Basic Whole Wheat Pastry Dough, Broccoli Cheddar Quiche

I have tried many variations on whole wheat pastry, and although I’ve never been able to duplicate the flaky texture of white flour pastry, I have come up with a whole wheat pastry that we like.  You know you have found success when you ask your husband, “So did you like the whole wheat crust?”, and you get the reply “That was whole wheat?”.  Yea!  So really it’s the fat that makes the pastry.  When I became enlightened to the evils of hydrogenated oils (ok, well I had been enlightened for a long time, I just didn’t do anything about it because, well after all, I didn’t make things with it that often, a little couldn’t be that harmful, could it?).  Finally I just decided, yes, yes it can, and stopped, and then started my quest, to find a replacement.  I tried butter, coconut oil, and palm fruit shortening; if I could find a decent source for lard I would have definitely tried it.  In the end, the palm fruit shortening worked well with white flour, but for whole wheat, butter was the winner.  It’s not flaky, but tender and yummy.

Basic Whole Wheat Pastry Dough

Makes enough for a 9” covered pie

2 ½ cups of whole wheat pastry flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup butter, cold and cut into pieces

Ice water to make a workable dough

Place flour, salt, in a bowl, add the cut up butter and cut into the flour with a pastry blender or 2 knives, until the largest pieces are about pea size, and the mix resembles coarse crumbs. 

  Add ice water until dough just clings together.  DO NOT OVERWORK your pastry dough; it will get tough and yucky.  I used about ½ cup for this recipe.  I drop it in slowly and mix it around with either my fingers or a fork until it just starts to cling together.  When it looks like it might, I sort of push it together into a ball, if it won’t stick add a little more until it forms a ball, but just press it together do not knead or work it. 

  Half the dough and roll out on a floured surface.  For whole wheat this is the biggest challenge, I just can’t get it to stick together well and it (well just look at the picture!).  

 Don’t despair, It will still work out, I promise! Just squish the pieces or tear off some pieces and squish them over the holes and fill it in, then trim the edge and crimp with fingers or a fork. 

For a regular pie, I just use it as usual pie pastry, but if I’m making something really wet like quiche or pumpkin, I pop the crust into the oven for 15 minutes at 375 for 10-15 minutes, let it cool a bit, then add my filling and bake as directed. This seems to keep it from getting soggy.  

Broccoli Cheddar Quiche

½ recipe of Whole Wheat Pastry Dough, or whole recipe and double the quiche recipe

4 eggs, beaten

2 cups of milk

½ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon pepper

1 cup grated cheddar cheese

¾-1 cup of blanched and chopped broccoli (it could be cooked leftovers too)

Place chopped broccoli in the bottom of a prepared and partially baked pastry crust, top with shredded cheddar.  

beat eggs, milk and seasoning together and pour over the top. I topped mine with tomato slices.

 Bake at 375 degrees, until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean and the pie doesn’t jiggle in the center, this took me about 45 minutes in my oven, it varies depending on what fillings you use.  

Hmm... this still looks raw, but it must be the cooked version, it's the only other pic I have.  Well just bake yours and it will come out looking similar, but done!

 Let rest for 15 minutes, cut and serve warm.  What are you waiting for, dig in!

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