Pie of the week - Week #11

I'm running out of time in the holiday season, so I'm trying to smash in all of the classic and near-classic holiday pie recipes that I can.  To that end, I'll be making a sweet potato pie this week.  I've never eaten, much less made, a sweet potato pie before, so this will be a new experience all the way around.  While it's obviously possible to make a sweet potato pie using canned sweet potatoes, I wouldn't be the glutton for punishment that I claim to be if I did so.  So, I'll be peeling and mashing sweet potatoes this weekend.  

Happy New Year!

Christmas Pies - Week #10

There was a lot of pie making going on for me this week.  As I mentioned in last Wednesday's Next Week's Pie post, my plan was to make two pies for our family holiday get together.  I will admit to feeling some pressure to perform, given the audience (see rule #7).  But, despite the impression that this blog gives, I do have a modicum of pride, so it was not merely fear of my sisters that motivated me.  I also wanted to feel good about what I was serving up to my family during the holidays.

I can affirm that I accomplished the goal of making two pies.  The rest, well... you be the judge.

Pie #1 - Grasshopper

I made the two pies at different times (this one was technically during last week's timeframe, last Friday night, but I thought it was worth writing about anyway).  The Egg Nog pie I made on Saturday morning.

There were a lot of different grasshopper pie recipes, but I eventually settled on this one, using the basic crumb crust found here (the recipe calls for a prepared crust, and we all know rule #7), with an assist from the recipe for the crust of the grasshopper pie here.  Believe me, it sounds more complicated than it is.  If it wasn't simple, someone named Simple Simon couldn't possibly pull it off.  It ain't just a nickname folks, it's a way of life -- Simon the Simpleton would be as accurate.

I was fired up about making the grasshopper pie.  Just the thought of it takes me back to drinking grasshoppers after Christmas dinners at my grandparents' many years ago.  

The recipe seemed simple enough.  If anything, I was a little bit worried about how melting a metric ton of marshmallows would go.  I had made a chocolate crumb crust once before, for the peanut butter cup pie, and so I wasn't too worried about that.  The only real modification that I made was that I stole the idea of incorporating coffee into the crust from third recipe linked above and again here.  I just reduced the amount of butter by one tablespoon and replaced it with a tablespoon of water/instant coffee, which seemed to work out just fine.  I'm not a coffee drinker, and I'm not sure in the end if adding the coffee to the crust was or wasn't a good idea, but I wanted to try it.  Since this entire escapade is about just that, trying it, I did.

The Lesson Learned?

As with the great majority of the pies I've constructed so far, this one provided me with a good lesson.  I could spin off into some mildly incoherent digression about pie and the meaning of life here, but I'll save those insights for another day.  Instead, I'll just say that as in life, patience in pie making can indeed prove to be virtuous.

I will preface by stating that I originally did not think that the recipe itself was clear enough about the proper technique and timing for combining the whipped cream with the mint/marshmallow mixture.  After looking again, I think that the problem was simply that I didn't (don't) follow directions very well and let my impatience get the best of me.  Regardless, I will continue under the plausible assumption that anyone who either a) can read, or b) knows what they are doing wouldn't experience the problem that I did.

Here's what it boils down to (bad pseudo-pun intended, I suppose).  I failed to let the marshmallow mixture cool sufficiently before folding the whipped cream into it.  As I started the process this did not appear to be an issue, but by the time I was ready to put the filling in the crust, I had a congealed, coagulated chemistry experiment gone bad.  My long list of Duh! moments grows ever longer with the addition of this kitchen nightmare.  How hard can it be?  Just read and follow the simple instructions!  Simpleton hardly covers it.   

I could actually see the components separating as I poured/scooped the grasshopper filling into the pie shell.  Here's a look at the strange resulting texture/consistency.  In addition to the lumpiness, there was a noticeable separation of solid from liquid.

The looks of the pie didn't give me a warm, fuzzy feeling.  However, I decided to let it set up over night and if it seemed to have set would take it to along.  If it did not set, I planned to feed it to some neighborhood dog and whip up a new one in the morning.  It is probably worth noting that I was pretty sure that I knew what I had done wrong almost immediately.  Some things, like the mystery of the bubbled pie crust are just that, a mystery, to me.  The cause of this, however, was quickly apparent.

Saturday morning arrived, and the filling had set up, or at least seemed set enough to try to eat.  I decided that even if it didn't really turn out, I should still take this pie to show my family.  I'm exposing pictures and descriptions of pies, both good and bad, here in this blog anyway.  In the end there is no hiding, no secrets.  No reason to be anything but transparent with my own family.  "I come bearing pies, some more edible than others..."

Saturday evening we decided to try this pie out with my parents.  As long as the lights were low, you didn't look too closely, and I sprinkled the top of the pie with peppermint candies, it didn't actually look all that bad.  

Oh, but what lurks under the surface!  The top set up, despite the strange texture and consistency, but it definitely separated.  The bottom of the pie, which you can see below, was very runny, and actually leaked into the bottom crust, making it really soggy.

This was definitely not the pie that I had hoped for.  But, it was the pie that I made.  No sense hiding from it, it's just pie.

Despite this pie's deficiencies, I actually thought it tasted pretty good.  There were some who thought the mint/creme de menthe flavor was too strong (again, my lead taster with her delicate palate), but others who've had a grasshopper mixed up by my paternal grandfather thought it was just about right.  I really wish that I would have done a better job in making it so that it would have gotten a fair assessment.  Maybe another week.

Pie #2 - Egg Nog

I am not a fan of egg nog, so this pie choice was completely driven by a request from my younger sister.  I was actually quite pleased with how this one turned out.  I hope that she enjoyed eating it as much as I enjoyed making it.

