Sonora Wheat Pie Dough
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Roxana Jullapat, founder of Friends & Family, shares her recipe for Sonora wheat pie dough, which can be used for both sweet and savory pies. She uses both cold cream cheese and butter for a rich, buttery taste and a texture that’s both short and tender. This recipe was adapted from her cookbook “Mother Grains: Recipes for the Grain Revolution.” In the book, the crust is used to make a “grapple” or apple and grape pie. It’s an ideal pie dough for your next fruit pie, cream pie or even quiche.
Combine the flour, sugar and salt in a medium bowl. Add the cold butter cubes and cream cheese cubes into the flour mixture. Quickly cut the butter and cream cheese into the dry ingredients by pinching the cubes with your fingertips until the mixture resembles a coarse meal with large crumbs the size of hazelnuts.
Make a well in the mixture with your hands and pour in the ice water. Mix gently until a raggedy dough forms. Don’t worry if bits of butter or cream cheese are still visible. Transfer to a lightly floured surface and knead briefly into a ball. Divide the dough ball in half and shape each half into a disk. Wrap tightly with plastic and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes and up to 2 days. If you plan to make a single pie crust with the dough, store the remaining wrapped dough disk in the freezer for up to 1 month.
To shape a single pie crust, remove dough from the refrigerator and roll it out on a lightly floured surface, forming a round about 11 to 12 inches in diameter. Pick up the dough by rolling it onto the rolling pin and lay it into a 9-inch pie pan. Gently press the dough into the bottom and up the sides of the pan, letting the ends hang from the rim of the pan. Trim any excess dough with kitchen scissors, leaving 1 inch of dough hanging from the edge of the pie pan. Gather the dough to form a border along the edge of the pan. Crimp the border by pinching the dough with your fingertips, forming small triangles along the edge. Refrigerate the shaped pie crust for 20 minutes.
Place an oven rack in the middle position and preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Cut a 12-inch parchment paper circle.
Place the pie pan on a baking sheet. Coat the pie crust lightly with nonstick spray and line it with the parchment. Fill it three-quarters of the way with dried beans or pie weights. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes. Then rotate the baking sheet and bake for an additional 20 to 25 minutes. To check if the pie crust is ready, carefully lift a section of the parchment and see if the bottom is golden. Let cool completely before removing the parchment paper and pie weights. The pie crust is now ready to use in your favorite pie recipe.
