It's the Simple Things in Life That Matter — Perfect Piecrust

Another rerun - from 2004.

Yes, you heard me ... pie crust. Its always a touchy subject among cooks and I can't blame anyone for using the pre-made ones in the red box (Pillsbury?). I have to admit they really are the best commercial alternative to homemade.

However, this recipe is the easiest and most foolproof I've ever found. Once when Rose was making it, she accidentally added an extra 1/4 cup of water and wound up with something like a thick batter. We improvised by sprinkling extra flour in until it looked right and ... voila! A delicious, flaky pie crust with no problem. Now that's hard to beat.

It is from The Man Who Ate Everything by Jeffry Steingarten. Marion Cunningham, baker extraordinaire, made about a zillion pie crusts while detailing every step along the way so Steingarten could get it just right. The beauty of it is that this makes a lot more dough than you need so you don't have to worry about scrimping to get the crust just perfect when rolling it out.

It looks intimidating but that's because it details every step needed. It's always been perfect from the first time pie to the most recent.

PERFECT PIECRUST

Step 1:
3 cups flour (scoop with 1-cup measure, press it very lightly into the cup and level off excess with side of hand)
2 teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1-1/2 cups shortening (Crisco, butter, or a combination)

In a large bowl mix flour, sugar, and salt with fingers. Drop shortening onto flour in bowl. Toss with flour, then break up into about 12 nuggets, tossing gently to coat and arrange on flour in a rough circle. Rub fat into flour in two stages.

Step 2:
First, scoop fingers of both hands down along the sides and bottom of bowl under flour and lift them several inches above rim of bowl with a pile of flour and one large chunk of fat in each. Lightly rub thumbs back and forth across fingertips, about three times, in order to break up into pieces the size of small olives while coating with flour. Do not press down hard with thumbs; do not flatten fat. Roll it between fingertips. Let flour and fat fall back into bowl. Repeat five times, until all large nuggets are broken up.

Step 3:
In second stage, continue scooping up flour and fat from bottom of bowl, sweeping thumbs only once and only in one direction, from little finger to index finger. Smallest pieces will slip between fingers and largest pieces will tumble over index finger. Repeat 20-25 times. Particles of flour-coated fat will range in size from coarse meal to peas to small olives. It is important that particles range widely in size. A little flour may remain uncoated.

Step 4:
3/4 cup very cold water
1 tablespoon cold milk for brushing the pie
1 tablespoon sugar for sprinkling crust

Add 1/2 cup of cold water, sprinkling evenly over the surface. Immediately stir water into flour with fork, held vertically, starting at sides of bowl, then stirring in smaller and smaller circles toward center, making sure that the points of the fork sweep the bottom of the bowl. Motions should be light. After a few stirs, all the flour should be moistened and dough gathered into small clumps. If there are too many loose, dry crumbs, add a tablespoon or two of water and stir again. Do not overmix.

Step 5:
Gather all dough by pressing it together firmly against one side of the bowl. Break off about half, shape into a bowl with cool fingertips, and flatten it on the counter into a disk about an inch high. Repeat with other half of dough.

Step 6:
Grease a 9" pie plate with a tablespoon of shortening. Both crusts may be immediately rolled out or wrap each disk in plastic and refrigerate for 15-20 minutes. If refrigerated, dough will require 5-10 minutes at room temperature before becoming malleable; it should not break at edges when you roll it out. It must be refrigerated if dough contains butter.

Step 7:
To roll: On a well-floured surface roll the larger of the two disks into a rough 13" circle, 1/8" thick. Use a light touch, rolling from the center to the far edge, being careful to life to pin before flattening the far edge. Roll toward you in the same manner. Turn the dough an eighth or a quarter of the way round and roll again. Do not compress downward but stretch outward. Fold the circle gently into quarters in place in pan, placing the point of dough at the center. Unfold and trim. Cover with plastic wrap. Repeat with other disk. Unless kitchen is cool and dough is firm, cover with more plastic wrap and refrigerate for 10-15 minutes.

Step 8:
Prepare filling, fill, and when pie is sealed brush with milk and sprinkle with sugar. Set on cookie sheet and bake as per filling dictates. For a fruit pie, bake at 450° for 25-40 minutes until darkest spots on crust are very dark brown. Reduce heat to 375° and continue baking until it has been in the oven for a total of about 1 hour.