I found the recipe that I used for egg nog pie here.  I was enthused about a few things regarding this pie:

1. It calls for a prebaked crust and so I would be able to
   
   1. further experiment with crust making
   2. finally use the ceramic pie weights that I had purchased (see a picture below)
      
2. It uses a similar process to the grasshopper pie for the filling (an opportunity for redemption)
   
3. It was my second pie of the weekend that contains alcohol as an ingredient.  Even I know that a baker's pies are better received if the recipient has had a nip of the sauce.
   

Crust

I'm starting to really settle into a groove with the crust making.  I didn't alter the standard recipe very much.  I stuck with butter and vegetable shortening, but used an even ratio of vodka and rum for the liquid, hoping that the rum flavor would accent the egg nog.  As it turned out, those who tasted the pie didn't think that you could taste the rum in the crust.  Oh well, I guess I will just have to try again on some future as-yet unknown pie.

The most exciting thing about the crust was the opportunity to bake it without filling -- in other words, use the pie weights!

Ready to bake -

Pie weights -

I bought these ceramic weights about a month ago and hadn't had a chance to use them yet.  I'm not sure they work any better than dry beans or rice, as I've seen recommended in other places, but I sure felt cool using them.

Baked - 

The weights did their job well.

The Learned Lesson!

The similarity in the process of making the filling for the two pies for this week were that in each case a thickening agent is made through a heating process and then whipped cream is added to that thickening agent to produce the final product.  So, I really did think of this pie as an opportunity to make amends for my mistakes on the grasshopper pie.

I learned my lesson and took plenty of time to let the thickening component cool before folding in the whipped cream this time and it resulted in a really nice, fluffy filling.  Apparently I don't always make the same mistake over and over until I'm asked to leave the kitchen.

I stated earlier that I don't love egg nog, and I found that I don't love egg nog pie either.  However, I do think that this was my best constructed pie so far.  The crust was good, maybe even very good and the filling turned out very well.  My family said that they enjoyed the taste and consistency, and I thought it turned out to be quite aesthetically pleasing.  All in all, I thought it was really a step in the right direction and an affirmation that I might eventually get the hang of all of this!

Here is a picture of the finished pie

and, a profile of a slice

Additional stupid/weird pie-related things that I did this week and left out (until now):

• Despite bets being taken in my living room that it would take somewhere between 15 and 20 years for me to complete, I whipped both pie's whipped cream from heavy whipping cream using a hand whisk.  As with many things that I do, especially when it comes to pie making and this blog, there wasn't any compelling reason to whip it by hand, I just thought it would be interesting.  By the way, it did not take even 15 years to finish, although I admit that it's a good workout.
  

I received several wonderful pie baking accessories as Christmas gifts.  They'll be appearing as the weeks progress.  Stay tuned.

Egg Custard Pie - Week #9

This was a largely uneventful pie baking week.  I had never eaten (or, of course, made) an egg custard pie before, so I wasn't really sure what to expect.

Recipe

Picking a recipe took quite a while.  There are tons and tons of recipes to choose from.  Although there aren't many ingredients in this pie filling (generally eggs, sugar, milk, and vanilla), there are a wide variety of proportions to assemble them in.  I finally settled on this one -- who can go wrong with Grandma's Egg Custard, right? -- but I have to admit that I really considered one that used a staggering 10 eggs for a single pie.  I can't imagine what that would've been like, and I am pretty sure that I don't want to know, but it undoubtedly would have been interesting.

Unlike some weeks, there were not too many interesting issues or tips that I ran into with this pie.

Nearly every custard pie recipe called for a quantity of scalded milk.  Since I did not know what scalded milk even was, I had to do some research.  What I found makes me think that virtually every  recipe for custard pie must have been passed down for generations.  The bottom line from numerous sources is that scalding milk for custards or similar purposes isn't really necessary with pasteurized milk (therefore I'm thinking that the recipes were originally conceived prior to pasteurization becoming commonplace).  

Scalding serves three purposes: it kills harmful bacteria that may spoil the food being prepared, it destroys enzymes that may affect the way the milk performs in the recipe, and it raises the temperature of the milk to speed up results. 

from Kitchen Savvy

The effect on milk performance refers mainly to killing some enzymes that will prevent the custard from setting up.  So, I didn't scald the milk, but I did heat it up before mixing it in with the other ingredients since that was recommended in several places that also noted the lack of necessity for actual scalding.

Crust

I made some slight variations on my standard crust recipe including using vegetable shortening instead of lard.  The crust making is getting easier, but since I'm really still experimenting and making adjustments each time, it's not old hat by any means.  One thing that I did notice is that I preferred making the crust with lard instead of the shortening.  I didn't have the shortening very cold and so it really didn't stay in a good solid form as I mixed it in.  I think that I'll try freezing it next time.  It's all pretty much trial and error within some reasonable boundaries at this point.  I just want to have a good solid "go to" recipe and method in another couple of months.

Baking

The baking time for this recipe was 30-35 minutes, but I ended up baking for significantly longer than that.  I checked it after thirty minutes but the custard was still very runny.  By then the crust was starting to get pretty well baked, so in order to prevent burning it I tented some tin foil over the crust.  Overall the pie ended up baking for an extra fifteen minutes or so before it set up well.  I think that the tinfoil trick worked because even with the extra time the crust edge didn't end up overdone.

Oddities

The most interesting thing that happened with this pie was the strange baking behavior that can be seen in the picture below.

As I was monitoring the pie, especially when the bake time was extending beyond the recipe timeframe, it started to really bubble up in one area, and eventually the area that bubbled started to get overdone.  It didn't really end up burned, but it was pretty heavily caramelized (not sure if that's the correct term) and was significantly more well done than the rest of the pie. 

