TIPS ON PREPARATION, ASSEMBLY & BAKING

I read somewhere that the average pioneer woman baked as many as twenty-one pies per week: one pie for each meal of the day. Imagine an entire day where you are encouraged, nay, expected to eat three slices of pie! These days, it would be unthinkable to make and consume dessert on that level, but I gotta say, I have mad respect for those pioneer women and their dedication to pie.

One criticism of American-style pies is that they are too sweet. Paul Hollywood famously told one contestant on the Great British Bake Off, “to make a good American pie you almost have to make it British.” In other words, not sweet.

The turning point for American pies was around the early 1800s when US mainland sugar refineries were established. With greater access to cheap sugar and a bounty of fruit, home cooks went wild for sweets. Homemade jams, jellies, preserves, and fruit pies became the new American hallmark. We got on that sugar wagon and it seems we never got off!

In the United Kingdom, a pie has a top and bottom crust that is packed full of fish, meat, poultry, or game. Fruit and custard desserts are tarts; they are lightly sweetened, have a single crust, and tend to be shallower and thinner than a pie crust. How and why early Americans rejected these distinctions between pie and tart, I cannot say. Whatever you call them, all pies and tarts have five things in common: flour, fat, liquid, salt, and delicious fillings.

2 types of dough

Any pie lover will tell you their favorite thing about pie is the crust. It’s not merely a vessel to deliver fillings, it’s the main event. If you don’t believe me, bring one of those mass-produced, chain grocery store pies to your next Friendsgiving and see who comments on how delicious the crust is…no one, that’s who.

There are two main types of pie dough, flaky and mealy, and the critical difference between them is fat. The more fat is blended with flour, the shorter the crust, and that is because flour coated in butter cannot develop gluten as much as the flour that is only partially coated in butter.

Both doughs have their merits and deciding between them should not be done with a coin toss. The crust should complement your filling in form and function.

For more on gluten development, check out my post on Quick Breads.

mixing: pastry method

Pies are mixed using the pastry method. Similar to the sanding method for cookies and the biscuit method for quick breads, its two main steps are: rubbing fat into flour and carefully mixing in liquids to keep gluten development low.

In my opinion, the best way to understand the pastry method is to do it by hand. This video shows the pastry method done with a bowl scraper. When done by hand, the whole mixing process will be about 5 – 7 minutes.

MEALY PIE DOUGH: HAND MIXING

Mixing pie dough by hand might seem laborious, but I promise you, it’s so satisfying! It’s the best way to maintain control over your dough structure, particularly when you are aiming for flaky pie dough. But if you are pressed for time, or if you are making pie on a very hot day and time is of the essence, using a food processor will shave a few minutes off the cutting-in process.

FLAKY PIE DOUGH: MACHINE MIXING

Pie dough must be chilled before it can be rolled out. The standard for resting dough in the refrigerator is four or more hours. There are two reasons for this long rest: the fat hardens, which will help the crust keep its structure while it bakes, and the gluten relaxes, which prevents toughness. When I am in a rush, I will chill my dough in the freezer for 15 minutes; then put it in the refrigerator for another 30 – 45 minutes. Whatever you do, pay attention to your dough and use your best judgment. I believe in you.

rolling out the dough

Rolling out pie dough tends to be the most intimidating part of pie making, which is likely why so many folks opt for a store-bought pie shell. We get it in our heads that it should be easy, but the first time you go to roll out chilled dough can be harrowing. You start to doubt yourself when it begins to crack around the edges. Then when it looks more like a rectangle than a circle, you’re ready to give up. I get it; I really do.

I’m not great at rolling pie dough into a perfect circle, and I’m not afraid to own up to that fact. I’ll get there one day, maybe when I am on my 1000th pie. For now, I am content to trim the dough down to fit my pie pan. As long as the rolled-out dough is larger than my pie pan and about 1/8^th of an inch thick, I’m happy.

This video shows the rolling out process using my 3-2-1 Pie Dough.

An easy way to trim pie dough is to lay the pan in the center of the dough and trim off all but 1.5 – 2″ around the entire circumference. This will help you to visualize the size according to the pan you are using.

panning and shaping the dough

There are two ways to transfer your dough to the pie pan. Some like to roll the dough onto the rolling pin and gently unroll it over the pan. I prefer to fold my dough in quarters. I fold it in half, then in half again and aim the pointed end into the center of the pan and unfold it, and Bob’s your uncle!

baking the crust

Due to the heavy fat ratio in pie dough, it’s always good practice to chill the crust before baking. Doing so will firm up the butter, which produces steam and thus flakiness while baking. I like to put the pie crust into the freezer for at least twenty minutes before baking, but you can also chill it in the fridge if you have more time.

When par-baking a crust, I like to cover it in foil to preserve my fancy work around the outer edge. Next, I fill the center with dried beans or metal pie weights and put it into a very hot oven for twenty-five minutes. If I plan to use the crust for a cream pie, I will lift the foil around the edge and continue to bake for another five minutes. This gives the crust a nice golden color.

dessert pie: 4 TYPES OF FILLING

You’ve probably already deduced that the second most important aspect of a pie is the filling. The four most common fillings are fruit, custard, cream, and chiffon.

