How the Piecrust Crumbles
The “foolproof pie dough” looked so promising…. And, except for sticking to the rolling pin every chance it got, it even rolled out fairly easily . . .
… Until I tried to get it off the counter. It stuck so very badly I had to use my fingers to gather it back into a ball and STILL couldn’t get it all off. (Making this one of those times to be grateful for my bench-scraper.)
So, I resorted to my old “dump it in the middle of the pie plate and mold it into shape with my fingers, hoping for the best and that it won’t stick too badly to the actual pie plate when it bakes so that we can get the pieces out to eat them later” trick. So, here you see the finger-pressed pie crust, with the lower layer of cranberry filling and the upper layer of apples waiting. Just in time, I remembered my aversion to the texture of whole cranberries–something about chewing on cranberry skins makes my teeth itch–so I ran the pre-cooked cranberry mixture through my little mini-food processor first, making it smooth. Because, darn it, after all this work I want to be able to EAT this pie!
The upper crust did cooperate at least a little more than the bottom one did. It only really stuck right in the middle . . . and, well, you need steam vents, right?
Let’s fold our hands and pray… (I do so love when he sits with his paws folded like that.)
Later….
Well, it looks promising, except for the overflow from the completely-unsealed crusts. (I mean, really, I was just happy they reached the edge at all.)
Mouth-watering, even.
For a wonder, it came out of the pie plate relatively easily.
The apple and cranberry layers are mostly intact. The crumb, or texture, of the crust wasn’t perfect–almost cookie-ish, rather than light and flaky–but all things considered, I don’t know that I can really complain about that (grin).
Dad definitely liked it, but Mom made some pretty impressive faces . . . apparently there wasn’t quite enough sugar in there to counteract the tart cranberry for her taste. I thought it was pretty good, although for my taste the apples were a little over-cooked. I like my apples to have a little bite to them, not to be mushy, so I think the pre-cooked apple filling was unnecessary (though that’s just me).
My assistant was certainly eager for a taste.
All in all, mostly successful, even if the pie crust STILL didn’t choose to cooperate with me. One of the most labor-intensive pies I’ve ever made, though, and I don’t see how you could follow the instructions and get the whole thing done in one day, either. Make the crust, then chill at least 45 minutes. Make the cranberry and apple fillings, cool them to room temperature. Roll out the bottom crust then chill again for 30 minutes. Assemble the pie, bake at 425 for 20-25 minutes, then lower temperature to 375 for another 20-25 minutes, turn the pie and bake another 20-25 minutes. Cool the entire pie for at least two hours before serving. You’re talking about five hours from beginning to end . . . and that’s assuming you don’t like your pies cold like we do. I got this pie out of the oven at about 11:45 this morning and it was still warm when I put it in the refrigerator around 3:00.
All of which, I might add, I spelled out at the table while we were eating this because I didn’t want Dad getting too attached to this recipe. It came out tasty, it did, but it’s not the kind of pie you just throw together, you know?
Especially if you’ve got pie-crust issues like I have . . . Once again, there are just so many reasons to be thankful to Pillsbury!
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Tannenbaum.
House Calls
Pie crust is definitely a skill. One I don’t have. I know a lady who (I thought) made great pie crust. Turned out she made the fillings, her husband made the crust! And it was wonderful crust. He’s gone now…so sad…
Now I’m hungry….
Hey, what you made is a rustic-style pie. There are people who deliberately go to a lot of effort to get their pies to look just like yours did.
Sounds like it was tasty. But this is why I usually stick to making apple crisp rather than pies. Gotta go pull one out of the oven now.
I made these this weekend…to die for! Check out the recipe site. Everything I have ever made from here has been yummy.
http://www.clabbergirl.com/ChefEddie/index.php
Your pie adventures have inspired me to try again. I make the toughest crust out there! lol like cardboard. heh Maybe I should take the pie-making class at my local high school’s adult ed program. Keep at it! You’ll get there I’m sure. It is a skill like breadmaking or cookies!