Once we cut into the pie, it was obvious what had happened.  Interestingly, it was the same bubbling crust issue that happened in week five.  In this case, the bubble had left the filling in the bubbled area extremely thin and so of course it cooked more quickly and left the overdone spots as a result.  The first time this happened I had chalked it up to the fact that I had failed to poke holes in the crust prior to baking it with the filling.  In this case, however, I had very thoroughly poked holes, so that apparently is not the golden ticket.  I'm not sure what strategy to employ to prevent issues in the future, but I am definitely open to suggestions from the peanut gallery...

I took a close-up shot of the bubbled crust, and you can see pretty well in this photo that some of the custard ended up below the crust.

Eating

This entry originally had a parenthetical Scrambled Egg Pie in its title, but I felt like that was divulging too much too soon, so I took it out.  However...

The original requester of this pie swears that it tastes spot on and brings back (dredges up?) memories of custard pie from her childhood.  I, however, have no such memories to fall back on nor get all nostalgic about.  I did have a notion of what I thought this custard pie would taste like -- as well as the texture, etc., etc.  The actual pie did not meet those expectations.  My ultra-fussy daughter and I both thought that it essentially tastes like sweetened scrambled eggs.  Not my idea of a great pie, but I'm still no connoisseur.  Too each his or her own, I guess.  All that I know is that it's slowly been disappearing all week, so it must be good -- to someone.

Finally

After this boring week, I'm sure there will be some wishing for a huge flaming disaster this coming week.  I promise to do my best.  Since I'm making two pies, absolutely anything is possible.

On a high note, Simple Simon got a pie-related call on Christmas Eve day.  A (devoted?) reader was looking for some pie crust tips.  I hope that I was of some assistance, and thankfully it sounds like it turned out well in the end.  Always happy to be of service and especially to pretend expertise where none actually exists.

Only 43 weeks left...

Pie(s) of the week - Week #10

We're doing a family get-together for the holidays this weekend.  I'm in charge of pie, so I'm going to make two for the occasion.  I expect that I'll be blogging on both.  If one is sufficiently horrendous, however, I'll undoubtedly focus on it.  I'm sure that readers who've enjoyed past disasters will be hoping for that outcome.

Pie #1 - Egg Nog (per my sister's suggestion)

Pie #2 - Grasshopper

Happy Holidays!

"Festive" Cranberry Pie - Week #8

You may be thinking that the above title could show up here, but believe me, the festiveness of cranberry pie is no sure thing.  So, "festive" just might be appropriate in this instance.

As I mentioned in a post earlier this week, we were pretty sick last weekend.  Although I managed to make the cranberry pie, I not only didn't write anything about it until now, but I didn't even taste it until Wednesday evening.  That's my excuse for the delay, and will be re-used to explain the likely brevity here.

I'm going to start at the end and tell you, as I intimated in the opening paragraph, that this just wasn't a very good pie.  I made only one error that seems consequential in making it, and I really don't think that it turned out poorly.  My take, as well as my lead taster's, is that cranberry simply isn't a great base flavor for a pie.  It is such a domineering flavor that I really think it would have to be cut significantly with some other flavor or flavors to make a great pie.  Unfortunately, I made a straight-up cranberry pie recipe I found, that didn't do much to mask the cranberry or accentuate it with any other tastes.  Ah, well.  Each week can't produce an all-time favorite.  Actually, I suppose that it could, but it'd strain credulity were it to occur.  I'm all about healthy, happy credulities at 52pies, so no straining here. 

The Crust

I have not received quite the pile of complementary comments and emails that was expected for the pie crust blog entry from Wednesday night.  Truthfully, by the time I was finished with that one I was exhausted with the topic and pretty sure that it was virtually unreadable and indecipherable.  My defense is that I still needed to post it if for no other reason that to bring myself some closure around the whole issue and allow me to move on with my life.  How's that for psycho-babble?  For those that read/skimmed it, thanks for taking the time.  For those who hated it, I hope you enjoy entries such as these more.  Be assured that I have no intentions for any more technical posts.

I did use a slight variation on the recommended America's Test Kitchen crust recipe.  I varied it by:

• Substituting 1 cup of cake flour for a cup of all-purpose.  The truly dedicated and courageous reader of this blog will know why.
  
• Using only the 1/4 cup of vodka for liquid.  My last crust was hard to roll out because it got so sticky, so I wanted to try reducing the total amount of liquid.  This was better, but I'm going to continue experimenting.
  

Here's a picture of the crust once rolled out and placed in the pie plate.  In particular, note the seeming discolorations in the dough.  Those are different pieces of fat (butter and shortening) that were not fully incorporated into the dough.  That seemed really weird to me, especially the first time around, but given the flakiness of the crust, I'm convinced that it is an appropriate way for the rolled out crust to appear.

The Filling

There were really no complications in making the filling.  I hadn't ever cooked cranberries before, so the way that the skins would pop and the berries (are they actually berries? I feel another 3 week research project coming on...) themselves would break down as they were cooked was a bit of a surprise.  

The only mistake that I know I made in making the filling was that I forgot to add the teaspoon of vanilla when the cooking was done.  It is possible that this would have reduced some of the bitterness of the finished pie, I don't really know.  But, even if it had, I still doubt it would have been a delightful pie to consume.  Also, I had thought that perhaps the raisins would add a nice flavor (and color, I did use the golden raisins), but they didn't really do much for the flavor if you ask me.  They added a nice textural component, though.

The Lattice

How hard can a lattice crust be, right?  That wasn't my real thought at all.  I figured that it would be pretty challenging, and for no good reason (a recurring theme throughout my life) I decided that I would attempt to put together the lattice top without reading up on how to do it.  I actually think that I would have done okay, if it weren't for an intervening factor that ruined my big plans.

