Deep-Dish Pumpkin Pie with a Butter Crust, Gluten Free

Instructions

1. 1

   Make the dough

   Whisk the gluten-free blend, xanthan gum, sugar, and salt together in a wide bowl. Drop in the cold butter cubes and toss them through the flour, then flatten each cube between your fingertips into a rough sheet. Keep going until the bowl looks like a pile of ragged coins and shaggy crumbs.

2. 2

   Bring it together and hydrate

   Sprinkle over 5 tablespoons of ice water, one at a time, tossing with a fork after each. Gluten-free starches drink more water than wheat flour does, so add another teaspoon or two until a squeezed handful holds firmly together. Press into a thick disk, wrap, and refrigerate at least 1 hour. This rest isn't optional here — it gives the rice flour and starches time to absorb the water, which is what turns a gritty, crumbly dough into one that rolls.

3. 3

   Roll and line the pan

   Let the chilled disk sit at room temperature for 10 to 15 minutes; rolled straight from the fridge it will crack at every edge. Roll it into a 13-inch round between two sheets of parchment, peel off the top sheet, and invert it into a 9-inch deep-dish pie pan. Ease it into the corners without stretching. This dough has no gluten holding it together, so any tears or thin spots can simply be pinched or patched with a scrap — nobody will know. Trim to a 1-inch overhang, fold under, crimp, and freeze the shell for 30 minutes, solid.

4. 4

   Par-bake the shell

   Heat the oven to 400°F with a rack in the lower third. Line the frozen shell with a crumpled-then-smoothed sheet of parchment and fill it to the rim with pie weights, pressing them against the sides. Bake 20 minutes, until the crimped edge is set. Lift out the parchment and weights, prick the base a few times, and bake another 8 to 10 minutes. Gluten-free crusts brown more slowly and stay paler, so judge by texture rather than color: the base should look matte and dry, with no glossy or damp patches.

5. 5

   Cook the pumpkin

   While the crust bakes, put the pumpkin purée, both sugars, all the spices, and the salt in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Cook, stirring constantly and scraping the bottom, for 5 to 7 minutes, until the mixture darkens, stiffens, and begins to sputter. This drives off water and blooms the spices in the hot purée.

6. 6

   Finish the custard

   Off the heat, whisk in the evaporated milk until smooth. Let it sit 3 minutes so it's warm rather than hot, then whisk in the eggs, yolk, and vanilla. Pour the custard through a fine-mesh sieve into a large measuring cup. It will look very thin, which is correct.

7. 7

   Fill and bake

   Set the par-baked crust on a rimmed baking sheet and pour in the warm custard, stopping a quarter inch below the crimp. Bake at 325°F for 45 to 60 minutes, until the outer two inches look set and dull, the center wobbles as one soft unit, and an instant-read thermometer in the middle reads 175°F. Pull it there and let carryover heat finish the setting.

8. 8

   Cool completely

   Cool on a wire rack at least 3 hours before slicing. Gluten-free crusts firm up considerably as they cool, so a base that feels tender straight from the oven will slice cleanly once it's at room temperature.

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Baker's Tips

• 1.

  Not all canned purée is equally wet. If yours looks watery in the can, cook it a minute or two longer in step 5 until it mounds on the spatula.

• 2.

  If the crimped edge is browning faster than the filling sets, ring it with a strip of foil or a pie shield for the last 20 minutes.

• 3.

  An instant-read thermometer is worth more here than any visual cue. The classic knife test only comes out clean once the custard is already slightly overbaked.

• 4.

  Pouring warm filling into a warm crust shortens the bake, which means less time for the bottom crust to absorb moisture.

• 5.

  Roasted fresh pumpkin works, but purée it and then cook it down further — it carries much more water than canned.

• 6.

  This pie is better on day two. Bake it the day before, cool fully, then refrigerate uncovered for an hour before wrapping so condensation doesn't settle on the surface.