Classic Chess Pie

This is from Pie Academy by Ken Haedrich. It's a great book because he's got so many solid recipes and interesting flavor combinations. We bought it for ourselves after testing out a number of recipes.

However, you've got to keep an eye on him. For example, his basic streusel is surprisingly tasteless. His fruit pies are made with frozen fruit (which has worked out great) but you've got to keep an eye on the cooking times. For example, we have found that we need to let the fruit fully thaw to get good results, as opposed to Haedrich's "partially thaw" instructions. So if you go in ready to be flexible and adapt occasionally, it's good. 

I trust Haedrich enough that I made this pie for the first time for my book club. It has a lovely lemony flavor and several people had two pieces. Naturally they wanted the recipe. So here it is, paraphrased by me.

CLASSIC CHESS PIE
8-10 servings 

Pie crust dough for a single-crust pie (I used a half recipe of easy Perfect Piecrust) 

Filling

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1-1/2 cups sugar
3 tablespoons flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
4 large eggs, at room temperature
1/3 cup lemon juice
Grated zest of 1 lemon

Prepare pie dough. Roll into a 13-inch circle and line a 9- to 9-1/2-inch deep pie pan with it, fluting the edge. (My pie didn't need a deep dish pan. Next time I'm going to try my 9" regular pan.)

Partially prebake — Preheat oven to 375°. tear off a sheet of standard aluminum foil about 16 inches long. Prick the bottom of the shell with a fork in a lot of places. Press down on pie shell so it fits like a glove. (Haedrich then has you use beans to weight the foil. His technique is here. Having read somewhere long ago that you just need to be sure the foil is pressed really hard against the crust, that is what I did and it worked out fine.)

Preheat oven to 350°. Cream butter in a large bowl with an electric mixer, gradually adding sugar about 1/4 cup at a time. Beat in the flour and salt; the mixture will be quite grainy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, beating well on medium speed after each addition. Blend in the lemon juice and zest on low speed. (The filling may look curdled. That's ok.) Place the pie shell on a baking sheet, near the oven, and carefully pour the filling into the shell, smoothing the top with a spoon.

Bake the pie, on the sheet, on the center oven rack for about 46 minutes. The pie is done when the filling is just set and no longer soupy in the middle. Give it a little nudge to check.

Transfer the pie to a rack and cool to room temperature. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours before serving. Refrigerate leftovers, covered with tented aluminum foil.

The Amazing Chocolate Pie

For my birthday, I had a hankering for chocolate pie. Specifically, I was curious about the technique mentioned in the most recent Cooking Light which combines some melted chocolate with the chocolate crumbs for the crust.

Rose volunteered to make the pie and was astonished by how easily it went together. She and a friend had a little pie business during their freshman year of college and Rose made many a chocolate pie during that time. She says that she never had a pie recipe work so well or be so quick as this.

This was an amazing pie. A deep, rich chocolate flavor; perfect texture with no lumps; just firm enough. Truly a superior dessert experience.

We did take two liberties with the recipe. We had whole milk and so used that instead of 1% milk. And we used real whipped cream instead of fat-free Cool Whip. Also, I didn't have any raspberries. They would have looked pretty but they weren't missed.

Cooking Light named this Rich Chocolate Pudding Pie. We call it ...

The Amazing Chocolate Pie

YIELD: 10 servings (serving size: 1 pie slice, about 1 tablespoon berries, and 1 tablespoon whipped topping)
HANDS-ON: 20 MINUTES
TOTAL: 4 HOURS, 45 MINUTES

Ingredients

CRUST
30 chocolate wafers (such as Nabisco's Famous Chocolate Wafers)
3 ounces bittersweet chocolate, melted
1 tablespoon canola oil

FILLING
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 3/4 cups 1% low-fat milk, divided (we used whole milk)
2 large egg yolks
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
1 tablespoon white rum
1/2 cup fresh raspberries
10 tablespoon fat-free frozen whipped topping, thawed (we used whipped cream*)

Preparation
1. To prepare crust, place wafers in a food processor; process until finely ground. Add 3 ounces melted chocolate and oil; process until blended. Press into bottom and up sides of a 9-inch pie plate. Freeze the 15 minutes or until set.

