Easy No-Roll(!), Whole-Grain Pie Crust + A Quiche

If you thought the last pie crust recipe was great, check out this one. It’s also whole-grain and shortening-free, but it’s easier because you don’t have to roll it out. For reals. Of course it wouldn’t be useful for things with top crusts, but for single-crust pies, tarts, quiches, and such, it’s perfect. And quick.

Speaking of quiches, I added a recipe at the bottom of the post for a Caramelized Onion and Sweet Potato Quiche that I made with this exact pie crust recipe.

And once again, we turn to my favorite flour. . . whole wheat pastry. Here’s the bag so you can see it in all its whole-grain-but-doesn’t-turn-quick-breads-to-cardboard glory.

OK, here’s another (quasi) step-by-step:

1. Whisk together the dry stuff.

2. Nope, not cheese. Once again we have grated frozen butter (you’ll see why in a sec). And a bit of softened cream cheese. (Joy says it’s for binding and a creamy flavor.)

3. Dump the butter and cream cheese into the dry mixture and mix it together with your fingers. Because the butter is frozen and grated you don’t need to cut it in with those annoying pastry blenders.

4. It should look crumbly like this.

5. Whisk together the milk and oil. You can use vegetable oil, if you have to. Joy the Baker uses almond oil. I used grapeseed oil. (That’s why it’s a funky green.)

6. Milk & oil whisked. Was this photo necessary? Yes. I needed four to make a square.

7. Dump the wet into the dry(ish). (Wow, that green is pretty freaky.) And mix it together.

8. It should look a big shaggy like this. It doesn’t have to come together into a ball, but it should stick together if you squeeze it.

Then tell a couple of toddlers who wouldn’t leave you alone until you let them help you enlisted to smash it into a clean 9-inch pie plate. You may want a little fairy power as well.

Oh, and tell them not to eat it even though you know very well that they will.

And look very proud doing so.

You can see the finished crust in the photo above. It’s not as smooth and pretty as a regular pie crust. (Like mine was smooth and pretty anyway . . . ) Now it’s ready to fill or to bake, if you need it pre-baked. Full ingredient list and instructions are below.

Don’t forget about the quiche! It was fabulous, if I do say so myself.

Easy No-Roll Pie Crust
adapted from Joy the Baker

1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoons sugar (optional)
1/8 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 cup (4 Tablespoon) frozen butter that has been grated on a cheese grater
1/4 cup vegetable oil (I used grapeseed)
1 Tablespoon cream cheese, at room temperature
2 Tablespoons cold milk

In a medium sized bowl combine flour, salt, baking powder and sugar. Whisk together.

Add frozen, grated butter and cream cheese to dry ingredients. With your fingers, work the cream cheese and butter into the flour mixture, breaking the butter and cream cheese up until they’re well incorporated into the flour.

Whisk together the milk and the oil. Add all at once to the flour and butter mixture. With a fork, begin to combine the ingredients, making sure that all of the flour mixture is introduced to the liquid. The mixture does not need to come together into a ball. Leave it a bit shaggy and dump the dough into a clean 9-inch pie plate. With your fingers, press the dough evenly into the bottom of the pie plate and up the sides. Try to get the dough as even as possible, but don’t spend more than 5 minutes fiddling with it.

Place the prepared crust in the freezer while you preheat the oven and prepare your filling. If you’re going to pre-bake your crust, heat the oven to 350 degrees F and line the chilled pie crust with foil, weigh down with beans and bake for 10 minutes covered. Remove the foil and beans and bake for 4-6 minutes uncovered until golden brown.

If you need an unbaked pie crust, simply remove the crust from the freezer once your filling is made, fill your pie and place in a preheated oven. Bake according to your particular recipe.

makes 1 9-inch pie crust

Nat’s Notes:
1. The second time I baked this crust by itself I just poked holes in the bottom with a fork and skipped the foil/beans part. I think it was fine, but it did puff up a bit.

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2 T butter
2 T preferred cooking oil
3 cups chopped onions (about 2 large)
2 small sweet potatoes, peeled and diced into 1/2-inch cubes (about 2 cups)
2 cups chopped fresh baby spinach, chard, kale, or other greens
4 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup half-and-half or cream
1/2 tsp Kosher salt
dash of black pepper
1 1/2 tsp Herbs de Provence (or another herb blend like Italian seasoning)
1 T flour
1/2 cup shredded fresh Romano or Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup Swiss or Gruyere cheese
1 pre-baked pie crust (I used this No-Roll Pie Crust)

Add oil and butter to a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add onions and cook for about 5 minutes until onions soften and turn translucent. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and cook onions for about 20-25 minutes, stirring occasionally, until deep golden brown.

Add cubed sweet potatoes and spinach to skillet. Cook for 3-4 minutes until spinach is wilted. Remove from heat and set aside to cool.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

In a large mixing bowl whisk together eggs, milk, cream, salt, pepper, and herbs. In a small bowl combine the cheeses with the flour, tossing until combined, then put cheese/flour mixture into the large bowl with the egg mixture; add also the onion mixture (when it has cooled enough to not scramble the eggs, slightly warmer than room temperature). Stir everything together until combined, then pour into the pre-baked pie crust.

Bake for about 40 minutes or until a knife inserted into the quiche comes out clean and it doesn’t jiggle when you nudge the pan.

Makes about 6-8 servings.

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