1. FRUIT

When I was a kid, making an apple pie amounted to rolling out two discs of dough and jamming them full of sliced apples, spices, cornstarch, sugar, and a few dollops of butter. Once baked, the apples were tender and sweet, but a slice of it typically collapsed on your plate. This way of making an apple pie is called the old-fashioned method. It’s less fussy, but the resulting pie tends to look a bit like the dog’s breakfast, in my opinion.

The cooked juice and cooked fruit methods, on the other hand, are the two most reliable ways to prepare a fruit filling. As the names imply, fruit or juice is cooked prior to being added to the pie shell. Choosing between these two methods is easy, just start with the fruit you want to use.

TYPE OF FRUIT	COOKED JUICE METHOD	COOKED FRUIT METHOD
CANNED FRUIT	YES	NO
FROZEN BERRIES	YES	NO
FRESH BERRIES	YES	YES
DRIED FRUIT	NO	YES
FRESH FRUIT	NO	YES

Cooked Juice Method – canned fruit, and fresh or frozen berries are put into a colander over a bowl to collect the juices. I find that chopping up the berries and tossing them with a little sugar kickstarts the juicing process. Once the juice is collected, you put it into a pan over low heat, whisk in the sugar and cornstarch then bring the whole thing to a boil. The thickened juice is then mixed with the fruit and other flavorings, and cooled before it goes into the pie to bake. Easy peasy.

Cooked Fruit Method – fresh or dried fruits are placed in a large pot over a low burner along with sugar, cornstarch, zest, and spices. Water is sometimes added, especially when using dried fruit. As the mixture comes to a boil, the fruit softens, and the sauce thickens. It’s important to allow the mixture to cool completely before adding it to the pie shell; I like to spread the mixture on a sheet pan.

2. Custard

These photos show the custard filling for my Sublime Chess Pie

Custard pies are made with uncooked liquid fillings containing egg. The egg acts as the main coagulant, it is what helps the filling to set when it is baked. Additional thickeners, such as cornstarch or flour, are often used in custard fillings, but I prefer to use cornmeal because it also adds to the texture of the pie.

Custard pies should be cooked low and slow, which is why it’s wise to par-bake your crust. To mix, whisk the eggs, egg yolks, sugar, thickener, and other flavorings such as zest, juice, or extract together in a large bowl. Stir in the buttermilk, milk, or heavy cream, then immediately pour the filling into the prepared, cooled shell, and bake for 45 – 60 minutes.

A custard pie should be removed from the oven before the filling is completely set. It may seem counterintuitive, but it’s true. The center of the pie should give a slight jiggle when you tap the side of the pan, it will continue to bake when it’s out of the oven. Place the pie on a wire rack to cool for a minimum of two hours before you slice it. I recommend leaving the house if you are afraid you can’t control yourself.

3. CREAM

OK, prepare yourself. This is the part where you learn that a cream filling is the same as pudding, which is the same as pastry cream. My friends, this is why I love to talk about techniques; so many of them are repeated in other areas of baking. If you can make a cream pie, you’re halfway to making chocolate eclairs!

Cream fillings are fully cooked on the stove using the stirred custard method. Start by heating milk to scalding over a low burner. While the milk is heating, whisk the eggs, egg yolks, sugar, and cornstarch together in a separate bowl. Gradually pour the hot milk into the egg mixture while you whisk the Dickens out of it. This process is called tempering; it is the best method for bringing eggs up to temperature without curdling them.

Once the pastry cream is cooked, immediately transfer it to a shallow pan, or add it to a fully baked and cooled pie shell, then lay a piece of plastic wrap down onto the surface. Allow the pie to cool at room temperature on a wire rack. You may place the whole pie into the fridge for rapid chilling but know that the crust may soften a little. If you need to produce a gorgeous cream pie on a dime, consider chilling the filling separately and adding it to the baked shell just before garnishing and serving.

STIRRED CUSTARD METHOD

This video shows the process for making the filling for my Coconut Cream Pie

4. CHIFFON

Chiffon pies begin as either a fruit pie or a cream pie that has been stabilized by gelatin. Beaten egg whites and sometimes whipped cream are folded in to create a light and fluffy texture.

Timing is everything with a chiffon pie; meringue or whipped cream must be folded in before the gelatin sets. The filling should be transferred to the baked and cooled shell and put into the refrigerator to chill for up to two hours before slicing.

You won’t find any recipes that use gelatin on this blog. I tend to react viscerally when I think about gelatin; it just doesn’t do it for me. I did bake with it in culinary school, but if I had the choice, I would swap it out for agar agar. I’m also not convinced that gelatin is always necessary, mainly when the recipe includes eggs. I made a delicious and very stable tiramisu while in school. I left out the gelatin in my mascarpone cream, and nobody was the wiser!

I don’t want to shortchange anyone on making a chiffon pie, however, Here is a link to a Lemon Chiffon Pie by Melissa Clark that is sure to please.

an ode to pie