I failed to consider that the filling I was putting into the pie shell was quite warm.  As a result, when I started putting my strips for the lattice on they got warm very quickly too, lost most of their strength and started to fall apart.  The final result is that I had to give in and not weave the lattice but fake it by just crossing the crust strips all the way over the top or bottom.  You can see what I mean below.  So, that was an interesting learning opportunity.  The next one will be better for the experience.

After giving it a good college try, I did go out and look for lattice methods.  Most seem to construct the lattice on the pie, which I don't think would have worked well in this case no matter what.  Others construct the lattice separately and then put it on the top as a single completed piece.  Next time, I'd do it that way, although if the filling weren't hot, I'd probably lean toward the former method.

Here's a picture of the finished, baked pie.  You can see that most of the lattice doesn't really weave, but the vertical is just laying on top of the horizontal.  I don't think it matters a great deal, but it just isn't as pretty.  And, anyone who knows me knows that I'm all about the pretty.

Here's a cut piece.  The filling set up well, the crust cut nicely and it kept its shape really well.

That is it for the cranberry pie.  I won't be making this one again any time soon.  

Christmas Public Service Message

Finally, I know that at this time of year some people are stressing out over what to give that special someone.  Have no fear!  If you really want to get your man the perfect gift, look no further than right here.  Trust me, it is exactly what he wants.

Holiday Pie Poll Results

10 total votes

Pumpkin 40% - 4 votes

Pecan 30% - 3 votes

Mincemeat 10% - 1 vote

Custard 10% - 1 vote

Turtle Cheesecake 10% - 1 vote

(I thought that we already covered this... if the word cake is in the name, it is not pie)

Thanks for voting!

The Mythical (Mystical?) Pie Crust Post

And I thought I spent a ridiculous amount of time researching pie crusts two weeks ago

As it turns out, I was capable of spending many more hours since.  I've finally had to commit myself to refraining from reading any more about it starting... now.  I fear that I'm on the verge of making this my full-time job.  Whether my co-workers liked the crust or not, I somehow doubt that they'd cover for me if I stopped actually doing anything related to my real job and instead spent my workdays ruminating on the essential components of a tender, flaky pie crust.  Then again, they might argue that I don't really accomplish anything of value during most workdays anyway.  Perhaps my greatest contribution is pie crust after all.  The jury is officially out.

I'd hate for any other aspiring pie crust makers to suffer through the same fate that I've experienced the past few weeks -- pie crust just can't be this difficult.  If, in addition, said aspirants have chosen to torture themselves by reading this blog, I can only convey to you my deepest condolences.  As an attempt at reconciliation, here's my layman's summary of the prevailing wisdom regarding making a great pie crust.  Read at your own risk, this post should be riddled with the usual disclaimers about varying results and no implications of responsibility.

Pie Crust Chemistry 101

There seems to be some agreement that there are three quantifiable aspects of a good (or bad, I suppose) pie crust.

• Taste
  
• Tenderness
  
• Flakiness
  

There are likewise three major components of a pie crust, that can effect the above three aspects.  

• Flour
  
• Fat
  
• Liquid
  

The proportion (as well as the specific characteristics) of the above components, along with the manner in which they're introduced to the final mixture, determine how the finished crust scores on the preceding aspects.  By specific characteristics, I mean that there are many types of the major components that could be used in a recipe.  A non-scientific (and undoubtedly wildly incomplete) list of some possible ingredients in each of those categories is:

Flour

Cake Flour

Pastry Flour

All-Purpose Flour

Fat

Butter

Vegetable shortening

Lard

Oil

Liquid

Water

Milk

Vinegar

Ethanol (ethyl alcohol)

Each of the aforementioned aspects can be influenced by the ingredient choices and incorporation methods that the artist1 makes.  The influence is fairly obvious for an aspect like taste.  For example, it makes some kind of intuitive sense that a crust of all-purpose flour, oil and vinegar might not taste the best for the banana creme pie that you're planning.  To understand how the other aspects are affected is much less obvious -- at least to me -- and much more of a chemistry experiment.  Once those impacts are understood, however, the grass is suddenly greener, the skies bluer and pie crusts so much more delicious.

Creating the perfect tender, flaky crust is generally about controlling gluten formation.  It isn't about preventing gluten formation completely, as it's important for structure, but about allowing just the right amount to form.  

The chemistry lesson of pie crust comes in two parts.

Part 1 (tenderness)

1. Gluten provides a crust with two characteristics, strength and elasticity.  Obviously those are both important, but if too much gluten is allowed to form elastic and strong becomes hard and tough (choose your own adjectives).
   
2. Gluten = flour protein + water
   

Part 2 (flakiness)

1. A flaky pie crust requires that pockets of air are formed in the cooked crust.
   
2. Pockets of fat in the unbaked crust will melt as the crust bakes.  Using fat components with varying melting temperatures can cause this process to occur over a longer time and yield increased flakiness.
   

From what I have read, and from my limited experience thus far, you don't get the second part without a reasonable degree of the first.  So, I think that controlling gluten formation is vital, and the real key, to a good crust.  The third aspect of a good crust is simply attained through using the crust components that either taste the best or inhibit flavors in the other components from dominating the overall taste.  In general, I think that fat choices in constructing a crust influence the flavor the most, although I'm sure there are ways around that.  Also, I'm sure that there's some interesting chemistry to creating a great flavor, but I haven't done any research into it and so am not focusing on that here.

Since I think that attaining flakiness is a more straightforward aspect of a pie crust than is tenderness (at least as I've defined them here), I'll put forward some thoughts on flaky crust here, and then finish with the gluten formation information.

