With celiac disease, I thought I’d never eat pie again. Now, I’m sharing my carefully weighed, gluten-free pie crust recipe. We just never know what sweet things life will bring.

Makes one double-crust 9-inch pie
(or two single-crust pies)

Ingredients

• 5 oz (142 g) almond flour (not almond meal)
• 2 oz (57 g) gluten-free oat flour
• 2 oz (57 g) tapioca flour
• 2 oz (57 g) teff flour
• 2 oz (57 g) sweet rice flour
• 3 oz (85 g) potato starch
• 2 tsp (10 mL) xanthan gum
• ¼ tsp (1.25 mL) guar gum
• ½ tsp (2.5 mL) kosher salt
• 2.5 oz (71 grams) or 5 tbsp (75 mL) butter, cold (or non-dairy sticks)
• 2 oz (57 grams) or 4 tbsp (60 mL) leaf lard*, cold
• 1 large egg
• 3-6 tbsp (90-120 mL) ice water

Method

1. In a food processor, mix almond, oat, tapioca, teff and sweet rice flours with potato starch. Add xanthan gum, guar gum and salt. Mix well.
2. Add ice cold butter and leaf lard in pea-sized pieces. Pulse food processor several times until the fats are incorporated. The mixture will look sandy.
3. Whisk egg with 3 tbsp of water. While dough is mixing, drizzle in the eggy water. If the dough feels dry, drizzle in a bit more water. If it feels sticky or wet, sprinkle in a bit of potato starch.
4. Place the ball of pie dough in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 15 minutes.
5. Roll dough between two pieces of parchment paper, about ¼-inch thick. Carefully lift the top piece of parchment paper and turn the dough out into a pie plate. Arrange until flat, fix breaks by patting dough together. Crimp edges.

*Leaf lard is the highest grade of lard and contains good, unsaturated fats, unlike the hydrogenated lard at the grocery store. Buy through a local farmer, or online.

Shauna James Ahern’s and Daniel Ahern’s first cookbook is Gluten-Free Girl and the Chef, published by John Wiley & Sons. Their blog is Glutenfreegirl.com. Shauna is a regular columnist in Allergic Living magazine.