Celebrate Pi Day With Our Favorite Pie Tips
Ah, pi day. A day that combines two things that I love in theory, but which I have more problems with than I would like to admit – baking and math. Oddly enough, I started cooking by baking pies to help deal with the stress of college calculus, and obviously one got stuck a little more than the other. (Hint: my life no longer requires calculations.)
Anyway, this eponymous holiday gives us all a reason to bake and eat a pie, and I want to make sure you bake and eat the very best pies, so I’ve compiled a few of my favorite pie tips from over two parts. of the year.
Crust care
By weight, the crust is a very small piece of the pie, but it occupies a rather large wedge in my heart’s pie chart. A good crust is flaky, crispy and complementary to the filling and must be protected at all costs. First, you have to beat it . Softening chilled dough by hand using blunt trauma makes it pliable and soft while keeping it chilled, which means it is less likely to stick to the counter and more likely to bake nice and flaky.
This is followed by blind baking, that is, baking the crust before adding the fruit or custard, and how long you do this depends on the filling . The longer the filling has to be in the oven, the less it will need for blind baking. To parchment remained in place during this step, discard the weighting for pies and weighing it down with sugar – these tiny granules fill every crevice, and this means that there will be swollen spots.
In terms of detail, either an egg wash (for the top), a roll in cookie crumbs (for the bottom), or some cornmeal (right in the dough) can brighten your pie. Since I am from the land of cornmeal, I am especially partial to this very forgiving crust from Dolester Miles .
It would be a shame to go through all this trouble just for your crust to leak out during transport (or sitting on the counter). Prevent this tragedy with the hygroscopic power of Epsom salts , which is a very cheap and very effective desiccant.
Fill it up, buttercup
If I could give you one tip for filling pies with a delicious, creamy, creamy base, I would read A.A. ‘s extremely helpful guide. Newton’s on the subject, which explains how to pour, when to pour, and how to do things. a little easier with an old science oven .
If I could give you more advice – and it turns out I can – I would suggest you add miso to almost every pie (especially a fall bunch), make your own golden syrup, and get inspiration from your favorite cocktail . I also highly recommend that you choose sweet potatoes over pumpkin whenever possible (southern tradition) and try this boiled cider situation (New England treasure). And, if you ever feel overwhelmed, just sit back and make a biscuit . (If that’s too much, make a fried pie and dip it in some really good fruit jam or cottage cheese. How bad can that be?)