2. To prepare the filling, combine sugar, cornstarch, cocoa, and salt in a large saucepan; stir with a whisk. Add half of milk and 2 yolks; stir with a whisk until smooth. Stir in the remaining milk. Cook over medium heat for 5 minutes or until thick and bubbly, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Add 4 ounces chocolate, and stir until smooth. Stir in rum. Pour filling into prepared crust. Cover with plastic wrap; chill 4 hours or until set. Serve with raspberries and whipped topping.

* To whip cream, we poured about a cup of heavy cream into a bowl, sprinkled in a spoonful or so of powdered sugar, picked up a whisk and whisked it all together briskly until the cream held its shape. Easy as ... wait for it ... pie!

Tartes aux Fraises (Fresh Strawberry Tarts)

This is what I made for my birthday ... yes, waaaay back in May. I began typing in the recipe waaay back then also, but you can see that I got sidetracked and never got back to it until now. (That's a heckuva sidetrack!)

At any rate, this was a staple of my teenage years at home each spring, once my parents got the Time-Life Foods of the World: The Cooking of Provincial France.

It is not difficult at all and can be done in steps.

I make a 10" shell with 2" inch sides, using a spring-form pan since I don't have a tart pan.

Also, I have added the step of beating up an egg white and lightly brushing the inside of the shell with it, letting it sit in the fridge for 30 minutes, and then baking. That greatly helps to preventing the custard from softening the shell if on assembles it ahead of time as I am wont to do.

Tartes aux Fraises
(Fresh Strawberry Tarts)

To serve 6

6 individual 3- to 4-inch pate brisee tart shells or 9- to 10-inch pate brisee (I use Perfect Piecrust for this)

1 egg plus 1 extra egg yolk
1/4 cup sugar
3 tablespoons flour
pinch of salt
1 envelope unflavored gelatin
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup hot milk
1 cup heavy cream

Preheat the oven to 400 and bake the pastry shells (or shell) as described in the recipe (linked above), adding another 7 to 10 minutes to the final baking to brown the shell lightly and cook it fully. Unmold the shells (or shell) and slip it onto wire cake rack to cool.

In a heavy 2- to 3- quart saucepan -- off the heat -- beat the egg, the extra egg yolk and the sugar with a wire whisk, rotary or electric beater until the mixture thickens and turns a pale yellow. add the flour and salt, and beat until well blended.

Beat in the powdered gelatin and vanilla; then slowly pour in the hot milk in a thin stream, beating constantly.

Cook over moderate heat, stirring with a whisk, until smooth and thick. Do not allow the custard to boil; it if seems to begetting too hot, life the pan off the heat a few seconds to cool it. If the custard gets lumpy, beat it with a whisk or rotary beater until smooth. pour the custard into a large mixing bowl and place it in the refrigerator to cool.

When the custard is cold and has begun to solidify slightly, whip the cream until it holds soft peaks. fold it thoroughly into the custard with a rubber spatula and beat gently if there are any lumps. At once, pour or spoon the custard into the pastry shells (even if finishing later!).

Currant Glaze
1 cup red currant jelly
1 tablespoon hot water
1 tablespoon kirsch

1 to 1-1/2 quarts large ripe strawberries, cleaned and stemmed
Powdered sugar

Make the glaze: in a small saucepan, warm the red currant jelly and water over low heat, stirring occasionally, until they begin to froth and thicken. Remove the saucepan from the heat, stir in the kirsch and let the glaze cool a bit.

(My note: I always have a problem with this glaze as it seems to slightly liquify the custard ... I may try this in the future with no water. The other answer is to have it only on the berries, which is a difficult proposition but may be possible with care.)

Meanwhile, arrange the strawberries on the custard, stem side down -- and in concentric circles if the tart is a large one -- until the top of each tart is completely covered with berries. Spoon the warm glaze over the berries. Refrigerate the tarts for at least 2 hours or until the custard is firm. Sprinkle them with powdered sugar before serving.

Perfect Pecan Pie

Source

Another one from Cook's Illustrated. Here my tweaking substitutes Lyle's Golden Syrup (thanks to a tip from John Thorne) if you have it around. If you don't it is no problem but somehow it adds a certain depth ... at least that's what Hannah and I think (being the pecan pie afficianados that we are).