Flakiness

Flaky pie crust is the result of intermingled layers of fat and flour in the unbaked crust.  Creating these layers allows the fat to melt away, leaving flour layers with air pockets in between (i.e. flaky crust).  There are any number of ways that this layering can be attained and many/most recipes will allude to one or more of them, although few explain just why you're doing a particular step or using a particular technique.  As far as I can tell, instructions referring to the following are all related to flaky/layered crust:

1. Use more than one fat:  since lard, shortening, and butter melt at varying temperatures, the time-delayed nature of their melting can lead to more air pockets and a flakier crust.  To most people's palate, butter provides the best taste of the three and so is generally used in combination with one of the other two.  This is not the case in all recipes or for all people, but seems to generally be true. 
   
2. Use cold ingredients:  most recipes will recommend using cold fat, flour, and/or liquid.  Using cold flour and water prevents the fat from melting during crust preparation.  If the fat melts, then the flour will absorb that fat, rather than it being left for layers as described above.  Using cold fat likewise slows the breakdown of the fat components so that when the crust is actually rolled out there are still pockets of fat in the dough.  Again, this results in layers and flakiness in the finished, baked crust.
   

The above instructions appear in many recipes and as far as I'm concerned make sense from a pseudo-scientific perspective.  Now for the interesting stuff...

Tenderness (Gluten control)

As was noted earlier, gluten forms when flour protein is combined with water.  Basically, as more more of each is combined with the other the resulting dough becomes more structured and elastic.  This is the desired effect for bread, for instance, where you want a great deal of structure, the dough to rise (with the assistance of yeast), all that jazz.

For a pie crust, however, the goal is to create enough gluten to give the crust some structure and strength, but not so much that it gets tough and hard when baked.  So, to really make a fool of myself, here's a reasonably comprehensive list of ways that gluten production can be regulated when making a basic pie crust.  Notice that the following items can be related pretty closely to the original proposition that ingredient choices and incorporation methods can be tied to the chemical reactions that when a pie crust is created and baked.

Ways that gluten formation can be controlled

• Use flour with lower glutenin and gliadin (the major wheat proteins) content.  
• Different flour types have varying amounts of the above proteins available for gluten formation.  From least to most...
  

1. cake flour
   
2. pastry flour
   
3. all-purpose flour
   
4. bread flour
   
• Most recipes call for all-purpose flour, although some specify pastry flour.  Using a lower-content flour produces less gluten.

• Limit the total amount of water in the dough
  
• weighing dry ingredients instead of measuring makes adding the correct amount of liquid easier (measured flour can be quite inaccurate due to packing)
  
• use as little water as possible, while still creating dough that can be rolled into a usable crust
  
• Limit water exposure to proteins
  
• Coat the flour with a portion of the fat prior to adding water.  This partially water-proofs some of the wheat protein and prevents it from forming gluten when the water is introduced.  Aggressive working of the fat and flour prior to the introduction of water will not result in a tough end product.  
• Use a liquid other than water
• Ethanol (ethyl alcohol) provides moisture to the crust, but does NOT promote gluten formation, so
• Vodka2 (only 60% H2O), or
• Vinegar (most forms are fermented ethanol, but obviously taste must be taken into consideration)
  are options to use with or instead of water.
• Handle the mixture as little as possible once the liquid has been introduced.
• Minimize mixing time
• Refrigerate the finished dough prior to rolling, mainly so that you are better able to...
  
• Roll the crust only one time.  Rolling a second time will cause increased gluten formation.

In Summary...

Having written all of that over the course of a disturbing number of sessions, I'm starting to wonder if it shouldn't have just said...

Follow this recipe, shut up and don't ask questions.  (Chris Kimball, of course, is the snobby foodie from America's Test Kitchen.  As Christina noted, you can't go wrong with American's Test Kitchen).

1) the way that some pie crust snobs drone on, you'd think there was some kind of art to it, so artists it is...

2) there is some debate regarding whether or not the alcohol "burns" off when cooked.  As far as I have been able to find, it does not completely burn off, although the amount of alcohol that still remains in the crust is extremely small.

Pie of the Week - Week #9

One of the more influential members of the follower crowd had made several entreaties, both public and private, for a custard pie.  Since I have a vested interested in this follower's happiness (mainly because it is in direct proportion to the amount of happiness I am allowed on any given day), that will be the flavor of the week.

Last weekend was flu weekend at our house.  I did manage to bake the pie for the week, but have not blogged about it yet, obviously.  I will finally be finishing the crust chemistry entry I've been blathering about tonight some time and posting that.  The cranberry pie blog should appear sometime in the next day or two.

New poll question

What is your favorite holiday pie?  It doesn't look like the widget allows for Other: please specify, so if yours isn't listed, add a comment to this entry with what your "other" is and I'll add it to the poll.

12/17: As it turns out, I can't change the poll once a vote has been cast, so to see what "other" means you'll have to look at the comments here...

Pie of the week - Week #8

In a feeble attempt to be festive -- or something like that -- I'm planning on a cranberry pie this week.  I haven't done research yet into what exactly a cranberry pie might look or taste like or anything.  I'm hoping to continue to hone my crust-making skills, but until I pick an actual recipe who knows.

First Double Crust - Week #7

So, I've spent an absolutely ridiculous amount of time researching the chemistry of pie crusts this past week.  If you ever have a bunch of time to spare (or are prone to obsessive behavior), I recommend it for some stimulating reading.  Truth be told, I'm still completely floored by all of the information that's available, as well as the variety of opinions regarding what it takes to make a good/great crust.  The fun thing (perhaps fun only to me), having done the leg work, is that I'm starting to feel really comfortable with the science of it all.  When I see or read different theories on making the perfect flaky, tender crust, I have a good idea of the factors at play and why many of the recommendations are made.  I'm actually still working on an entry about crusts and what I've learned about making them.  Hopefully that will be completed this week, but I'll include some of my experiences from this week's pie in this post as well.

