In autumn, grocery store fruit bins are bountifully stocked with selections from the current year’s apple harvest. Seeing the mounds of Rome, Jonathan, and Granny Smith apples and smelling their sweet aroma evokes the reminiscence of homemade apple pie, warm from the oven, the filling gently bubbling through a lattice crust, scenting the kitchen with the enticing blend of baked apples and cinnamon. Ah, homemade apple pie!

Is it a lost pleasure for the celiac? It may seem so for the non-cook for whom “baking a pie” meant heating a frozen pie in the oven or for the baker who relied solely on commercially made piecrusts in pre-celiac days. Even the experienced baker who used to make wheat flour piecrusts may find it daunting to work with gluten-free pie dough. However, there is a simple trick for producing acceptable, if not perfectly beautiful, gluten-free piecrusts.

The secret in making gluten-free piecrust is not in the recipe; it is in preparing and rolling out the crust. No matter what recipe is used, it is important to add sufficient liquid to make the dough moist enough to hold together but not so moist that the dough is sticky.

Also, in contrast to wheat-based pie dough, gluten-free pie dough is easier to roll out if the dough is at room temperature. The real trick, though, is to roll the dough between two layers of plastic wrap (such as Saran Wrap). Plastic wrap is more flexible than wax paper and will help to keep the dough from cracking when it is transferred to the pie pan.

Once the dough is rolled to an even thickness and a diameter that will be large enough to cover the bottom and sides of the pie pan, carefully peel off the top layer of plastic wrap. Slide a cookie sheet or other flat object under the bottom layer of plastic wrap on which the crust is lying. This will provide support for the dough when inverting it into the pie pan.

Next, lay the pie pan upside down and centered on top of the rolled crust. Sliding one hand under the cookie sheet, supporting the cookie sheet with that hand, and holding the pie plate with the other hand, invert the entire assembly. Lift off the cookie sheet and gently press the piecrust (which will probably still be stuck to the plastic wrap) down into the pan. Carefully peel off the remaining layer of plastic wrap.

At this point, if there are cracks in the crust, they can easily be mended by pressing the dough together. If the transfer did not work well, you can always declare that attempt a trial run, press the dough back into a ball, and roll it out again. Unlike wheat-based dough, gluten-free pie dough will not toughen through handling.

With a little practice, it becomes easy to make gluten-free pie dough.