Almond Flour Quiche Crust for Full GAPS

This almond flour quiche crust is a savory, press-in shell made with an egg, coconut oil, dried basil and salt. The food processor brings the ingredients together, then you press the dough across a pie dish and halfway up its sides. It stays unbaked until you add the quiche filling.

You are looking for a dough that holds together under gentle pressure. It does not need rolling, folding or a separate blind-bake. The dried basil belongs in the crust itself, so the herb is spread through the shell rather than scattered over the filling.

Jump to the Recipe

Our mornings include cooking and homeschooling before I leave for second shift. Having the ingredients and equipment ready helps me keep track of the work. With a crust like this, I want the flour measured, the egg ready and the pie dish beside the processor before I start.

What You Need For The Crust

Two cups almond flour: Choose finely ground, blanched almond flour made from almonds, without a grain-flour blend, starch or other added ingredients. A fine grind gives you a more even shell. Coarse almond meal leaves larger particles that are more noticeable when you press and cut the crust.

Two tablespoons coconut oil: Choose natural, non-hydrogenated coconut oil for GAPS baking. It spreads through the flour as the processor mixes. Measure the amount before adding it rather than pouring oil into the bowl until the mixture looks wet.

One egg: The egg brings moisture and helps the almond mixture hold together. Keep it separate from any eggs you will use in the quiche filling. This shell uses one egg; the filling has its own quantity.

One teaspoon dried basil: Use dried basil for the base recipe, or one teaspoon dried rosemary. Either choice gives the almond shell a savory herb flavor. Keep the dried herb mixed through the flour so it reaches the edges as well as the middle.

Half a teaspoon natural salt: Measure it into the crust mixture. Keep this amount separate from the salt in your filling so both parts receive their own seasoning.

Choosing And Storing Almond Flour

Dr. Natasha’s 2020 Gut and Physiology Syndrome allows blanched ground almonds for baking and recommends keeping almond flour in the freezer. The book explains that ground nuts oxidize more readily than whole nuts. Buy flour as fresh as possible, keep the package closed and return the unused portion to the freezer.

Read the ingredient list when you buy a bag. A package described as gluten-free can still be a blend of several flours. For this crust, you need almond flour. A rice-flour baking mix, a sweetened mixture or a product with added starch changes what you are putting into the dish.

Coconut flour is also a different ingredient. It absorbs liquid differently, so two cups coconut flour cannot replace the two cups almond flour here. Almond pulp left after making milk is different from full-fat ground almonds too. Save that pulp for a recipe written for it.

Have the flour, egg and fat measured before turning on the processor. If you are making two shells, double all five ingredients together and have two pie dishes ready.

How To Make The Press-In Crust

1. Set Out The Pie Dish

Have an oven-safe pie dish ready beside your work area. The dish needs to suit the quiche filling you plan to bake in it. The shell is pressed halfway up the sides, so look at the depth as well as the width before you start.

A larger surface spreads the same dough more thinly. A smaller surface leaves it thicker. Work with the amount in the recipe and distribute it evenly, rather than leaving a thick ridge in one place and a bare patch somewhere else.

2. Mix In The Food Processor

Put the almond flour, coconut oil, egg, dried basil and salt in the food processor. Blend until the ingredients are combined and the mixture holds when pressed together. The herb and salt should be distributed through the dough.

Stop the machine before opening it or checking the dough. Look for moist crumbs or clumps that can be pressed into a shell. The mixture does not need to become a smooth, pourable batter.

My kitchen system is the Ninja BN801. Use its 64-ounce, eight-cup food-processor bowl with the chopping blade for this job. Follow the appliance’s assembly and fill instructions. The processor bowl is a separate attachment from the large blender pitcher.

3. Press The Base Evenly

Transfer the dough to the pie dish. Use your fingers to press it across the bottom, working gradually from one area to the next. The almond mixture should join together under pressure and cover the base.

Check the middle and the area where the bottom meets the sides. It is easy to push dough outward and leave the center thin. Move a little dough back where needed so you have an even layer.

Look across the base from the side of the dish as you work. A mound in the middle or a thick band around the edge is easier to see from that angle. Spread those areas out before bringing the dough up the sides. The shell should be supported by the dish all the way across.

