Sour Redemption: Week #4 (November 16, 2008)

This week's pie was key lime.  My original intent was to follow this recipe, but ever the tightrope walker, I switched out the prescribed crust for this one.  I even did some additional crumb crust research here.  I'm sure you're wondering how anyone can survive the adrenaline rush of making such a wild change; let me tell you that we pie makers are a crazy bunch.  Bungee jumping, hah!  Sky diving, alligator wrestling?  Please!  You haven't lived until you've switched out a pie crust recipe in the middle of the baking process!  After all of that work -- it must have taken me ten full minutes --  how could anything go wrong?  Foreshadowing?  Stayed tuned...

Given that I made up a bunch of rules last week, I was really trying to follow them this time around.  In particular, I was committed to making the crust from scratch (to quiet the sniping from the peanut gallery, if nothing else) and to not asking questions of superior bakers/cooks in the house.  

So, the crust...

This went surprisingly well.  Not perfect, but pretty darn well considering that I didn't have any real idea what I was doing.  Of course, I had my ten minutes of reading.  Somehow I don't think that's sufficient to be any good at this, but it allowed me to fake it.  Also, I have a feeling that making a graham cracker crust is simpler than a good pastry crust (I don't even know if that's what it's called, but that's what I'm going with, at least for now).  There were a couple of things that I'll change/concentrate on doing better the next time.  The crushing of crackers went okay.  I probably could have crushed them smaller, which I suspect would have made the final product hang together a little bit better.  The only variation that I threw in was that the recipe called for a glass pan, which I didn't have.  So, I used one of those Pampered Chef stoneware deals.  I think that worked out okay.  Anyone know what deal is between baking a pie in glass, a pie tin, one of the stone pans?  I'm going to just wing it for now and see what I learn.  The stuff I'd change:

1) I should have worked harder to really compress the crust at the top edges.  They didn't end up really sticking together very well.

2) The bottom outside edge of the crust ended up being pretty thick and dense.  I would have been better off if I'd tried to keep a more consistent thickness throughout.  On the other hand, I kind of enjoyed eating the thick crunchy edges, so maybe I'll just leave well enough alone.

Here's a picture of the crust after it had baked

Filling

This pie lands somewhere in between the coconut cream and pumpkin that I'd made before because 

a) I actually baked the crust before putting in the filling :), and 

b) You bake the filling in the crust, but for a relatively short time.

I was informed in a blog comment that I had to use the real thing (key limes), so I was definitely concerned about avoiding the wrath of Glen.  I managed to scrounge up some at the grocery store and so didn't have to use bottled juice.  Whew!  It turned out that I rather enjoyed juicing the limes.  I used one of those wooden reamers for the juicing and I think it worked pretty well.  You can see what I'm talking about to the right here and a picture of some of the limes and juice below.  After juicing, I just strained the juice through a little strainer and ended up with enough juice for the recipe.

Other than the juice, there wasn't a whole lot to the filling.  I've finally given in and succumbed to separating the egg yolks and whites with my hands.  I've got to admit that I stole the idea from Iron Chef America (c'mon, who doesn't love the chairman?), but it's proving to be a lot easier than other methods I've tried.  Sometimes I even wash my hands before doing it.  Some might have me sweeten and condense my own milk, but I took the easy way out and used a can.  I'm sure the purists will be down my throat about that, but what are sisters for if not to critique your baking protocols?

Here's the lime squeezing mess

Baking was straightforward this week.  Even I couldn't screw this up, I don't think.  Then again, I'm sure I can come up with a way, but it didn't happen this week.

Overall, this was a successful pie experience.  You can see some pictures below.  It isn't the most beautiful thing, but it isn't hideous either, IMHO.

Interesting (maybe only to me) outcomes:

* I took this pie to work and shared it with some co-workers who are aware of my adventures (and misadventures) in pie-making.  They either enjoyed it or were too nice to tell me that it was horrible.  Either way, I got rid of a pie without having to eat it all myself.  Small victories!

* My wife, it turns out, doesn't like "real" key lime pie.  I think it wasn't fluorescent green enough for her, although she claimed it was too sour and a little bitter.

* My daughter claims that this is now her favorite pie, passing up the butterscotch from week 1.

* Every time I turn around, somebody is forwarding this blog on to a friend or relative.  I'm finding that makes it even more fun, and hopefully will keep me motivated for the duration.  Hopefully I can keep it entertaining for all of you as well!

More pictures...

One hour left on this week's poll. A new one will come out tomorrow if I can think of a decent question.

Next week's pie comes out tonight.

I had one blog follower suggest that I switch to 52 cakes, but I'm too far down this path now. No turning back now, but maybe next year :)