It should be noted -- and I proved this week  -- that the theory and the practice are two entirely different things.  My claims of "understanding" don't translate into the perfect pie crust, but at least I feel as though I'll be able to make reasonable and appropriate adjustments to my recipe and technique in order to make strides toward the ideal.

Pineapple-Rhubarb pie

My two major objectives for this week were to 1) make a double-crust pie since I really wanted to experiment with the crust construction, and 2) make something lighter that the heavy, heavy cream and nut pies of the past few weeks.

This pineapple-rhubarb recipe seemed to me to fit the bill on both fronts.  I was completely surprised at the number of different recipes that I was able to find for pineapple-rhubarb since I had never even heard of it before.  I probably spent at least an hour reading them over and trying to pick a "winner."  Given the amount of time that I spend trying to find the right recipe, I thought it would be a good thing to lay out my criteria for selection here, so that readers would understand how I make these decisions.  That process is as follows:  

1. I Google the internets for all recipes for the pie variety I'm trying to make, and
   
2. I iterate over the recipes, eliminating recipes based upon absolutely nothing tangible (my whim) until there's only one left.
   

I suspect that at least one person out there may be disappointed by this process.  I know I was disappointed having to write it, and I knew going in what the end result was going to be, so I can relate.  The bottom line is that I don't really have anything resembling a meaningful process based on any merits of a particular recipe.  It's all poorly tuned instinct.  That approach has served me poorly my whole life, so I figured why stop now.

"Get to the pie already"

Fine, fine!  I made the crust for the pie on Saturday afternoon so that it could rest in the refrigerator over night for rolling out and baking on Sunday.  If this is any indication of how much six weeks of pie baking have changed my life, I went to a friend's house to help with a home improvement project earlier in the day and took him a pumpkin pie.  Don't ask me why.  Maybe I'm just excited to finally be developing a useful skill (I don't have the recommended bow hunting or nunchuku skills to get a girlfriend, unfortunately).  Although it has been a while since I read it, I'm pretty sure that day #4 of The Purpose-Driven Life has something to do with making pies.  I'll verify and report back...

The crust actually went reasonably well.  I followed the essence of a recipe that I'll share in my future crust post, making a few minor adjustments along the way based upon my own personal thoughts about the process.  I didn't really encounter any major issues while making or rolling out the crust.  The resulting crust was really flaky and tasted pretty good, but the edges fell quite a bit, almost melting from the edges of the pie.  Next time around I'll be more aware of developing structure and elasticity, and not quite so focused on flakiness and tenderness.  Then again, it might all be just dumb luck and circumstance.

The filling was really easy to prepare.  We had exactly three cups of rhubarb left over from this summer, which was perfect for this recipe.  A completely new ingredient to me was instant tapioca.  I didn't really know what the purpose was, so I did a little bit of reading on that as well.  Of course, there are multiple types of tapioca available (instant/quick, regular/pearl, and tapioca starch).  As all of you experienced bakers undoubtedly know, it's just another of the many ways to thicken the filling of a pie (or pudding or whatever).  I have no idea how a recipe writer chooses one of the dozen ways to thicken and get a filling to set up.  I'm sure that there are some rules, but I definitely don't know them yet.  I found warnings in several places that using tapioca (even instant) would result in little gelatinous balls in the filling that may be disconcerting to consumers of the food.  I found that I really had to search for them, although they were present. I really don't think that I would have noticed them if I hadn't known they were there.  

Sealing and fluting the edges of the double crust was completely new to me, although I don't suppose there is any real magic to it.  There is definitely some magic to making it look decent though.  I don't have that magic and failed pretty significantly in that regard.  I don't think pie making is going to improve my artistic abilities.  Instead, it seems to be pointing out my deficiencies quite effectively.

Anyway, here's a picture of the finished pie

 

and a couple of pictures post-cutting

The crust ended up being very flaky, but as I mentioned, it didn't hold it's shape very well.  You can see how the fluted edges basically melted, and in the first picture the oddity in the upper right is where some of the edge just fell off the pie plate while baking.

On a happier note, you can kind of see the flakiness in this picture (notice my long, luxurious nails in the photo)

While everything didn't go exactly as planned, this pie was a really good experience and turned out good enough to eat -- the folks at work were subjected to my experiment once again, thank you guinea pigs.  

I haven't spent significant words in past posts discussing how the pies tasted, or what the final result might have been if I knew what I was doing.  In this case, it's worth mentioning that I really enjoyed this recipe.  Actually, I doubt there is anything special about this particular recipe, it's the pineapple-rhubarb flavor that I really liked.  I just thought it ended up being a really good pie overall.  The crust was tasty and flaky and the filling very light and enjoyable.  If you like rhubarb, give it a try next time you get your hands on some.  It's now definitely on my list of favorites.

Other Miscellaneous stuff

I get the feeling that this blog is much more interesting when I royally screw up.  I'm not planning on it, but I'm sure there's at least a little bit more of that in the future.

 

This was such a good break from the sweet, sweet, sweet pies of the previous weeks.

I screwed up the spelling of Geof's name (from Ace Of Cakes) in previous posts.  If you're out there Geof, my deepest apologies.

I added a slideshow of all completed pies to the top the blog.  Enjoy!

Pie of the week - Week #7

I was really looking for something with a double crust for this week since I'm really on the crust kick at the moment.  This fits the bill and struck me as interesting.

I'll be attempting a Pineapple-Rhubarb pie.  I've never had one, or even heard of it before, so should be interesting.

