cutting grains out of their diets and this is not a grain free recipe
 
thirschfeld August 6, 2014
Buckwheat is related to sorrel, rhubarb and knot-weed. While it is grass-like and is cultivated like a grain it is considered a seed and not a grain. Although grain is actually a seed too, so go figure. Some people eat it and some don't depending on where they fall with their food beliefs. I myself would consider it grain-free but there are strict paleos out there that wouldn't. And, really, if you are splitting hairs then you know what you believe already and it doesn't really matter if someone calls it a grain or not.
 
GoodFoodie August 14, 2013
What happens if I only use 8 TB butter?
 
thirschfeld August 12, 2013
I bet this crust is amazing, my goodness, buckwheat flour and 14 tablespoons of butter. It has to be!