Making Pie Crust Without Key Components

Flaky, buttery pie crust that melts in your mouth. Nothing can compare! Every pie requires a beautiful pie crust, but what do you do if you are lacking certain essential pie crust ingredients?

Therefore, don’t be too concerned about the fate of your pie—it’ll be alright! Even if you don’t have the usual components, there are lots of methods to prepare a superb pie crust.

Where’s The Fat?

Butter is one of the primary elements in pie crust and is responsible for that nice smooth sensation in your tongue when you bite into it.

The fundamental reason why pie crust is beautiful and flaky is also due to butter (the butter melts between layers of flour as the crust cooks which makes the flakey texture happen). It may seem that making pie crust without butter is difficult, but this is not the case!

If you don’t have any butter for your crust, shortening is the first thing you should try.

Shortening works similarly to butter in that it layers in between the flour to create a flakey texture. Some individuals prefer the flavor of shortening to that of butter and would rather have this pie crust!

Shortening-based pie crusts are also simpler to deal with since they roll out nice and smooth with minimal effort. Just use the same quantity of shortening as butter in any pie recipe and the results will be good (if not better!).

In addition to butter or shortening, pie crust can be made with oil. Do you believe this is a bit dense? It doesn’t have to be that way!

Oil may not generate as flaky a crust as butter or shortening, but it will not produce the thick chewy crust you may be envisioning.

Oil crusts do not need to be rolled (rolling generally layers the butter into the crust), but may just be blended quickly and pressed into a pie pan.

The lack of rolling protects the dough from becoming tough and maintains a pleasant texture. So simple!

Use less oil than the amount of butter specified in the recipe. Combine all of the ingredients together and gradually add the oil until a dough ball forms. Stop and push your fingers into your pan!

In your crust, use vegetable oil, olive oil, or my personal favorite, coconut oil (a subtle tropical flavor compliments so many different types of pies).

Skip The Eggs

Although there are many pie crust recipes that use eggs, this is an unnecessary component.

Several people use eggs in pie crust to help it rise and remain soft and flaky. Eggs may also enhance the richness of a pie crust (thank you, egg yolks!).

You don’t need the eggs if you stack your butter and flour properly and don’t overwork the pie dough!

A great crust may be made with simply water, wheat, and a fat!

Avoid the eggs entirely and replace them with a little extra water in your dish, or seek for a recipe that expressly excludes eggs.

Regular Old Flour

This is a difficult element to ignore while preparing pie crust since wheat is the major component. However, if you don’t have any flour and desperately need a pie crust, we have a few tricks for you.

The first substitute to test is oat flour. All you need are dry, rolled oats (like oatmeal) and a blender, food processor, or coffee grinder. Process the oats in a food processor or blender until they are powdered, similar to flour.

As a substitute for ordinary flour, use the same quantity of oat flour. Hurray! A more nutritious pie crust!

Almond flour or other nut flours may also be used.

You may use the same amount of almond flour in lieu of all-purpose flour, but anticipate a bit greasier crust (a good grease!).

Pie crust prepared with almond flour will also be more difficult to roll since it will crumble and break apart quickly. Just push the dough into the pie pan by hand to eliminate this issue.

Sweet Sweet Sugar

Sugar, like eggs, is an element that isn’t always necessary in pie crust.

Although sugar definitely sweetens the crust and is pleasant to include in dessert crusts, you can easily leave it out.

If you like a sweet pie crust, use brown sugar, honey, or an artificial sweetener like splenda. Sweet victory!

What About The Pan?

A pie pan is not necessary an ingredient, but it is usually required for making a pie! But what happens if you don’t have a pie pan in which to bake your pie crust?

You have numerous alternatives, the first of which is to utilize a cake pan.

Instead of flattening the dough into a pie pan, roll it into an eight or nine inch cake pan. The sides will be a bit steeper (a ninety-degree angle may be difficult with a pie crust), but it will function well and retain your pie filling.

When making pies, another option is to use a muffin tin, either mini or regular sized. Split the pie dough into smaller balls, then roll and push them into the muffin pan.

Bake as normal, and you’ll have little pies in no time! Who needs a traditional pie pan? Certainly not you!

Pie Weights

Many pie crust recipes call for you to par bake or partially bake the pie crust with pie weights to keep it from rising. If you don’t have pie weights, there are many of alternatives.

After the pie crust has been rolled into the pie pan, carefully place a piece of foil or parchment paper on top of it. Next, using metal spoons, forks, or knives, fill the pie crust. The silverware acts as weights, preventing the crust from blowing up during baking!

Ramekins, coffee cups, or another pie pan may also be used in lieu of pie weights. If you don’t have pie weights, don’t give up on that pie crust- simply use one of these wonderful substitutes that you’re likely to have on hand.

Think Outside The Box

It is not always necessary to use flour, water, and butter to make a pie crust.

Have you ever had graham cracker pie crust?

Or how about a cookie pie crust?

Both of these are excellent alternatives to a traditional plain crust. Therefore, melt some butter and mix it with graham cracker crumbs or press cookie dough into your pie plate for a nice, new crust that will go well with your pie filling!

Make That Crust!

Pie crusts have so few components that it may seem hard to omit or substitute any of them.

You now know that you can produce crust even if you are missing a few critical elements. All you need to do is look around your kitchen, check what you have available, and be creative! You may be astonished at what you can come up with!