This might be another one that takes longer than the recipe says to bake ... when you make them once a year you forget.

Step 1:
6 tablespoons melted butter
1 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
Heat oven to 325°. Mix butter, sugar and salt with wooden spoon until butter is absorbed.

Step 2:
3 large eggs
3/4 cup light corn syrup or Lyle’s Golden Syrup
1 tablespoon vanilla
2 cups pecans, toasted and chopped
Beat in eggs, then corn syrup and vanilla. Stir in pecans.

Step 3:
One 9” baked pie shell, brushed with beaten egg white and let sit in fridge until dry (approximately 30 minutes) before it was baked (this helps keep it crisp later ... skip the egg white if you don't care about that)
Pour mixture into pie shell; bake until center feels set yet soft, like gelatin, when gently pressed, 40-45 minutes. Cool completely on rack, at least 4 hours. Serve at room temperature or warm.

Perfect Pumpkin Pie

Originally from Cook's Illustrated, I tweaked this by eliminating the step where they had you heat the canned pumpkin in a saucepan for a while to get rid of that "canned taste." Never could tell the difference so why do it?

It seems to me that this pie always takes longer to bake than the directions say (but I don't have my notes here at the moment) so if it does just keep on going until it matches the description they give.

Step 1:
2 cups (16 ounces) pumpkin puree
1 cup packed dark brown sugar
2 teaspoons ground ginger
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup heavy cream
2/3 cup milk
4 large eggs
Mix all filling ingredients and pour into pie shell. (Ladle any excess filling into pie after it has baked for 5 minutes or so — filling will have settled.)

Step 2:
Unbaked 9” pie shell, brushed with beaten egg white and let sit in fridge until dry (approximately 30 minutes ... this helps keep it crisp later ... skip the egg white if you don't care about that)
Bake at 400° until filling is puffed, dry-looking, and lightly cracked around edges and center wiggles like gelatin when pie is gently shaken, about 25 minutes. Cool on a wire rack for at least 1 hour.

Three-Crust Blueberry Pie

Cipâte aux Bleuets (Quebec)

This recipe is from the Time Life Foods of the World series, American Cooking: New England. If you see any of these cookbooks in used bookstores be sure to grab them. They are incomparable for both describing American food or food from around the world as well as the cultures they all derive from.

This is the blueberry pie that my family made every summer. Nothing could be simpler or more delicious. I did take a couple of liberties in adding a bit of flour to the blueberries. I like juice but this slightly thickens it. Also, I baked the pie at the recommended temperatures from the piecrust recipe.

To make one 9-inch pie

1 tablespoon butter
Pastry for a double-crust pie (use this recipe for Perfect Piecrust. It's the easiest ever and makes a ton of dough.)

6 cups fresh ripe blueberries, washed, picked over and dried between two layers of paper towels
1-1/2 to 2 cups sugar
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
flour

Preheat the oven to 450°. Spread the butter over the pie tin. According to the instructions in the pastry recipe, roll out the pastry to make the bottom layer, top layer and, using the scraps, a middle layer of crust that measures 8" (I rolled it out and then used an 8" cake pan to cut around).

Put the bottom layer of pastry in the pie tin. Mix the blueberry ingredients gently together in a large bowl until well combined. Taste the berries to see if you need the extra half-cup of sugar or not. I always put a spoonful or two of flour in with the berries to slightly thicken the juices. Put half the berries in the pie tin.

Lie the middle layer of pastry over the berries and then cover with the remaining berries and top layer of pie crust. Trim pastry edges and crimp together firmly. Cut a 1 inch hole in the middle of the top crust. I cut a cross in the middle and turned the edges back. It was a little prettier that way.

Bake in the middle of the oven for 25 minutes, then reduce oven temperature to 375° and continue baking for 35 minutes (total baking time will be 1 hour). This is a very juicy pie and I always put a couple of pieces of foil on the oven rack below the pie. Otherwise you will have a lot of burned sugary juices on the bottom of your oven ... a horrible mess.

Serve warm (although this is good for breakfast too!). the center crust, which will steam as the pie bakes, will have a dumplinglike texture and absorb some of the berry juice.