Cornmeal Pastry
Cornmeal Pastry is slightly sweet and full of flavor and texture. It’s a perfect accompaniment with rustic style pie fillings such as pumpkin, sweet potato, and squash.

Recipe type: Dessert | Pie Pastry | Pie Crust
Prep time:
Total time:
Recipe Notes
Pan: One 9" Pie Prep Time: 2 Hours Yield: Single Crust Storage: Cover and Refrigerate
Ingredients
Cornmeal Pastry for 9 Inch Single-Crust Pie:
- 1½ cups all-purpose flour
- ½ cup yellow cornmeal
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, chilled, cut into small pieces
- 2 large egg yolks
- 3 to 4 tablespoons ice water
Instructions
Cornmeal Pastry:
- In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, cornmeal, sugar, and salt; whisk together to mix. With a pastry blender or two knives, cut butter into the flour mixture until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
- In a small bowl, combine egg yolks and 3 tablespoons water; whisk with a wire whisk or fork until combined. Add egg mixture to the flour mixture, mixing until all the flour is moistened and forms a ball. If the dough seems too crumbly, add the additional 1 tablespoon water (or a little more) if necessary.
- Gently pat dough into a 6 inch disc. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate 1 to 2 hours or up to 1 day.
- Remove the chilled dough disc from refrigerator. If the dough is too cold and is hard to roll out, let stand at room temperature for 5 to 15 minutes. On a lightly floured pastry mat or pastry board, and using a lightly floured rolling pin, roll the dough from the center out into a circle about 8 or 9 inches in diameter. Gently pick the dough up, lightly re-flour the work surface if necessary to prevent sticking, and replace the dough giving it a quarter turn. Continue lifting, turning, and rolling the dough until it is a 12 to 14 inch diameter circle and about ⅛ inches thick, doing your best to keep the dough shaped as circular as possible. Tip: Roll the dough to a diameter that is about 3 to 4 inches greater than the inside diameter of the pan, about 12 to 13 inches for a standard 9 inch pie pan or about 14 inches for a 9 inch deep dish pie pan.
- Transfer rolled dough to a 9 inch pan. Trim the pastry to 1-inch beyond the edge of the pie pan, turn the edges under. Flute the edges. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate pie shell until firm, at least 30 minutes.
- Add desired pie filling and bake as directed in the recipe.
Source: Martha Stewart's Pies & Tarts, Clarkson Potter Publishers, New York, 2011