A tender, flaky whole wheat pie crust made without shortening. It’s the perfect all-purpose base sure to make any pie more delicious and nutritious! (vegan option)
One of the first things I ever learned to make was pie crust. I’ve known how to make it for as long as I can remember.
Every year, the night before Thanksgiving, we have Pie Night. Pie Night is a holiday on its own. It’s the night where the women (and some brave men) of the family get together, make all of the pies for the next day (usually about a dozen, all different flavors), and prepare whatever else can be made ahead (cornbread, crusty bread cubes, potato chopping, etc). Then we eat Build-Your-Own, which is basically a Chipotle Burrito Bowl before Chipotle was a thing. Then we keep on cooking. It’s really where I learned to cook. And still one of my most treasured memories.
I have attended pie night for as long as I can remember, and have participated in the baking of pies since my hands have been able to hold a spoon. So kind of a long time.
My Aunt Debby always made the pie crusts. She would stand at the food processor covered in flour all night, rolling out crusts for all of the pies. And the crusts always turned out perfect. Flaky and soft, delicate, but not flimsy. Everything you want a pie crust to be.
Somewhere along the way, a “Pie Night Recipes and Other Trade Secrets” cookbook was made for all of the women in our family so that we all have a copy of all of the Pie Night recipes. I refer to it all the time for our classic family recipes.
Aunt Debby passed away a couple of years ago, but we still have pie night. And we still use her pie crust recipe. It’s the only one we will ever use. It truly is the best pie crust ever.
The original recipe used Crisco shortening, but knowing what I know about trans fat, I now use butter or coconut oil, which is not hydrogenated like shortening is. It results in the same flaky crust that is perfect for apple, pecan, and pumpkin pie. The only thing missing is the sweet loving touch of Aunt Debby. I use white whole wheat flour in place of all-purpose flour for a delicious, nutty whole wheat pie crust. The flavor is delicious, and you get a little extra fiber in with your Thanksgiving pies!
Did you make this recipe? Please leave a star rating in the comments!
PrintThe Best Whole Wheat Pie Crust
A tender, flaky whole wheat pie crust made without shortening. It’s the perfect all-purpose base sure to make any pie more delicious and nutritious! (vegan option)
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 10 minutes
- Yield: 2 crusts 1x
- Category: dessert
- Method: food processor
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
- 2 cups white whole wheat flour or whole wheat pastry flour
- 3/4 cup butter, chilled and cubed (or coconut oil for vegan)
- 1 tsp salt
- up to 1/2 cup ice cold water
Instructions
- In the bowl of a food processor, add flour, salt, and butter.
- Pulse a few times until pea-sized pieces form.
- Slowly add 1 tbsp of water at a time, stopping when you fill up your spoon with water.
- Pulse and continue to add water until a ball has formed with the dough.
- Turn out the dough onto a floured surface. Cut the ball of dough in half into two smaller pieces.
- Roll out dough on top of saran wrap, one ball at a time, to form the crust. Turn out into your pie pan and shape the edges by pushing your thumb of one hand into the thumb and pointer finger of your other hand on opposite edges of the dough and work all the way around.
- Continue with your pie recipe as intstructed.
- You’ll get a top and a bottom crust. You can freeze one if your recipe only calls for a bottom crust.
Notes
The original recipe made with all-purpose flour uses 5 tbsp of water. If you are using all-purpose flour, reduce the water to 5 tbsp.
Keywords: the best pie crust, whole wheat pie crust, pie crust
Thanks for the recipe. I do pretty well with pie crusts, but at the moment I only have whole wheat at home, and need to make a pie for tomorrow, so wanted to see if there are any tips to baking pie crust with whole-wheat.
I also don’t use Crisco for the reason you mentioned, and for a while I used butter or coconut oil, or a mix of both. But I finally found even better alternatives. The first is real lard from pigs. It’s the original before Crisco came along. But it’s not vegetarian, and probably not the healthiest option. What is use most for all my baking needs is ghee. It is clarified butter, so it’s actually just like using lard or Crisco, but much healthier and healthier than butter, and works better than coconut oil.
The other thing, because I want to reduce waste, particularly non-biodegradable waste, all I do is lightly flour my work surface and my rolling pin. I’ve never had any trouble rolling out pie crusts like this. If you don’t want the mess to clean up, you can use baking paper or wax paper instead of plastic wrap. There’s too much plastic trash in the world as it is, so why add to the problem?
Anyway, thanks again! I’ll be trying out your recipe today, with just a small alteration of ghee in place of butter.
★★★★
Made this pie crust tonight and it was wonderful! So easy and delicious, I ate way too much pie. Thank you!
I’m so glad you enjoyed the recipe!
Thanks for the recipe. I made the pastry and it turned out well, but not flaky.
Glad you liked the recipe! You might try processing it just bit less next time. You want bigger chunks of butter for a flaky crust.
No chilling for a few hours before using? Wild that make it tough? Can it be frozen or is this recipe designed to be used fresh. Peace and love everyone during these tough times.
★★★★★
Hi Lala,
I freeze the dough in a ball all the time! Just thaw in the fridge for a day or so before you’re ready to use it!
Hi Kaleigh – I only have whole wheat flour, not the pastry flour. Are there any other adjustments I should make for that? Or can I make a direct substitue?
You should be able to substitute it just fine! You may try sifting it first, though.
I was looking for a simple whole wheat pie crust recipe. This gave me precisely the guidance I needed. Forgive me for the following alterations… I always use lard, so it was lard instead of butter. I also wanted the slightly lighter texture that pastry flour would have given me, but I didn’t have any whole wheat pastry flour, so I replaced 2 tbs of the whole wheat flour with cornstarch. There was absolutely no need for the crust to rest before rolling; it rolled out beautifully. I didn’t use a food processor – much prefer to use 2 knives to cut in the lard, and then a pastry cutter. This made a perfect crust for the savoury pie I was making. Infinitely better than the white flour crust I’ve made for 30+ years, and magnificently flaky. My son loved it. He said, “This has taste! White flour doesn’t taste like anything.”
★★★★★
Easy to follow, minimal ingredients and just absolutely delicious. I added some garlic powder and onion powder and some parsley and just yummy yummy in your tummy.
★★★★★
I’m so glad you enjoyed the recipe, Flo!
Hi If I don’t have a food processor what can I use instead?
You can use a pastry cutter (or a couple of forks) to cut the butter into the flour and then slowly add the water and continue with the pastry cutter until you have a smooth dough.
How long and what temperature does this cook at?
Hi Bonnie, You’ll have to refer to the individual pie recipe to determine how long to bake the crust, as some bake before adding filling and some bake with the filling.
Hi! Love this pie crust! Can this recipe be doubled? Thanks!
Hi Shauna,
Yes, you should be able to double the recipe if your food processor is big enough!
can salted butter work in this recipe?
Yes, just omit the salt from the recipe.
Don’t we need to let the dough rest for an hour before rolling it ?
You can certainly rest it in the refrigerator for 30 minutes to an hour before rolling if you’d like!
You mean it doesn’t affect the texture of the crust, if we roll it straight after making the dough ?
As long as the butter is nice and cold before using (you could freeze it if you’re concerned) and you work fairly quickly, it should be fine.
Thank you so much Kaleigh 🙂
Hope you have a great day
Loved Aunt Debbie- we discussed it being Pie Night around the corner earlier today!!! Great family memories you guys have- HAPPY THANKSGIVING!