Low Fat Pie Crust for Apple Pie

     Did you know that a  traditional single pie crust has at least 180 calories per serving? With 105 calories from fat (11.7 g)? And that's the pie crust ALONE, leave the filling, whipped cream, crumbed topping or top crust. Amazing right? Sometimes we don't even care about the crust at all and yet we get this much calories.

     So I'm on a search for that fat free pie crust. After searching the web most people replace it with low-fat/fat free butter, but we don't have that; others use nuts or almonds which are 'healthy' fats but still fat nonetheless; and there are those who replace the oil with fruits. Hmmm now that i'll definitely try. But no one seems to use pizza dough (for deep dish pies and not pie pizza), so I thought I should give it a try. Pizza dough uses a small amount of oil, rises so you get more crust and easier to work with.

     I made apple pie or deep dish apple pizza with this recipe and as you can see it's too thick. Next time I'll divide the dough by 3 rather than 2. The verdict? It tasted quite good and of course it was bready rather than crusty, but it worked well with the apple filling since I added cinnamon. I made a double crust and it was more of a stuffed sweet bread, but it made my dad and aunt happy since it was softer and easier to chew. So not only is it low fat, it's elderly-friendly too!

Ingredients:

  2 1/4 tsp instant yeast

  4 tbsp sugar

  1 tsp salt

  2 tbsp cooking oil

  3 tsp cinnamon

  1 1/2 cups warm water

  3 1/2 cups flour

Cooking Instructions:

1. Dissolve yeast, sugar in warm water. Let it sit for 10 mins.

2. Stir in salt, oil and cinnamon.

3. Add in 2 1/2 cups of flour and mix.

4. Knead adding remaining flour until dough is no longer sticky.

5. Transfer to a clean greased container, cover and let it sit in a warm place until it doubles in size (30 mins-1 hour).

6. Punch down and let it rest for a minute before use.

7. Divide into 2 if you want it thick, or 3 if thin. Form into desired shape.

8. Pre-bake for 5-10 mins, then add the fillings or topping.

9. Bake at 450 F until set.

Serves: 24 (single crust)

Calories: 86

  

ANALYSIS:

• definitely low fat

POSSIBLE MODIFICATIONS:

• For gluten-free baking, replace flour with whole wheat or other gluten-free flour
• Use other spices as it suits your filling