Peanut Butter Pie - Week #6

As mentioned in last week's post, our family friend Melanie asked for (demanded?) a Peanut Butter Cup pie.  Since she was in town this past weekend for some Mall Of America fun and games, this was her week.  Incidentally, while she may claim to have driven up from Iowa to visit her oldest and dearest friend -- and to go shopping, deep down we all know she was really here for the pie.  

I was on a bit of a tight time schedule for pie #6 this week.  I was in charge of our little monster (13 months old tomorrow) on Saturday while the girls went to the mall to spend heaven-only-knows how much on heaven-only-knows what.  I've stopped asking.  Heck, I've stopped even wondering.  Pies, pies, pies.  It's all I think about.  But, I digress...

I knew that I wanted to get this pie finished on Saturday so that we could eat it for dessert after supper.  I figured if I didn't get it done until evening that we wouldn't be able to eat it until Sunday, they were leaving on Sunday morning, yada, yada, yada.  You get the picture.  I needed to figure out how to get this thing made while babysitting.  This could be a long story, and on many days it would be, but not this Saturday.  The kid took a glorious two hour afternoon nap, and I was able to make the pie with plenty of time to spare. 

I had put aside this recipe as soon as Melanie requested the peanut butter cup, but the more I looked at it, I just didn't like it.  If I had to point to specific reasons I'd say I was turned off by the use of a spring-form pan, that's a lot of cream cheese, and I really thought the entire crust should be chocolate, and not just have a thin layer of chocolate.  So, I did some additional research and eventually found the Cupcake RN's recipe.  Of course, she seems compelled as an RN to ruin a perfectly good artery hardening recipe by using all kinds of no-sugar and low-fat ingredients.  I ignored all of the foolishness and just used the hard stuff.  No cutting corners for me!

I modified the crust recipe a little bit, basing it a little bit more on the graham cracker crust I made for the Key Lime pie a couple of weeks ago.  Specifically, I added some additional sugar.  I also didn't use crushed Oreo's, but used regular chocolate wafers instead.  Finally, I baked the crust a little bit longer than was suggested; I don't have a great reason why, I just thought it needed it and so I put it back in for an extra 2-3 minutes.  The things that I definitely did a better job with for this crust were:

  1) I had a great rolling pin to use for crushing the cookies.  I was much more diligent about crushing them into a pretty fine powder, and

  2) I smashed the crumb mixture into the pan a lot harder than I did the first time, which helped the crust to stick together a lot better.  Last time I used a glass to press the crust down.  This time I used only my hands (yes, I washed them first).  I think that in the future I'll use some combination.

The filling for this pie was reasonably simple to make.  There were a few things that I wasn't completely sure about, but I think that as long as you ended up with the ingredients combined in roughly the appropriate proportions it would turn out fine.  I did think that it was getting really thick and gooey as I started adding the dry ingredients like the pudding mix and gelatin, but once I piled in all of the Cool-Whip, all seemed well.

I did note in the recipe that the author said that she'd recommend drizzling the chocolate on top instead of spreading it around.  I tried that, but it looked like a piece of abstract art created by a poorly coordinated 2-year-old (not at all dissimilar from any other art I've ever tried to create), so I ended up spreading it as evenly as possible over the top, just as she had.  I made a point of cutting slowly and used a serrated blade knife, sawing through the top layer when cutting pieces.  It seemed to work out okay.  

Here's a picture of the finished product.

And a picture of just how happy a good slice of pie can make someone...

I looked at all of the pictures on the camera from this weekend. In none of them is there any evidence that Melanie got nearly as much enjoyment from a non-pie experience. My conclusion: Pie is good.  This project was a good idea, even if only for this week.  And, I'm still having a really good time.

Other notable happenings from week 6...

I was not so subtly informed that if I ignore the will of the people (i.e. the poll results) one more time (e.g. the rolling pin) that I'd be losing a "follower."  I can only respond that I refuse to be intimidated and won't be bullied.  Go ahead and try to throw your influence around, but I won't back down!  You know who you are.

I found this abomination by accident over the weekend.  I won't admit to having read much, but this blogger is obviously deranged and went back in time having stolen the idea for her blog from someone far more inventive.

I'm still totally on the pie crust R&D mission.  I've done quite a bit more reading, and think I've got a good handle on the chemistry and the hows and whys of crust making.  I can't wait to try some of it out this week.  So, obviously I have to pick a pie with a pastry crust this week.  I'm planning to go with something with a double crust, if possible, too.  After a couple of weeks of really sweet pies, this would have been a good week for a nice savory meat pie.  But, that's already been shot down and I'd be taking my life into my hands if I were to defy the masses again.  Stay tuned for the pie announcement tomorrow night.

I'm struggling to come up with poll questions.  If anyone has any good ideas, let me know.

Until next time, keep your feet on the ground and keep reaching for the stars.

(bonus points to whoever can identify the origins of that quote)

Thanksgiving Pie(s): Week #5

My apologies for the delay in posting this week.  I have no real excuse, so I'll go with, "I was distracted by the holiday."  It's not really true, but anyone already bored with the first two sentences might skip this one, and I come off looking better.

I have a lot of different topics worth writing about this week.  First, there's the poll question about rolling pins.  Also, I've got this whole pie crust thing going on since this is my first week of making actual crust.  Finally, there's the process and result of this week's pecan pie.

I'm going to skip over some of those and promise to provide more detail in a future post.  In particular, I've gotten several extremely informative emails regarding pie crust making.  I've also spent more time than I could have conceived possible on researching the process of making a "good" crust.  Believe me, there is more information available online than can be consumed and collated in a mind this feeble on the tips and tricks for making the perfect crust.  I found myself following rabbit holes into the chemistry water and flour, flour protein contents, etc., etc., etc.  It's worth a full post and I'll be devoting that time to it once I've come up with my own wildly flawed theory.  Suffice to say that might not be for a couple weeks; in the meantime I'm loving the research and experimentation.

