A tender, flaky whole wheat pie crust made with just 2 ingredients and 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). It's really where I learned to cook. And still one of my most treasured memories.
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. This pie crust recipe is adapted from her crust recipe, and it's the one I use every year for Thanksgiving pies.
Why Whole Wheat Crust?
I always bake with white whole wheat flour because of the improved nutrition profile and because it's not bleached. But I also think whole wheat flour adds a nice depth of flavor to pie crust and other heavily flour-based baked goods. All purpose flour tastes more flat.
Why You'll Love This Whole Wheat Pie Crust Recipe
This crust recipe is super easy to make and has just a few simple ingredients - whole wheat flour, butter, salt, and water. All you need is a food processor. The all-butter crust is tender and delicious, with a slightly nutty taste. It's perfect any and all pies!
How To Make Whole Wheat Pie Crust
- Combine the flour and salt in a food processor.
- Add the cold, cubed butter and pulse until the butter is in pea-sized chunks.
- Add water, one tablespoon at a time, pulsing with each addition, until dough comes together in a rough ball.
- Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and divide in half. Roll each half out between two sheets of plastic wrap or parchment.
- Carefully transfer to the pie dish, removing the plastic wrap. Proceed with your pie recipe.
Tips for Perfect Pie Crust
- Use cold butter and ice cold water. Keeping everything cold will result in a more flaky crust.
- Similarly, you don't want to butter to be blended into the flour too much. Small pieces melt in between layers of dough when baked, giving you a flaky crust.
- Try not to add too much water, or the crust will be sticky and difficult to roll out. You want it to just start to come together.
- I love using whole wheat pastry flour for the lightest result. If you can't find whole wheat pastry flour, look for white whole wheat flour (made with soft white wheat, it's not bleached).
- I use salted butter because I prefer a little more salt in my crust to contrast very sweet fillings. However, if you prefer less salt, use unsalted butter or reduce the salt to ½ tsp.
- For vegan version, use cold coconut oil in place of butter. If you use virgin coconut oil, your pie crust will taste like coconut, though.
- If you have a very deep pie dish or a 10 inch dish, you may need to use 1.5 times or double the recipe to make sure you have enough crust.
Can This Pie Crust Be Made in Advance?
Yes! Once the dough comes together in the food processor, turn it out, divide in half, and roll each half into a ball. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator or freezer until ready to use. Let the dough soften just enough to roll when you take it out, without getting too warm.
Par-Baking and Baking Pie Crust
Parbaking, or blind baking, is baking the crust for a short amount of time to ensure liquid fillings don't seep through the crust. If your recipe calls for parbaking, you can bake your crust for 15 minutes at 350°F using pie weights.
If your recipe calls for a baked pie crust (such as pies with pudding fillings), prick the bottom of the dough with a fork and bake at 375°F until golden brown, about 20-30 minutes. Cool the crust completely before filling.
Delicious Pie Recipes For Filling Your Crust
- Perfect Apple Crumb Pie
- Chocolate Bourbon Pecan Pie
- Southern Buttermilk Pie
- Healthyish Lattice Apple Pie
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 with just 2 ingredients and 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 9-inch crusts 1x
- Category: dessert
- Method: food processor
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
- 2 cups white whole wheat flour or whole wheat pastry flour (I like Bob's Red Mill)
- ¾ cup butter, chilled and cubed
- 1 tsp fine sea salt (½ tsp if using salted butter)
- up to ½ cup ice cold water
Instructions
- In the bowl of a food processor, pulse flour and salt. And cubed 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 just formed with the dough.
- Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured surface. Cut the ball of dough in half.
- Roll out dough on top of plastic wrap, one ball at a time, to form the crust. Turn out dough 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 instructed.
- 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.
- Use cold butter and ice cold water. Keeping everything cold will result in a more flaky crust.
- Similarly, you don't want to butter to be blended into the flour too much. Small pieces melt in between layers of dough when baked, giving you a flaky crust.
- Try not to add too much water, or the crust will be sticky and difficult to roll out. You want it to just start to come together.
- I love using whole wheat pastry flour for the lightest result. If you can't find whole wheat pastry flour, look for white whole wheat flour (made with soft white wheat, it's not bleached).
- I use salted butter because I prefer a little more salt in my crust to contrast very sweet fillings. However, if you prefer less salt, use unsalted butter or reduce the salt to ½ tsp.
- For vegan version, use cold coconut oil in place of butter. If you use virgin coconut oil, your pie crust will taste like coconut, though.
- If you have a very deep pie dish or a 10 inch dish, you may need to use 1.5 times or double the recipe to make sure you have enough crust.
- For parbaking and make ahead instructions, see post above.
Keywords: all butter pie crust, whole wheat pie crust, easy whole wheat pie crust
I tried the ww pie crust again. This time watching the water … just enough for the dough to stick together. It was perfect. The dough was a lot easier to work with and the crust was nice and flakey when I baked it.
I actually filled this pie crust with butter chicken, and it was delicious. Highly recommend and I will use again, it turned out beautifully!
★★★★★
That sounds delicious! Thanks for the review!
Hi, I would like to make whole wheat butter tarts. Have you ever tried this recipe with tarts? Thanks 🙂
Arlette
I haven't ever tried it, but I don't see why it wouldn't work!
Although I love pie more than any other food, I'm new to pie baking and have been trying out various recipes. I'm going to try this one next. But I'm confused by this:
"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."
5 tbsp in either case?
Hi Clay, If you use all-purpose flour, you'll need about 5 tbsp of water. If you use whole wheat flour, as written in the recipe card, you'll need a little bit more water since whole wheat flour tends to absorb more water.
This is by far the best whole wheat pastry flour pie crust I’ve tried. I like it better than AP crusts. It’s so easy and fast and consistent. Thank you!
★★★★★
This is the BEST pie crust I have ever come across. It was so easy to roll out and my apple pie turned out beautifully. My husband woke up this morning and said he cannot wait to get home from work and have another piece. He also said it is blue ribbon award winning!!!!!
★★★★★
Thanks Vicki! I'm so glad you and your husband enjoyed it! 🙂
Can I do this in a blender?
I've never tried in a blender, so I can't say for sure. Let me know if you try!
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.
★★★★
How much ghee ratio flour thanks
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!
I had big chunks of butter but the crust was not flakey. I used a pastry cutter. I used freshly milled soft white whole wheat grain. It seemed like I used a lot of water maybe even the 1/2 cup plus another 1/2 cup or more. While baking the rhubarb pie with a top and bottom crust, I baked the leftover crust in strips with cinnamon and sugar sprinkled on top. They never really got flakey and crisp. I haven’t cut pie to see how it is. What do you think happened?
Hi Sandy,
It sounds like you added too much water. The dough should just come together in a loose ball before you roll it out and may even have some crumbs. I hope this helps!
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!