Almond flour does not make an elastic sheet of dough. Give it time to join under your fingers instead of trying to stretch a thin piece over a gap. Press small areas together and check that the bottom is covered before moving on. An even shell gives the filling a more consistent base.

4. Bring The Dough Halfway Up The Sides

Press the remaining dough halfway up the sides of the dish. Join it to the base so there is no open gap around the bottom edge. Keep the thickness as even as you can.

If a small crack opens while you press, bring the edges together with a little of the same dough. You do not need a separate flour paste or an extra spoonful of water to patch a small bare spot.

5. Keep The Shell Unbaked Until Filling

The prepared shell is ready for a quiche that bakes in an unbaked crust. Add that recipe’s filling and follow its oven method. This preparation does not include a separate crust-only baking time.

Leave the shell in its pie dish while you prepare the filling. Once filled, it can go into the oven for the quiche’s baking step. The egg and almond mixture will bake together with the filling.

Where This Fits On Full GAPS

This is a Full GAPS preparation after almonds and egg are introduced. The 2020 book explains that baking with properly prepared nuts can be introduced after diarrhea and abdominal pain have settled. The complete quiche still needs to fit the foods you have introduced, including anything added to its filling.

Coconut oil keeps this shell dairy-free. You can also use two tablespoons tallow, homemade butter or homemade ghee. Butter and ghee are dairy-derived choices, so keep using coconut oil or tallow when you need to avoid dairy.

The shell contains both almonds and an egg. Leaving either one out changes how the mixture holds together. It also contains plant ingredients, so it is not a No-Plant GAPS preparation.

A savory quiche can fit into a Full GAPS breakfast or lunch once all its foods are introduced. The crust alone does not determine the stage of the finished meal. Check the filling’s ingredients alongside the shell, especially when you are introducing foods one at a time.

Make-Ahead Preparation And Storage

Allow about five minutes for mixing and pressing once the ingredients and equipment are ready. This is a preparation estimate. For the simplest sequence, form the shell when you are ready to make the filling. Keep the filling ingredients prepared nearby so the dish can move from assembly to baking without a long wait on the counter.

If you need to pause, cover the unbaked shell and refrigerate it promptly at 40°F or below. It contains raw egg. Keep it chilled while you finish the other meal preparation, and bake it with a suitable filling rather than serving it as an uncooked crust.

Once you have filled and baked the quiche, use that finished recipe’s cooling, storage and reheating instructions. An empty shell and a cooked egg-and-vegetable quiche are at different points in the preparation.

My planned Lunch Cookbook will bring more Full GAPS meal ideas together. You can follow the WFLI cookbook catalog for its release. Keeping the small preparations alongside the meals that use them is the part I want to make easier.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I Need To Roll Out The Dough?

No. Press it directly into the pie dish, across the bottom and halfway up the sides. You do not need a rolling pin for this method.

Do I Bake The Empty Shell First?

This shell is used unbaked, then baked with its quiche filling. There is no separate blind-bake step in this preparation. Follow a filling recipe that uses an unbaked shell.

Can I Use Rosemary Instead Of Basil?

Yes. Use one teaspoon dried rosemary instead of the one teaspoon dried basil. Keep the remaining ingredients the same.

How Do I Make Two Shells?

Use four cups almond flour, four tablespoons coconut oil, two eggs, two teaspoons dried basil and one teaspoon salt. Press the dough into two suitable pie dishes. Work within the processor’s capacity, mixing in batches if needed.

Recommended Equipment

Use the Ninja BN801 food-processor configuration, an oven-safe pie dish, measuring cups and spoons, and a utensil for transferring the dough after the machine has stopped. Glass or enameled cookware suits the baking work. The shell stays in its dish for filling and baking.

More Full GAPS Breakfasts

Use this unbaked shell for the leek quiche with homemade coconut milk. The filling has six eggs, clean leek and green-onion rounds, and a fifteen-minute rest after baking before you cut the quiche.

If you would prefer a quiche without a nut-flour shell, the zucchini, kale and garlic crustless quiche uses its own filling and baking method. Follow that separate recipe when a crustless breakfast suits your meal plan.