Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Pie for Dummies



When I say "dummies", I refer to the clueless, the culinarily challenged, the how-do-you-boil-water variety of chef. Which would have described me until fairly recently-- but the last few years have seen my cooking skills improve through practice, mostly because we now have a kitchen with some counter space. Remember the expression "easy as pie"? Here's how to make one, and don't be intimidated-it's supposed to be fun. AND easy. Plus, how bad can it possibly come out, it's fruit and sugar for goodness' sake.

1. See "pie crust for dummies", below.

2.Preheat your oven to 450 degrees, then butter a nine-inch pie plate.


3. Divide the dough into two roughly equal pieces, the slightly larger piece for the bottom. Squish down the ball a bit until it's flattened, then roll out your crust. Now, if you want to "cheat," here's a handy tip: I find handling the crust to be somewhat unwieldy, especially on a humid day, so the way around that is to roll it in between two sheets of waxed paper, then peel one back and use the remaining sheet to pick the crust up and deliver it to the pie plate.

4. Wash and pick over your fruit; for most berry pies you will need around six cups for a deep dish pie, four cups for a regular. Add in your sugar, usually around a cup depending on your sweet tooth, and then add your thickener: I recommend quick-cooking tapioca, this will keep the pie from being soupy when cooked. The tapioca container will give proportions for various fillings, usually somewhere around 1/4 cup is about right. For blueberry pie use a little lemon juice and a dash of cinnamon, for cherry-rhubarb use a little amaretto or almond extract, for peach pie use some vanilla. Play with the fillings, experiment, and have some fun, you may make a wonderful discovery (I discovered cherry-rhubarb and peach-raspberry, for example, and can't begin to tell you how amazing those combinations are!) Let the filling sit with the sugar and tapioca mixture for fifteen minutes before spooning it into your pie dish, this allows the tapioca to thicken properly. Dot the fruit with butter for a rich finish.

5. Roll out the remaining dough and cut it into long strips around 3/4" wide, placing them in a crisscross pattern on the top of the pie. Don't worry about getting it geometrically perfect, you can hide any mistakes with cookie-cuttered dough shapes as decorations. I often use star or flower shapes, or sometimes free-formed leaves and branches. When you have the top ready, use a chopstick or fork to flute the edges, then brush the surface with a little cream and sprinkle it with sugar. Put the pie plate on a cookie sheet to prevent the oven from getting all gunky if the filling spills over.

6. Place the pie in the middle rack for 10 minutes, after which you will turn down the oven to 350.

7. Tear several strips of tinfoil around three inches wide and pleat them together to form a circle; this you will place around the edges of the pie crust to keep the edges from scorching. Add this at around your ten-minute mark and the edges will still have a nice brown to them but won't burn.

8. Let the pie continue to cook at 350 degrees for around 45 more minutes, checking it occasionally, until it is lightly browned on the surface and smells irresistible. Remove the pie from the oven and let it cool.

9. Eat the pie.
10. Repeat.




Pie Crust for Dummies.





Don't bother with those frozen pie crusts---they aren't terrible, but this pie crust is really almost as easy as a pre-made one. I used them for years but then found this recipe was nearly foolproof.

Sift: 2 and 1/2 cups of unbleached all-purpose flour with 1/2 teaspoon salt and around 2 teaspoons of sugar (more to taste). Now, as far as shortening goes, it's a matter of taste. Butter will give you the best flavor, but some people insist that vegetable shortening gives a flakier crust, and others claim that half butter and half shortening is ideal. Sigh. Do whatever you want. But anyway, take a half-cup (that would be two sticks of butter) and cut it into the flour mixture with a pastry cutter or a fork. Work it in until the texture resembles little peas, and then add in a bunch of ice cold heavy cream, starting with around 1/4 cup. working it into the dough with your hands. Slowly add more cream if necessary, until the dough holds together nicely---don't make it too gooey, a dryer dough is easier to handle. Form the dough into a ball, wrap it in a tea towel, and chill for at least 20 minutes.