Buttery and flaky einkorn pie crust is the perfect pie dough that comes together in just a few minutes. All you need are four ingredients and you are on your way to making your favorite flaky, delicious, pie crust.
I love, love, love this einkorn pie crust. It is so easy to throw together and can be used for sweet or savory pies. It’s amazing for apple pies, cherry pies, peach pies, and even chicken pot pie (if you don’t want to do sourdough biscuits).
This homemade pie crust recipe is simple, not at all intimidating, and hands-down better than store bought crust in every way.
One reason einkorn is used in our kitchen so often is because it doesn’t require fermentation like regular wheat does. This makes it a great substitute for when I forget to start my sourdough pie crust the day before.
Unfortunately, einkorn usually cannot be substituted one-for-one with regular wheat flour, so it may take some experimentation to get it to work for your favorite recipes.
Einkorn flour absorbs less, requiring less liquid. I love experimenting and creating new recipes with this ancient grain. You can find all my favorite einkorn recipes here.
Tips:
- I highly recommend using a food processor to make the perfect pie crust. One, it makes the process way faster and easier, but two, it leaves the crust super flaky. If you don’t have a food processor, you can also use a pastry blender or a fork.
- Make sure the butter is frozen and the water is ice cold. You are trying to keep the dough as cold as possible.This recipe can easily be made well in advance and kept in the freezer until you are ready to thaw it and use. It’s a great addition for a meal prep day.
- Try to handle the dough with your hands as little as possible to keep the dough nice and cold. The colder you can keep the dough, the flakier the crust.
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Why Einkorn Crust?
The flaky crust in this recipe uses einkorn flour. If I can’t use sourdough, the next best option is using einkorn flour. This is because it is one of the only flours that hasn’t been hybridized, and it is easier to digest.
Since it’s so much easier on our bellies, we usually swap out all-purpose flour in recipes for buttery-yellow einkorn flour. However, for this recipe, if you can’t find einkorn flour, you can easily use regular flour.
What is einkorn flour made from?
Einkorn flour is made from the berries of an ancient grain. It is known as the “original” wheat and has not been hybridized like most other modern grains. It is much easier to digest and full of nutrients.
Tools you may need:
Food processor or pastry blender
Measuring cups and spoons
Rolling pin
Knife and cutting board
Ingredients you will need:
Einkorn flour – healthy, non-hybridized wheat that is easier to digest, and has a beautiful, buttery color.
Salt
Unsalted Butter – place in the freezer until frozen to make it easier to grate and turn into that flaky crust.
Ice Water – You can add ice to water, or place cold water into a dish and stick it in the freezer for 15 minutes or so until it gets really cold.
How To Make Einkorn Pie Crust:
Stir flour and salt together.
Grate frozen butter with box grater or dice up with a knife.
Cut butter into flour with a dough/pastry blender until it has a pea-like structure. You can also do this in a food processor which makes this process super easy. If you don’t have either of these tools you can use a fork, but it will take longer.
The goal is to keep the butter really cold, and part of that involves touching it as little as possible with your warm hands. This will help keep the dough nice and flaky.
Add ice water until the dough comes together.
Lightly flour a clean work surface (like a countertop or cutting board), turn dough out, and pack it into a ball.
Cut the dough in half – I like to use a bench scraper – and flatten into two discs (one slightly larger disc for the bottom crust, and one smaller for the top).
Wrap the discs with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least one hour. Alternatively, you can place in the freezer for 30 minutes or for later use.
Roll the dough out to 12 inches in diameter and transfer to a 9″ glass pie dish.
Gently place the dough in and trim any excess.
Fill with your favorite pie filling: apple, peach, cherry, blueberry, etc.
Cover with second rolled out pie dough.
Using your fingers, roll the edge of the bottom crust over the top crust and flute the edges with your fingers.
Brush crust lightly with milk, cut venting slits, and sprinkle lightly with additional sugar.
Bake according to pie instructions.
