For The Flakiest Vegan Pie Crusts, Keep The Fats Super Simple
Baking can be a tricky culinary art to master. Relying heavily on exact measurements and the perfect combination of ingredients balanced with precise timing at the ideal temperature can make this type of cooking seem more like working in a laboratory as opposed to your own kitchen. One thing is for sure as long as you have a keen attention to detail and don't mind a bit of a challenge, then being a success at baking can be as easy as pie.
With that in mind, what's better than creating the perfect pie crust from scratch? With the recipe in hand, you need to be able to play with the harmonies of fatty elements with a low-gluten dough so that it results in a soft, flakey, butter crust. Although dairy butter and lard are staples in most baking recipes, that doesn't mean that vegans don't have options when creating a tender flakey crust. Because animal-friendly products are the main focus this means that vegan bakers have a few other options so that they ensure their final result can stay dairy-free. Finding the right flour can be relatively simple and varied depending on taste, as for the fatty element, there is a simple substitute that can wield the same outcome to rival any old-school formula.
The right non-dairy butter can be a vegan baker's best friend
There are plenty of dairy-free alternatives when it comes to butter that vegans can choose from. Whether it contains plant-based oils such as coconut, palm, avocado, or vegetable, when you are making your own pie crust you want butter that can hold its form. If your butter turns into a liquid state when it is left out, then you may want to consider chilling it before mixing it with your dry ingredients. Adding cold butter to your other pie crust ingredients will ensure that the little pockets of creamy butter will evaporate during the baking process and create the flakey finish you are looking for.
Vegan types of butter are made to resemble their dairy counterparts and can even be found in stick form to be easier and more familiar to work with. It could be worthwhile to stay clear of avocado-based vegan butter because of its low smoke point. When baking at higher temperatures, the result could have a faint bitter taste. Instead, other plant-based butter can help the dough maintain a tight hold and have nearly the same buttery and flakey taste as a pie crust made with dairy butter. For your own crust at home keep it simple and play around with a few different brands of vegan butter. Through the experimental process, you could find the right fatty component to make your pie pop.