Customer Reviews

The Gluten-Free Pantry Perfect Pie Crust Mix, 16-Ounce Boxes (Pack of 6)

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Learning to bake without gluten is a new process for me. I thought that working with the dough seemed more like making a cookie dough than rolling out a pie crust. Without gluten it lacks the elasticity that I am used to. Once I got the knack of working with the dough and doing some patching I was very pleased with the results. The flavor and appearance of the pie were not distinguishable from a crust made with wheat flour. In fact, the crust was flaky and even better than many pie crusts that I have eaten.

This pie crust mix is the easiest and most consistent I have used. I love it. I have been dealing with Celiac Disease for over 10 years. I also live in a small rural community and can only get gluten free products with when going into Albuquerqe NM and visiting the health food store. Before my diagnosis I was a pie making queen (goddess if you will). It was very hard to give up, but if you can't taste your wares, you loose all quality control. I have experimented with different flours, tried different recipies and books everything. This is the one that works the most like a typical pie crust. This is my advice: 1) Use a hand mixer to cut in the shortening. I don't know why it works, it wouldn't with regular flour, but it does. 2) Keep it in a ziploc bag at least over night. The way the shortening combines with the dry ingredients overnight makes it much easier to work with. 3) Keep sweet rice flour, corn or potato starch on hand for rolling purposes, and roll it out using wax paper or foil. I also prefer to make smaller tarts using a muffin pan just because rolling to that size is easiest and you can control serving size that way. Good luck!

If you can get Madwoman Food's pre-made pie crust (and can afford them) they're THE best. But if you just want to make pie crust at home - this stuff is the bomb! Makes a nicely textured, good-tasting pie crust. You'll never know it's GF! Most of the others are hard as a rock and taste off to boot. Not this!

I have made one-crust pies with crumb topping, two-crust pies, quiches, and lemon squares with this wonderful, versatile mix. It works well with my pastry recipes from former wheat-flour-eating days. The crust is light and fragile, with very little grittiness (less than any other product I have tried thus far.) Other family members not on a gluten-free diet happily eat items made with this Pie Crust mix and have requested the pies and lemon squares for family gatherings. One suggestion for those wishing to make a two-crust pie: roll the top crust between two sheets of wax paper, peel off the top layer of wax paper, then carefully invert onto the pie and peel off the other sheet of wax paper so the crust doesn't break apart during handling. Pieces that do break off will re-attach with your fingers. Thanks for offering this superior product!

I'm going to give this 5 stars, simply because it is the best gluten-free pie crust I've had. I've tried Whole Foods frozen crusts, and also made my own from scratch, both of which were so tough they couldn't be cut with a knife! I've also made crusts from gluten-free cookie crumbs which were actually very good. But for a rolled-out crust, this one so far is the very best. I did find that it required some patching, and after it was baked it tended to fall to pieces when cut. However, in my opinion that is much better than a tough crust, and is the sign of its tender, flakiness. I made mine with all butter because I did not have the butter-flavored shortening. The flavor was outstanding, and acutally tasted like a wheat crust. Kudos to Gluten-free pantry!

I'm not thrilled with the recipe for making this crust -- I think of a "mix" as something I need to add only a few ingredients to, but this requires as many extra ingredients as making crust from scratch, and demands a lot of fat. I could have done that using gf flour and saved myself a lot of money.

When I was growing up and Mom would make pie crusts, we would always take the trimmed off pieces and bake them as "pie crust cookies".

I use this Gluten Free Pie Crust Mix to make "cookie/shortbread" because MANY of the GLuten Free Cookie/Cake Mixes already have sugar in them.

I ALWAYS USE Coconut Oil instead of butter/margarine/shortening, which adds flavor and a bit of sweetness. I have sometimes used the Coconut Oil when it is melted, thinking, "Oh my, I ruined it," because then the mix becomes more runny than firm. Yet, when I added the liquids (cold water, "eggs" and Apple Cider Vinegar), the mix then becomes more firm and balls up. THe last time I made this, I only used a total of 15 tablespoons of the "butter/margarine/shortening" and this seems to make the cookies better to my taste.

Since I am making cookies and not a Pie Crust, I do not chill the dough.

I prepare the mix and press it into a 17.25"x 11.5"x1"cookie sheet.(parchment paper lined, optional)(Prepare cookie sheet as per your own needs for not sticking...)

Then, I take a knife and gently cut the into preferred shapes before baking--square, rectangle or other.

The oven I use cooks extra hot, so I adjust the temperature down and bake them, watching to make sure that they are light, golden brown without getting too browned.

***********************************************************************

That said, I like to experiment with how to add other flavors:

Since I do not keep milk available, I just use 1 1/2 cups water and add other things to it for the flavor. To the water, I add double the amount of Vanilla Whey powder to make a strong flavor. Sometimes, I make a strong concentration of Blueberry Tea (4 or 6 tea bags per the 1 1/2 cups of "milk/liquid"). This creates lovely Blueberry flavor without Blueberries in the mix! OR try other tea blends/Chai flavors.

While I am mixing the ingredients, I also add Four dropperfuls of Liquid Stevia as a sweetner (Optimum Nutrition's).

You can add any flavors, nuts, chips, etc. as you can imagine. And even top each little cookie with some spread, frosting, nut, chip or other.

************************************************************

Sometimes for a topping/spread, I combine Coconut Oil and Almond Butter.

There are Infinite Ways to play with this mix and make it your own.

I hope this sparks other ways for you to enjoy and appreciate this wonderful Perfect Pie Crust Mix. Try something out and share your comments with the rest of us.

BLessings always.

Was out of Pamela's Bread Mix so picked up a box of this at a health food store. With Pamela's I usually use the basic crust which is two, eight ounce sticks of butter and some water. Held off my rating until I got another package of Pamela's and tried the flaky variant which is one, eight ounce stick of butter and eight ounces of shortening to compare the crusts. GF pantry crust is definitely 'flakier' but not enough difference from Pamela's to sway me. I'll stick to a "much less ingredient" mix but will buy more if I ever run out of Pamelas again.

I bought this to make a pie for my niece who has celiac sprue. She said it didn't bother her anymore that she couldn't have pie crusts. She just didn't know how good a gluten-free crust could be. I used Fleishmann's Unsalted Margarine, because it is one that doesn't contain dairy (which I can't have). It is a lot flakier and seems to fall apart easier than regular pie crusts I've made, but I just assume that's because I used margarine instead of butter. (Calls for unsalted butter and butter-flavored vegetable shortening)
The only complaint I have is that it makes four 8" crusts. I usually make 10" pies, so I have to alter how I divide the dough.

I have tried several different options for GF Pie crust/s. This is by far the best...even the family quite likes it. I use GF flour however at the end to ROLL out the crust...I use quite a bit actually and work it into the dough to make the dough a bit less sticky and easier to work with ... You can always roll it out a few times before getting it right...the ONLY good thing about GF flour...you can work it several times and it does not change the consistency. Enjoy