Monday, August 29, 2011

Healthiest Pie crust

I have never been this scared this much in my life. Watching weather channel all the time and be scared of what will happen to us and the house was exhausting. Luckily, it wasn't bad at all. I really feel sorry for those who have suffered because of 'Irene'. My plants have suffered because of the storm though. My okra plants have slept on the ground. I did try to support them but don't know if they will recover.  Couple of my tomato plants' branches were broken, but apart from that I don't have anything to complain about.
Coming to the point of this post, I don't make a lot of pies. Main reason being the fat content. Pie crust usually has 1/3 cup of butter/shortening per cup of flour. When I saw this recipe which had just 1 TBSP of oil, I almost jumped out of the chair with excitement of making numerous pies. I still don't know what I will fill it with. Maybe chocolate pudding pie or a mango cream cheese pie. We'll see. But for now, enjoy this.

One year back - Yam Zucchini Curry
Adapted from the magazine 'Clean Eating' June 2011 edition
Ingredients:
Whole Wheat pastry flour - 1 cup (I used the plain whole wheat flour because that is what I had)
Wheat Germ - 1/2 cup
Salt - 1/4 tsp
Baking powder - 1/2 tsp
Sugar - 1 TBSP
Corn Starch - 1 TBSP (See Notes)
Water - 2 TBSP
Apple Cider Vinegar - 1 TBSP
Milk - 1/3 cup
Oil - 1 TBSP
Flour - for rolling

Method:
Mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl. In a measuring cup, measure 1/3 cup milk. Add vinegar, oil and water to it and whisk. Preheat the oven to 375 F. Keep a 9" pie plate ready. Slowly pour the liquid mixture on to the dry mixture. Mix with a fork. Towards the end, bring them together by hand. On a lightly floured surface, pat the dough into a disc of 1/2" thickness. Gently roll the dough into 12" circle. Keep moving the dough so that it doesn't stick. Use flour as needed. Gently lift the rolled dough and place in the pie plate. Without stretching, press it on to the bottom and sides. Trim and flute the edges or crimp using a fork. Prick with a fork all over and bake for 20 - 25 minutes or until lightly golden. Cool on the rack and use when completely cold.

Notes:
Original recipe didn't have wheat germ. I added it to make it even more nutritious. Original recipe had one egg yolk. I replaced it with corn starch and water. If you want to use egg yolk, omit corn starch and 2 TBSP of water. Original recipe tells this pie crust to be used in recipes where pre-baked crust is called for. Like filling with custard or mousse, pudding etc. I do not know how this will be if you use it for double crust pie. If anyone tries it, please let me know so that I can update the post.

Enjoy. Pin It

19 comments:

  1. You hit it right on! I stayed away from pies 'cos of the fat content! This sounds ridiculously simple!

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  2. Pie crust sure looks doable. I've shied away from pie crust because of all the fat content and the chilling & rolling involved. I was worried that the dough would be too hard to deal with.
    Your recipe sounds very simple, will definitely give it a try.
    Glad to hear you are safe. My lauki plant took the brunt, other than that I can't complain much.

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  3. Irene seems to have terrorized a lot of people, lucky to be safe...

    I did not think such a thing as healthy pie crust exists. Am very very surely going to be trying this, thanks a lot!!!

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  4. wow, pie crust with no butter or fat? i'm amazed! thanks for sharing, champa :)

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  5. Glad that everything is fine after Irene....
    The pie crust looks very promising, esp with such a low fat content... i think i will try this too :) Thanks!

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  6. I too am bowled over by the recipe.Would definitely give this a try.Glad to hear that you are safe and sound.

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  7. Pie crust looks perfected sure healthy idea too

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  8. Excellent pie, this looks super interesting..

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  9. The pie crust looks great. I love that it's eggless, so it's on my list of to-do!

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  10. Champa how did this turn out? is it flaky like the real thing. I hardlt make pies because of the fat that goes in it. will try your recipe with egg.

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  11. Thanks everyone for taking time to leave a comment.
    Sayantani,
    It is not as flaky as the one with lot of butter. It is still flaky and more like a nice cracker. Baking powder did make it a bit flaky and the wheat germ gives such a nice flavor to it, it tastes great.

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  12. I just suck at pie crust... never what I want.

    Glad you weathered the storm with minor issues. Praying for Vermont. They seem to have gotten the worst long term

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  13. Champa, I am glad that you all are safe and sorry about losing lots of plants, it hurts, I know.

    Wow, that pie crust sure looks healthy for any kind of pies.

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  14. THank you so much! Might be consuming more pies now!

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  15. Wow! I don't make pies for the same reason - so much fat. Thanks for the recipe. I can't wait to try it...it's almost apple pie season & that's my favorite!

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  16. Hey, this is awesome! I love the pie crust even more than the pie! And it's healthy!

    Good job!!!

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  17. That is really my reason for not making pies! It feels guilty to serve people unhealthy stuff! But I do have a question... does this taste like the 'real' thing? And does it work like the 'full fat' ones? 'Cause I want to use this for some regular recipes! Thanks in advance! :D

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  18. Qi Ting,
    It doesn't taste as good as the regular crust. But is comparable to graham cracker crust but a bit chewy. The magazine I adapted the recipe from had it as a pre baked crust with filling. Don't really know how it will be with fill and bake recipes.

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If you have a question and you leave it as a comment, I'll surely answer the question to the best of my knowledge. Thanks for visiting.