Whole Wheat Pie Crust

Sift flours and salt into a medium bowl. Add cold, cubed butter. Using a pastry cutter (or two knives), cut in the butter until it is in pieces about the size of a green pea or smaller. Add 3 tablespoons of water and stir the dough with a wooden spoon. Add more ice water, one tablespoon at a time, until the dough begins to stick together. If it gets too sticky, add a small amount of flour. Whole wheat flour requires less water than all purpose flour, so err on the side of less water at first.

When the ingredients are well combined, turn the dough out onto a piece of plastic wrap. Wrap it and gently press into a 1” thick cake. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. After it has thoroughly chilled, gently roll the crust out into a circle 2” larger than the diameter of your pie dish. The edges will split due to the delicate nature of this crust. Don’t despair. Just mash the seams back together and keep rolling. It’s very forgiving.

Prepare your pie dish by spraying it with non-stick cooking spray. I use the canola oil spray. Lay the crust over your pie dish and crimp the edges. Lay a large piece of aluminum foil over the crust and shape it to fit the dish. Add pie weights, if you have some, or just raid your child’s bag of glass marbles! Bake for 20 minutes.

Carefully remove the foil and weights to a heat-proof container to cool. Return crust to oven and bake for 10 more minutes.