Whole Wheat or Spelt Pie Crust

If you are going to be a home baker and you want to use whole wheat flour as much as possible, It's a good idea to have a delicious whole wheat pie crust recipe in your arsenal. There is this myth that you can't make a good pie crust with whole wheat flour, which is beyond me because it's simply not true. I've been doing a lot of experimenting with pie crust over several months, trying different types of flour, fat and liquid. I'm still working on a dairy and wheat-free version, but in the mean time I thought I'd share a more traditional pie crust – one with lots and lots of butter! :-)

If you are a calorie counter you might want to turn that part of your brain off while making this recipe! :-) Good fat is essential to making a delicious, flaky pie crust. There's just no getting around it. Even a couple of tablespoons can make a difference.

The first time I made this recipe I used white whole wheat flour and the second time, spelt. Both work very well.


What You'll Need - will make 2 - 9" pie crusts

3+ cups organic whole wheat or organic spelt flour
1 tsp. sea salt
2 tbsp. rapadura or white sugar - optional
1 cup cold organic butter
12 tbsp. cold organic milk

Large mixing bowl
Pastry blender or two knives
Fork
Rolling pin
Wax paper


Getting Started

1. Mix together your flour, salt and optional sugar. I will sometimes use sugar if I'm making a fruit pie.

2. Cut your cold butter into small pieces, approximately quarter inch and add them to your flour mixture. Cut the butter into small chunks before putting it into the flour to make the next step a bit easier.

3. Using a pastry blender or two knifes, cut your butter pieces into your flour until there are no pieces larger than a pea. Be careful here, you don't want to cut the butter up so much that it begins to become a paste with the flour. It's important to keep the butter as cold as possible. The chunks of butter are what create the flakiness in the crust once it's been baked.



4. Drizzle your milk a couple tablespoons at a time over your flour mixture then using a fork mix it in until the mixture is evenly moistened and begins to stick together. You might not need all 12 tablespoon of milk and you may need more. When you can press some of the mixture together to form a ball that isn't sticky, you have added enough liquid.


5. Turn the mixture out onto a work surface and press it together until it forms a ball. If it's still too crumbly, sprinkle a little more milk over it. Divide the dough in half then flatten into a round disk.



From here follow your favorite recipe. You don't need to refrigerate this dough before rolling it unless your butter has begun to soften. If you think your butter has softened too much, then put the dough in the refrigerator for about an hour before using it. Pie crust dough freezes very well, so it never hurts to double your quantity and put some in the freezer for future use, just make sure to wrap it really well so it doesn't get frost on it.

Butter - Tradition with Cooking

Mmmmm, butter! That's the first thing I must say. Honestly who doesn't love it?

If you follow what many "health experts" are saying today, then you most likely avoid this delicious item, but if you dig a little deeper you can find a wealth of information on how healthy it can truly be and the necessity of it and similar items in our diet.

Butter made from organic, grass fed, and if possible, raw milk can be extremely nutritional. Check out these great articles from the Weston A. Price Foundation on this very subject, Why Butter is Better and The Skinny of Fats. It's only been in the latter part of the 20th century that we began the cursed low-fat diets. Interestingly enough, some of these diets began with the aim for a healthier nation, but instead we have become sicker as high cholesterol, heart disease, cancer and so forth have become rampant. Butter is of course not the cure all, but it's the first tiny, tiny step into reclaiming a healthy body.

Since butter is used in so many recipes and the majority of us love it, I saw this as a great place to start when talking about how to get back to traditional cooking. It's not so long ago that butter would have always been made in the home, however, with the convenience of super markets, we've all but lost how to make the most basic items in our kitchens. One of the great things about making butter at home is you get the awesome byproduct buttermilk. Another wonderful addition to many recipes and an essential item when cooking with traditional methods.

I must confess that I don't make butter on a regular basis, but as I've been exploring ways to cut my costs at the local co-op and keep the healthiest food around for my family, I realized cutting out the middle man and making my butter at home is just one small step I can take. Through the spring, summer and fall I'm blessed with a farmer who provides me with the most delicious, organic milk and cream that comes from cows that are exclusively grass fed, but winter brings a stop to that little blessing and instead I'm off to the co-op for my cream and milk.

When buying cream, always start with the best and just because it's organic doesn't mean that's the case. Much of the mega-organic milk farms ultra-pasteurize their cream, killing all the wonderful health benefits of the cream. Try to look for cream that has been vat-pasteurized instead (this means the cream has been heated to a lower temperature then when it's
ultra-pasteurized). Also, try to get cream from 100% grass-fed cows. I won't go into all the reasons now, but cows' bodies don't digest well the soy and corn the typical farms feed their cattle and this creates its own set of health issues. Finally, cream is always better in glass. Cream in any other container can run the risk of having extremely unhealthy chemicals leaching into it, plus you often get a much better flavor. If you live in the Twin Cities area then you are lucky to have some choices in the type of milk/cream you purchase. There are a number of farmers you can purchase milk directly from or visit one of the many local co-ops to see the variety of creams and milks they sell.

Now, back to butter, oh and how to make it! First, it's easy!!!! Second, if you have kids, even young ones (my two year old helped me make my latest batch), call them into the kitchen and have some fun teaching them something new.

Step 1: Get your ingredients together and grab a couple basic items.
Little is needed to make butter. A large and a small mixing bowl, a hand mixer, a wooden spoon, a wire mesh strainer or even cheese cloth and containers to store the butter and buttermilk in. Oh and don't forget some delicious cream and a bit of salt, preferably sea or Himalayan salt for the extra minerals.


Step 2: Add a pint of cream and approximately a 1/2 teaspoon of salt, more or less depending on your taste buds, to the large mixing bowl and start whipping it on high! Told you it was easy. Have you ever made whip cream at home and accidentally over beat it until you had something kind of between whip cream and butter, well this time you are on track if that's what your cream is starting to look like. Depending on the strength of your hand mixer this may take a while, 5-10 minutes. If you have a food processor, it's even easier. Fit it with the metal blade and start whipping until the butter has formed.

Below is a picture of what you should be looking for when you are getting close to being done. Note that the buttermilk naturally begins to separate itself.


Step 3: Pour the buttermilk that is already in the bowl through a metal strainer or cheese cloth into the small mixing bowl. Then using your wooden spoon, start to press out any additional buttermilk that may still be lingering. Empty your bowl of the buttermilk and then press again. You'll likely have to do this several times to remove all of the buttermilk.


Step 4: Pat your butter into a ball and rinse in some cold water. Finally dry it off with a little paper towel and just like that, you're finished! You can store your butter in the fridge or for long term in the freezer. ENJOY!