Find More Delicious Recipes From The Farmhouse Kitchen:
- Berry Crisp Made With Einkorn
- From Scratch Pumpkin Pie
- Sourdough Blueberry Cobbler
- Einkorn Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Gingerbread Cake With Einkorn Flour
If you try this recipe and love it, I would appreciate if you could come back, comment on the post, and give it 5 stars! Thanks.
Einkorn Pie Crust
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups einkorn all purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup frozen Unsalted Butter
- 6-7 tablespoons Ice Water
Instructions
- Stir flour and salt together.
- Grate frozen butter with box grater or dice up with a knife.
- Cut butter into flour and salt with a dough/pastry blender until it has a pea-like structure.
- Add ice water until the dough comes together.
- Lightly flour a clean work surface (like a countertop or cutting board), turn dough out, and pack it into a ball.
- Cut the dough in half – I like to use a bench scraper – and flatten into two discs (one slightly larger disc for the bottom crust, and one smaller for the top).
- Wrap the discs with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least one hour.
- Roll the dough out to 12 inches in diameter and transfer to a 9″ glass pie dish.
- Gently place the dough in and trim any excess.
- Fill with your favorite pie filling: apple, peach, cherry, blueberry, etc.
- Using your fingers, roll the edge of the bottom crust over the top crust and flute the edges with your fingers.
- Brush crust lightly with milk, then sprinkle lightly with additional sugar.
- Bake according to pie instructions.
Notes
- Make sure the butter is frozen and the water is ice cold. You are trying to keep the dough as cold as possible.
- This recipe can easily be made well in advance and kept in the freezer until you are ready to thaw it and use. It’s a great addition for a meal prep day.
- The key is to handle the dough as little as possible with your hands to keep the dough nice and cold. The colder you can keep the dough, the flakier the crust.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
This looks like a great recipe, but I have whole grain (finely milled) Einkorn flour from Central Milling and I want to make a pie crust with that instead. Do you have any advice on that?
I have not tried using that specific flour. I would think it would work just fine. You may need to adjust the amount of flour added maybe. Not totally sure.
Which step would you freeze the dough to use later? Would you freeze after you form a ball or after it’s been pressed into its baking pan?
Also what’s the best way to keep it fresh when storing it in freezer? Anytime I freeze things they get all frosty.
I usually freeze them in disc. Wrap them in plastic wrap and the place in a freezer safe zip-lock bag.
Can I use regular flour instead of eincorn? Measurements would be same?
Yes. The amount of liquid may need to be adjusted.
I prefer the flavor of Einkorn flour and am trying to successfully bake a blind crust with either butter or lard and have had failure after failure. They just melt or stick to the foil if I try to line the pan. I’ve tried many things, beans for weights, double foil, no weights, 3 or 4 recipes with slightly different amounts of flour and fats. They look beautiful going into the oven frozen and then they start to melt. I use 425 degree oven. Help please?!!!!!!
Hi there, I am just wondering if there is any other substitute for the butter in this recipe? Maybe coconut oil?
Thank you!
Hi! I was curious about the same thing as my sister is vegan, and I’m new to using the Einkorn. Let me know if you tried it and anything seemed to work out!
I used tallow and it was excellent
Yes, Earth Balance makes a vegan butter and you can buy it in sticks, just like butter. It works with the exact same measurements and its good!
Made with 325g of fresh ground whole wheat einkorn! Great recipe, but start with 5 tbsp water and slowly add more.
Ahh, the simple things in life. This is exactly the type of pie crust I have been looking for. I don’t make pies often, but have not been impressed with the other recipes i have tried. I know Einkorn anything is going to have a great texture and flavor, so totally makes sense. thanks for this!
Can you use freshly ground Einkorn in this recipe? Does it change the results?
I just purchased some Einkorn Flour from azure standard and am excited to try it in many recipes. You are my go-to source for einkorn baking, so I am definitely going to give this pie crust recipe a try! Thanks for sharing! 🙂
Hi,
I have made this pie crust and it is excellent! Sometimes I cannot get Einkorn flour or do not have it on hand. Do you have any suggestions/measurements for AP unbleached flour use in this recipe?