In November 2022, I wrote several recipes that centered around my family’s favorite pie crust. This month, I’ve adapted my original recipe to make a vegan version and continue on the plant-based holiday food theme 225 ran ahead of Thanksgiving.
The result of this plant-based pie crust is remarkably similar to my family’s version, and, quite honestly, it is every bit as tender and delicious as its non-vegan counterpart. I only had to make two adjustments. I replaced the butter and shortening in the original recipe with vegan butter. Just like for a traditional pie dough, the vegan butter must be cold to help the crust achieve the proper layers and flakiness. I also adjusted the way in which I rolled out the dough. I found that folding the dough into thirds when rolling it out also helped to create better layers in this vegan version.
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Yields 2 (9-inch) pie crusts
10 tablespoons cold vegan butter
2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
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1 teaspoon superfine sugar
1/3 to ½ cup ice water
- Cut the cold vegan butter into small pieces and place them into the freezer for 30 minutes.
- Sift the flour, salt and sugar together in a large mixing bowl.
- Use a pastry cutter to cut the cold vegan butter pieces into the flour mixture until it resembles wet sand.
- Pour the ice water a little at a time into the flour mixture and use a wooden spoon to bring the dough together to form a ball.
- Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and place in the fridge to chill for 30 to 40 minutes.
- Sprinkle a clean work surface with a little dusting of flour, remove the dough from the fridge and unwrap it.
- Cut the dough into 2 pieces and gently roll one piece into a rectangle. Fold the dough in thirds and gently roll it out again to form a rectangle. Fold the dough into thirds a second time and then cover and place it back in the fridge.
- Repeat this process with the second piece of dough. Keep the dough chilled until you are ready to make your pies. This dough can last for up to 2 days in the fridge and can be frozen for up to 1 month.
This article was originally published in the December 2023 issue of 225 magazine.