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Prep time
35 minutes
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makes
1 single 9-inch pie crust
Author Notes
Most whole-wheat pie crust recipes use a mix of whole-wheat and all-purpose flours—and for good reason. With the bran and germ, standard whole-wheat flour can lead to dense, stodgy baked goods. But this recipe has a couple rabbits in its top hat, if you will: First, it doesn’t use standard whole-wheat flour. It uses white whole-wheat, which is milled from white wheat. It’s lighter in color, milder in flavor, and much more forgiving in recipes. Second, we aren’t making a standard, all-butter or all-shortening (or even part-butter, part-shortening) pie crust. We’re borrowing a page from rugelach dough, a Jewish staple I learned from my grandma. Traditionally, this is used to make the flakiest, tenderest little cookies in the world. But it works wonders as a pie dough too. Note: I like to keep my white whole-wheat flour in the freezer for a couple reasons: It stays fresher longer. And it’s the perfect temperature for buzzing up pie dough—chilly enough that the butter wouldn’t even think of melting before it hits the oven. —Emma Laperruque
Watch This Recipe
100% Whole-Wheat Pie Crust
Ingredients
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113 grams (1 cup) white whole-wheat flour, preferably frozen
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½ teaspoon kosher salt
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113 grams (4 ounces) cream cheese, broken into pieces
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113 grams (4 ounces/1 stick) unsalted butter, cubed
Directions
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Add the flour and salt to a food processor and pulse just to combine. Add the cream cheese and pulse until totally incorporated, with no big pieces visible. Add the butter and continue to pulse until the butter is totally incorporated and the mixture is curdy, almost like cottage cheese, easily holding together when squeezed. Form into a disk and tightly wrap in plastic. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes and up to 2 days before using.
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On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to a circle about 12 inches in diameter. At this point, you can take any path you’d like.
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For a free-form galette (my favorite!), transfer the dough to a parchment-lined sheet pan, add your filling to the center, leaving a 1-inch or so border, and then fold over that border to form a crust.
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For a par-baked crust, place into a 9-inch pie pan and crimp however you like. Prick the bottom and sides with a fork, line with parchment, and fill with pie weights (I use dried beans). Bake at 400°F for 15 to 20 minutes, until the crimped crust is starting to brown. Remove from the oven, remove the parchment and pie weights, and bake for another 5 to 8 minutes to dry out the bottom. (If the crust puffs up at all or starts to shrink, you can prick it with a fork to depuff, or push up the shrunken sides with the side of a measuring cup.)
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For a blind-baked crust, place into a 9-inch pie pan and crimp however you like. Prick with a fork, line with parchment, and fill with pie weights (I use dried beans). Bake at 400°F for 15 to 20 minutes, until the crimped crust is starting to brown. Remove from the oven, remove the parchment and pie weights, and bake for another 12 to 15 minutes to fully bake until deeply golden brown. (If the crust puffs up at all or starts to shrink, you can prick it with a fork to depuff, or push up the shrunken sides with the side of a measuring cup.)
Emma was the food editor at Food52. She created the award-winning column, Big Little Recipes, and turned it into a cookbook in 2021. These days, she's a senior editor at Bon Appétit, leading digital cooking coverage. Say hello on Instagram at @emmalaperruque.
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