Super flaky buckwheat crust
(not gluten free)
I wanted to call this my e-pie-phany crust because it felt like
it fell right off the baking gods’ rolling pin into my tin! It
moves me like no other crust with that buckwheaty savouriness
balancing sweet fillings. It is the only crust I trust implicitly to
bake from raw in a double-crusted fruit pie – nary a suggestion
of a flabby undercooked base. It flakes like an utter champ, too.

The caveats: it browns faster than its white flour pals, so toggle
the baking temperature down by 5℃(40℉). If using for a liquid
tart filling (it is incredible with the Chocolate rum maple pecan
pie, page 115), it will need diligent and gentle patching before
filling – but holy doughballs, it’s worth the fuss.

Put the flours and salt in a wide mixing bowl. Using your fingertips,
rub the butter into the dry ingredients just until the butter lumps are
the size of whole almonds and the surrounding flour feels like silky
almond meal with buttery lumps throughout.

These large butter lumps are going to melt during baking, creating steam,
which will flake the pastry apart unbelievably!
Combine the iced water and egg yolk together and then add to the
buttery flour. Keep mixing with your hands, lightly squeezing the
dough together, until it looks like crumbly/shaggy playdough. Wrap
the dough lightly in plastic, then flatten, by squeezing, into a 2 cm
(¾ in) thick round disc with smooth sides. If you are making this for
a double-crusted pie, halve the batch into two 350 g (12½ oz) pats
to make rolling easier.

Chill this dough for a minimum of 1 hour or up to 2 days – just ensure
that the pastry is nicely pliable before rolling.

For a 23 cm (9 in) tart or pie dish, roll out the dough to 35 cm (13¾ in)
circle, about 3–4 mm (⅛ in) thick. Trim to a smooth-edged 32 cm
(12½ in) circle, then gently lift and flop the dough into the tin.

Keeps Frozen and unbaked for

3 months in the freezer. After being
baked, airtight at room temperature
for about 4 days.

Makes Approximately 700 g (1 lb

9 oz). Enough for 1 double-crusted
24 cm (9½ in) pie dish/2 fluted
loose-bottomed tart tins 23–24 cm
(9–9½ in) in diameter/12 individual
tart tins 10 cm (4 in) in diame ter.

Takes 20 minutes to make the dough

and 1 hour to chill before rolling.
225 g (8 oz) plain (all-purpose)
flour
135 g (5 oz) buckwheat flour
2 g (¹⁄₁₆oz/¼ teaspoon) fine
sea salt
225 g (8 oz) unsalted butter,
cold and sliced into small tiles
2 cm (¾ in) square and 5 mm
(¼ in) thick
110 g/ml (4 oz) iced water
20 g (¾ oz) egg yolk
(from approx. 1 egg)