Whole Wheat Oatmeal Pie Dough and Cream Cheese Pie Dough

I’m not flaky about pie dough–a pie dough must be flaky. And I want my flake from butter.  Both Whole Wheat Oatmeal Pie Dough and Cream Cheese Pie Dough are made with butter. They are flaky, tender and reliable pie crusts–recipes you can depend on. Both are practically foolproof–and make you feel like a pie expert. Here are recipes and tips for making perfect pie crusts.

Click here to PIN Whole Wheat and Butter Pie Dough recipes.

Flaky and tender, healthy, and rustic flavorful, this whole wheat oatmeal pie dough is one of my favorite pie dough recipes. Unsalted butter provides just the right amount of flakiness, and an egg yolk insures tenderness. White whole wheat dough delivers sweet nutty flavor and bits of old-fashioned rolled oats offer a nutritious boost.

Like with oatmeal raisin cookies, the oats aren’t cooked into hot oatmeal first—the rolled oats just go into the dough. Here, they’re ground into meal in the food processor, leaving tiny white flecks throughout the pastry. This oat pie pastry recipe is slightly adapted from a simple pie pastry in Simple Desserts by Ken Haedrich.

Cold, cold, cold. These are the key words when working with pie and tart pastry. Start with cold butter, use cold liquids, and as you work with the dough, keep it cold!

The butter in the whole wheat oatmeal pie dough is cut in a food processor, in quick pulses, which keeps warm hands from melting the butter. For a flaky crust, you want the butter to melt in the oven, not in your hands.

Whole Wheat Oatmeal Pie Dough and Cream Cheese Pie Dough making tips:

1. Refrigerate the butter until the very last minute.

2. Make “ice-cold” water with ice cubes—just fish them out before measuring.

3. Work quickly to incorporate butter, and keep your warm hands away from the mixture until you quickly gather the dough into a disc.

4. Resist the urge to add more water. Work the dough gently picking up the dry pieces with the dough until it all comes together. You want to see some pieces of butter in the dough. (The Cream Cheese Pie Dough recipe here is the exception, since the butter and cream cheese are beaten together.)

4. As with all butter pie crusts, you need to chill dough just enough so that it’s cold, but still malleable, before rolling it out and fitting it in a tart or pie pan. Chilling also lets the dough relax–to calm down the gluten that forms when the dough is mixed.

Pie and tart dough rolling tips for Whole Wheat Oatmeal Pie Dough and Cream Cheese Pie Dough:

• For pies, roll the dough thinly into a 12-inch circle, about 1/8 inch thick.
• For tarts, roll the dough into an 11-inch circle, a little thicker, but never more than 1/4 inch thick. Don’t feel that you must use the entire dough recipe; it is better to use less, roll it thin and do something else with the scraps. Like grandma, you can roll and cut extra dough into shapes, sprinkle with sugar and bake until light golden brown for little snacks.
• Use enough flour, but as little as possible, to keep the dough from sticking. Train yourself to dust the work surface often, but sparingly. If you see pieces or streaks of butter when you roll, that’s good. The butter will melt in the oven and create air layers in the pastry—for that flaky crust.
• Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface, using short strokes with the rolling pin. Gently coax both the dough into a circle, as opposed to pushing it. Roll to the edge but not over, so the edge stays the same thickness as the middle. If the dough becomes unruly or doesn’t roll smoothly, you will get a more tender crust if you patch it into the pan as is instead of re-rolling—the less handling the better.

For Pies:

• Fit the dough into a 9-inch pie pan and trim, if necessary, leaving a 1-inch overlap around the edge of the pie pan. Crimp the edge inot a fluted edge. Refrigerate or freeze until cold.

For Tarts:

• Fit the dough into a 9-inch fluted tart pan with a removeable bottom, easing the dough into the corners and patching any tears or holes. Use your thumb to break off the excess dough at the top edge. Refigerate or freeze until cold.

This winning delicious Walnut and Chocolate Tart uses Whole Wheat Oatmeal Pie dough.

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Print Recipe

5 from 2 votes

Oat Pie Pastry and Cream Cheese Pie Dough

Two Easy Pie Doughs for winning pies! Each recipe makes enough for one (9-inch) pie. Oat Pie Pastry calories at 164 grams.

Prep Time10 minutes mins

Total Time10 minutes mins

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American, Vegetarian

Keyword: how-to, pie dough, whole wheat

Servings: 10 servings

Author: Letty | @lettyskitchen

Ingredients

Oat Pie Pastry

• ½ cup rolled oats
• 2 tablespoons organic cane sugar, optional
• ⅛ teaspoon fine sea salt
• 6 ounces white whole wheat flour
• 4 ounces cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
• 1 egg yolk
• 2 to 3 tablespoons ice-cold water

Cream Cheese Pie Dough

• 8 tablespoons (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, sliced 1/4-inch thick
• 1 (4-ounce) package cream cheese, cut into pieces
• 1 teaspoon organic cane sugar, optional (see note)
• ⅛ teaspoon fine sea salt
• 1 cup white whole wheat flour or all-purpose flour

Instructions

For the Oat Pastry:

• Put the oats, sugar and salt in a food processor and process to a fine meal. Add the flour and process to mix.
• Scatter the butter pieces over the dry ingredients. Pulse until the butter is broken into very small pieces, about the size of a pea.
• In a small bowl, stir the yolk and 2 tablespoons of the water. Sprinkle over the flour. Pulse several times. Mix with a fork to insure that the ingredients are mixed well. Pulse again until the pastry just starts to gather in a mass. Dump into a bowl and gather everything together.
• Form into a disc about ¾-inch thick. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least one hour or overnight.

Cream Cheese Pie Dough:

• Beat the butter in the bowl of an electric mixer until it is smooth. Add the cream cheese, sugar and salt. Beat well, stopping to scrape the sides and the bottom of the bowl. Add the flour all at once, and mix just until the dough comes together.
• Gather the dough and form into a disk, about ¾-inch thick. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least one hour or overnight.

Notes

If you use either pie dough for a savory tart, leave out the sugar.

Nutrition

Calories: 168kcal | Carbohydrates: 17g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 10g | Saturated Fat: 6g | Cholesterol: 44mg | Sodium: 31mg | Potassium: 33mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 2g | Vitamin A: 310IU | Calcium: 18mg | Iron: 0.6mg

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