Rolling Pins

Possibly only those who know just how disturbed I am will appreciate this, but as can be seen, the final results of this week's poll are 7/9 for classic, 2/9 for French, and 0/9 for bakery.  I'm so very pleased to announce that I had already bought a rolling pin prior to posting the poll and it was/is...

This stupendous Vic Firth Bakery Rolling Pin 

So far, I couldn't be happier with it.  This is another moment where judgment must be suspended and if you try to find any logic, you'll pull a hamstring, or maybe worse.  I just liked the way it looked -- ask my wife, we looked at many! -- and that's it.  Imagine how happy I was to notice on the next episode of Ace Of Cakes that everyone's favorite cast member Geoff uses one.  Okay, fine!  It appears that everyone there uses one, but Geoff's our favorite, right?  Right?

So, there I was with my fine new rolling pin (and a new glass pie plate, not pictured) in need of a pie to bake.  Luckily for me, I had this blog to motivate me and keep me accountable.  Pecan pie, fit for a Thanksgiving feast was the objective of the week.

Here's how I got there...

(to a pecan pie; whether it was fit for the feast -- which was universally wonderful, by the way, Emily -- is for others to decide)

First, I found that it is absolutely vital when making a pecan pie that you learn how to pronounce it (notice I didn't end that sentence with the word correctly).  I had this scene

from When Harry Met Sally (particularly 0:30-0:40) stuck in my head.  Watch it at your own risk.  You might find yourself walking around like an idiot saying "peeee-can pieeeee!"  Not that I know anyone who would do anything like that.

I got my recipe from a new resource.  As always I don't know if it's any better or worse than others, but I was attracted in particular to the assertion that it wasn't quite as sweet as some others.  Despite my relentless sweet tooth, some pecan pie that I'd had in the past had been a bit much, so I figured I'd give this a try.  In my research I also came across several recipes that were adamant about roasting the pecans prior to making the pie.  My recipe didn't even mention it, but I'm starting to feel slightly more adventurous, so I roasted them first, using these instructions.  

Once I had picked a pie recipe, I spent who knows how long trying to figure out how I wanted to make a crust.  I solicited multiple opinions and got a variety of opinions.  I've even had a few responses that were basically, "you just mix all the stuff together and roll it out, you big baby!"  Due to a deepseated genetic character flaw (thanks Mom and Dad), that isn't nearly good enough for me.  So a day later I had finally decided what to do.  But, since I've gotten such a variety of responses, and still want to try a bunch of new things out, I'm not going to point to any specifics yet.  It'll be coming, but not yet.  I'll divulge a few tidbits below, but I really want a few more trials before I publish any thoughts or real results.

Here's a picture of the pie crust

It didn't go horribly, but didn't go quite right.  The two biggest mistakes that I made...

   1) bought a 9.5" pan, and made a 9" pie crust and filling.  Pictures further down will show that the filling didn't make it to the edge of the crust.  I managed to stretch it out to cover, so that aspect turned out okay, especially compared to...

   2) using whole wheat pastry flour.  A total amateur mistake.  I couldn't find any of the "right" flour, and so I just substituted the whole wheat.  I'm certain that my mother will be happy because undoubtedly the whole wheat is better for you.  

An aside for mom only... Seriously, everyone else, stop reading!  Mommy, I see where you're coming from, but if this blog, etc. had anything at all to do with health, it'd be called 52branmuffins.com or something.  

Continuing...

So, health be darned, We're going for taste, taste, taste,  Slather on the lard!  Bring on the MSG! The bottom line is that whole wheat flour didn't make the taste cut, at least for this pie.  I'll continue with the baking description and my usual foibles and follies, but be warned that this pie did not make it to Thanksgiving.  I made a replacement (along with a pumpkin) for Thanksgiving.  My standards may be low, but they are standards!

Here's the final result of my official pecan pie for the week

The filling was really pretty easy to put together.  My idiot tip of the week is that if a) you only have one set of measure spoons, and b) there are several ingredients, both wet and dry, that require measuring out in the same amount it works a whole lot better to do the dry ingredients first and then the wet.  For example, it's tough to get a good tablespoon of flour with a spoon that's just been used to measure out molasses.  For those of us who take the order of the ingredients on the recipe to be some kind of mandate, this can be difficult.  But, I think it's a great place for the inflexible to show off their newfound flexibility.  Here's another tip.  If you're ever making a pecan pie and find yourself putting two tablespoons of butter in the microwave to melt, go right ahead and put the melted butter into the mix.  Don't wait until three hours after you've baked the pie, eaten some of it, and put the remains in the refrigerator before discovering the butter still in the microwave.  Thanks heavens for this blog, or I might have forgotten that one already.  That was really the only screw up of any note in the filling, and I claim to have learned from it.

At least I didn't make the same mistake with round two.  In both cases, the filling actually tasted quite good, although the local pecan pie connoisseur thought it wasn't sweet enough.  It's my pie, though, and I liked it. :P

The short story on the replacement pie is that things went similarly, except no whole wheat flour in the crust, the correct sized pie plate, and all of the ingredients in the filling.  It did do this odd bubbling thing in its center in the last 10 minutes of baking and when we cut it, the very center had a layer of filling at the bottom, then the crust and finally another layer of filling.  Not sure what happened there, but it tasted okay and no one complained too loudly.  If they had, they'd be mentioned my name here.  Keep that in mind, all future guinea pigs.

I failed to post my pie of the week on Wednesday night, but rest assured that I had already picked one out long before.  Melanie is in town and this blog, and my first pie, weren't even cool when she started whining for a "pie like a peanut butter cup," so a Peanut Butter Cup pie it is...