(Gluten and Dairy Free) Blueberry Pie

Prep time: 20 minutes (plus 15 minutes for freezing dough)

Bake time: 18-20 minutes

Makes one large pie or 5 small ones

Ingredients for crust:

1 and 3/4 cups brown rice flour

2/3 cup plus 1/4 cup potato starch (not flour!)

1/3 cup tapioca  starch (plus more brown rice flour for dusting)

1 teaspoon guar gum

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 and 1/3 cups chilled palm shortening or Earth's Balance (plus more for greasing tins)

 2/3 cup ice water

1 and 1/2 Tablespoons sugar

Ingredients for filling:

3/4 cup brown sugar

4 and 1/2 cups (frozen or fresh) blueberries

3 tablespoons cornstarch

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 cup water

Preheat the oven to 400F.

For filling: 

Take pie filling ingredients, mix in a saucepan and heat on medium low. Stir occasionally until berries are mushy (if frozen, until they are thawed) and it has a thickened sauce. 

For pastry:

Meanwhile, in a food processor combine together the flour, starches and salt. Pulse. Add the Earth's Balance and pulse off and on until coarse crumbs form (about 10 seconds). Add ice water and pulse until the dough comes together and the water is thoroughly mixed in (about 30 seconds). Divide into two equal pieces (10 pieces if making mini pies), wrap each in plastic wrap and flatten into a disk. Freeze (15 minutes) or refrigerate (for 2 hours) until firm. Sprinkle brown rice flour onto a sheet of parchment paper.

For a whole pie, roll half of the dough (on the parchment paper) into a flat thin (less than 1/4 inch thick) circle.  After it is fully rolled out, flip it over onto the greased pie pan. Take a fork and prick the bottom of the crust. Warning, it will fall apart more easily than regular crust. I like to make designs with cookie cutters to help with this. To do a cookie cutter top, break off the excess dough that is hanging over the sides and use a fork to flute the edges. Add the cooked berry mixture. Roll out the other pie crust. Use a cookie cutter to cut out shapes and arrange them on the pie.

If you want to do a solid top, flip the whole circle of crust onto the top of the pie and then flute the edges together.    Poke holes or slits in the top (not necessary with "cookie' cut shapes).  I like to cut a pattern, like a flower using a butter knife.

For 5 individual pies do the same thing, but divide the dough into 10 different balls of dough, 5 for the bottoms and 5 for the tops.  Put the finished pies on two baking sheets.

Brush with grape seed oil and sprinkle sugar on top (or brush with eggs if you can eat them). For a whole pie, put foil just on the edges of the pie (not necessary for small pies). Bake for 38-40 minutes at 400F for one large pie and 18-20 minutes for small pies. For the last 10 minutes take off the foil. Bake until it is light brown and crispy. Without the egg, it will be lighter in color than a gluten pie. Don't wait for it to get brown, because that will be too late (and it will be really dry). You'll know it's ready when the crust is cooked through and flakey.