Hi friends, I hope everyone is having a good week so far. My week has been up and down, after 2 months of being keto, I was hit by a pretty brutal keto flu because I was not eating as much fat as I should. It definitely is a challenge to keep up, and sometimes when life gets busy, you kind of forget to eat and before you know it, you got brain fog. So to help you avoid falling in the same trap I fell in, I crafted a solid keto pie crust recipe that is flaky, crumbly and just melts in your mouth.
Keto Pie Crust Recipe.
To make this recipe, I had to go back to my good old french cook book, for inspiration and guidance: Mon Cours de Cuisine by Marabout. I can’t tell you how many things I have learned from it, it truly is a complete cooking course, packed into a giant encyclopedia with 3000 step by step pictures.
I wanted to make a pie crust that is both flaky and just a little crumbly so that it melts in your mouth when you take a bite. Naturally, I chose to make a pate brisee.
The reason is very simple
A traditional pate brisee is made with exactly 2 ingredients. Flour & salted butter. You need to use exactly twice the amount of flour to butter. That ratio guarantees that your pie crust will be both flaky and crumbly.
Just look at those layers of flakiness!
Because we can’t use plain wheat flour in a keto recipe, we can’t just use butter and coconut flour since the pie crust will burn (because of the sugar in coconut flour) and will be too crumbly.
So to replace the gluten in wheat flour, you can use any of these ingredients.
- Guar Gum
- Xanthan Gum
- Egg whites
- Chia Seeds
Guar Gum and Xanthan Gum are both excellent replacements for gluten. I will probably use them in future recipes, but for this one I felt that egg whites are going to be the best choice. I didn’t want a pastry that will be too firm, and I wanted it to be light and flaky.
Egg whites are just perfect for that.
Why is the recipe in grams instead of cups?
When I was making this pie crust recipe, I wanted to respect the ratios that are traditional to a pate brisee and the best way to do that is to weigh all the dry ingredients.
If you are baker, or someone who would like to get more into baking, a kitchen scale is by far one of the best investments you will ever need. You can get one from amazon, they are super cheap.
Keto Pie Crust
Ingredients
- 100 grams Almond flour
- 100 grams coconut flour
- 1 heaped tbsp psyllium husk
- 100 grams cold butter
- 2 large eggs
- 2 egg whites
If you are using unsalted butter add 1/2 tsp of sea salt or pink Himalayan salt.
If you are making a sweet pie, or dessert add 1-2 tbsp of your favourite sweetener.
Instructions
- To a bowl, add almond flour, coconut flour and psyllium husk. Mix until well combined. Cut your butter into 1" cubes and add to the dry flour mix. Using your fingers, break the butter into the flour mixture until you get a grainy consistency.
- Add your 2 large eggs and 2 egg whites and knead the dough until your eggs are well incorporated into the dough. Transfer your dough into a floured working surface and shape your dough into a ball. Cover with plastic wrap and chill for at least 1-2 hours before use.
Important notes
- If you don't like the taste of coconut flour, you will not like this.
- This crust does not resemble a regular pate brisee because of the lack of gluten. It's much more crumbly. However, once it is baked, and cooled its pretty much just like any other crust.
- You won't be able to roll this like a classic pie crust. If you're trying to make a pie, grab a piece of your dough and press it into your non-stick pie dish. Check out my video of Keto Quiche to see how it's done.
Nutrition
Here are a couple of recipes you can make with this awesome keto pie crust:
Have you tried making this substituting a nondairy item for butter?
Yes! You can use coconut oil and it will work just as well.
Is 100 grams of coconut flour the 2 and 1/2 cups as well? Directions are a little confusing
Hi Erin,
I updated the instructions. 100 grams of coconut flour is just about 8 Tbsp and 100 grams of almond flour is close to 2 and 1/2 cups.
I added those instructions for people who don’t own a kitchen scale.
Almost all brands of almond flour have 96-100 grams equaling one cup of the flour. Don’t know how you can get 100 grams of flour to equal. 2.5 cups. What brand has that kind of density?
Hi James,
You’re right, thanks for pointing that out. I originally used a converter that for some reason says that 1 cup is 42 grams. I’ll revise the recipe and update it.
Thank you for the recipe I really am enjoying your blog. pardon my ignorance… What is the “psyllium husk” ingredient and what is it for? Can the crust be made without it? Thank.you again 🙂
Hi Tracy!
Yes it can be made without it. Psyllium husk is a form of fibre that is very often used in Keto desserts, you can get it from amazon or your local grocery store 🙂 Enjoy!
Great recipe – thanks! I added unflavoured protein powder for my protein deficient other half and the recipe coped very well with it. Really appreciated your commentary Idriss and you’re spot on – it doesn’t behave like a classic pie crust when you’re working with it but it cooks just like one and the flavour is amazing. This will become a new staple recipe for me and introduces a whole new world of keto possibilities now!
I’m glad to know that Sarah!
I really appreciate that you took the time to read the blog post and share your experience. Feel free to tag @Broke_foodies on Instagram. I would love to see your future creations 🙂