I’ll be glad to finish that up for you, ahem, I mean, just in case it was too tart for you or something, ahem.
seriously, it looks wonderful.
and I personally use Krusteaz every chance I get – somes out perfect every time!
So I haven’t been by in a couple days… will have to look for that uninspiring book, just to peek. I loved her cable book. I found similar w/ Alice Starmore’s books-loved some of the cabley ones, not so much the celtic knits (color work not texture). Here, http://knitnzu.com/?p=27, is a pie crust I’ve been making. Not quite as flaky as the traditional, but very easy to work and tasty too. The trick for the traditional? ICE cold water (I put cubes in the water and put the bowl in the freezer until it gets a skim of ice). And I usually roll it between wax paper sheets. Helps move it around.
Cakes are my Waterloo – pie crust I can do. Naturally, DH loves many cakes, only one kind of pie. Sigh.
Lemme see… the two biggests secrets to flaky pie crust are (1) lard that is (2) NOT uniformly incorporated with the flour before the ice cold liquid is added. There should be faint streaks in the dough when it is rolled out. Cutting in with a fork or one of those wire pie crust gadgets gives better results than a food processor. Using a mixer generally causes crumb to develop (OK if you like a short crust). Pat the dough into a thick flat disc rather than a ball before chilling. Re-flour the rolling pin and the board frequently, and give the dough a quarter turn every few passes. Rolling out with powdered sugar rather than flour keeps the dough very tender, but makes it sweet (works with cookies, too). Pre-baking the crust with weights (I use beans) before filling helps.
Hang in there with the rolling pin – patting the dough into the pie plate pretty much *guarantees* a short crust!
The latest issue of Cook’s Illustrated did some testing (because pie crust is so hard to count on) and determined that a shot of vodka in with the water helps keep glutens from forming but keeps the pastry flaky.
I didn’t have any vodka on hand so I didn’t get to try this last week.
Big mistake…
Maybe I should add that the alcohol evaporates during baking so there is no vodka taste.
It looks good! How funny, I don’t cook at all, and I would have a hard time putting a full meal together, but a perfect pie crust is sometihng I’ve never had trouble with. My grandmother taught me how to make one when I was about ten, and every pie I’ve made since has been perfect. It’s the one thing I can do!
I WAS eyeing that piecrust until I read your post.
I always roll my dough out on floured wax paper (that way you just pick up the paper & don’t have to worry about getting the crust off of the counter). It helps me to center the crust in the pan too.
Funny, DH and I were having a discussion about pie crusts this weekend. I said, “Thank goodness for Marie Callender” though of course her pie crusts don’t include top crusts. But they are our favorite. DH said he wanted to work on his pie crust skills this winter so I told him he can make the crusts for the pies I want to make
The pie ended up looking really tasty! I have this round plastic zipper thingy for rolling out pie crust. No more sticking to the counter or rolling pin, flour all over the place, etc. You put a dusting of flour in the round thingy (yes, that’s a technical term), center your ball of dough, zip it up, and roll it out. Then you unzip and fold the nice crust over your pie plate. I should get one for you.
Greetings from another failure at making pie crust.
I’ve tried so many recipes but have never had decent crust. If it tastes good, it looks horrid. If it looks good, it tastes horrid.
I did learn some tricks recently however, watching a show on the food network about some pie competition. Roll your dough between two layers of saran wrap. I did this with my most recent apple pie and it worked very VERY well. What did kill the last pie was the the recipe didn’t seem to be enough crust to cover the bottom and top of my pie plate without rolling it much too thin.
Anyway.. I guess that skill just comes with practice. And I’ll keep practicing!
You know when it comes to pie, I don’t think it matters what the pie looks like, its all in how it tastes! And that looksl ikei t tastes fabulous. In fact, in general I have found that the ugliest pies make the tastiest pies. (not that your pie was ugly, this is just a thing I have always found to be so – my mom makes a really homely pie)