Seasons by the Sea: Pie R Squared
I have always wondered why there is the expression “easy as pie.” Pie is not that easy to make! Turns out the expression began as “easy as eating pie.” Now that makes sense. However, I am hoping that this pie column will encourage you to take the leap, perfect a piecrust, make a bunch, and keep them in your freezer so you can whip one up on a whim.
I have a piecrust recipe that I have been using for about 20 years. It comes from the marvelous Mary Schoenlein of Mary’s Marvelous. We had a little pie contest at the Red Horse Market years ago when she was head chef and I was pastry chef. I got all show-offy and rendered my own lard for the crust. It tasted heavy and rancid. Mary’s had the perfect balance between butter and vegetable shortening. Can you guess who won?
Here are the basic guidelines. All-purpose flour is all you need. Butter is essential for flavor but very difficult to work with on its own in a crust. A small bit of shortening will give the crust a nice, light, flaky texture. If you have a problem with shortening perhaps this breakdown of ingredients will ease your mind when ingesting the devil’s fat product. You only need a few tablespoons of shortening per pie. Slice that pie into eight pieces, and you are not consuming very much shortening at all, perhaps a half to one teaspoon. Salt adds flavor, and one or two tablespoons of sugar help the browning of the crust while baking. When it comes to liquids, a few tablespoons of ice water are best. I have seen recipes calling for buttermilk, vinegar, vodka, lemon juice, and more, but water is all you need.
Regarding equipment, I confess that the best, fastest, and easiest way to make crust is in a food processor. The blades do a quick and efficient job of blending the fats and flour without having time to warm up. Lastly, when you roll out your chilled dough, don’t be afraid to use plenty of flour to keep the dough from sticking to your rolling pin and rolling surface. The dough will not absorb much because it is cold. You can brush off excess as you proceed.
Some people suggest you roll dough between two sheets of wax paper or plastic wrap. This is kind of a pain in the behind. Some also suggest folding the dough in quarters, then unfolding it into pan, or laying it over the rolling pin, then unrolling gently into pan. If any of these make you feel more secure in the transfer of dough to pan, then by all means, try these methods. This is all just too much fiddling around for me. Pie dough is delicate, but should be sturdy (and cold) enough that you can pick it up and lay it into the pie pan directly.
When you fill a pie with wet fruit filling, like berries or apples, you should bind the fruit with tapioca, cornstarch, or flour. Tapioca is a favorite for some, but who has that lying around the house? Cornstarch will keep the color of the berries clear, and flour will muddy the color and take longer to thicken, so this is an aesthetic and personal choice. I use flour for apple pies and cornstarch for berry pies. To protect the bottom crust from getting soggy you can also sprinkle some graham crackers on the bottom before filling with fruit. This helps absorb some of the juices and enables the bottom crust to cook evenly.
Regarding pie pans, I like to use glass so I can see how well the sides and bottom are cooking. If you use a dark metal pan, keep in mind that it will absorb most of the radiant heat and conduct it to the crust. Thin metal pans can’t hold much heat, therefore they slow the cooking and produce uneven browning. So invest in a Pyrex glass or heavy-gauge metal pan.
When it comes to apple pie, I’m not a huge fan of cinnamon and nutmeg as additional, traditional ingredients. Try using two kinds of apples, such as Granny Smith and MacIntosh, some lemon juice and lemon zest, and let the apple flavor sing. Same goes for my blueberry pie. I only add a bit of lemon juice, zest, and a few dots of butter before the top crust goes on. Of course, all of these pies have sugar, but this, too, is personal preference and depends on sweetness of fruit.
Some pie recipes call for starting the pie in a pre-heated oven set at 425 degrees, then reducing the temperature after 15 to 20 minutes. If your crust is browning too quickly around the edges, you can wrap some strips of aluminum foil around the periphery until the pie has finished baking. I think baking a pie at 375 for the whole time works just fine, just make sure your oven is accurate and properly preheated.
My friend Eric has been badgering me to teach him how to make a pie. He once had the good fortune to be served Nora Ephron’s Concord grape pie and that’s the one he wanted to learn how to make. After some strenuous research, I have learned that even the great cook and writer Nora Ephron used Pillsbury dough for her pie. She is even quoted in Martin Short’s autobiography telling his children that “no human can make a piecrust as good as Pillsbury.” Well, if you think a crust made with partially hydrogenated lard, potassium sorbate, sodium proprionate, and artificial coloring sounds good, knock yourself out. With all due respect to the late great Ms. Ephron, when Eric gets his pie lesson, it’s gonna be homemade all the way.
Click for recipes