Pie crust.
Just thinking of it makes my mouth
water: honey-colored pastry over fruit, deepening just a bit to the
ambered edge – always my favorite last bite because of the slight
crispiness to it.
“You're giving away our pie crust
recipe?” Andrew is incredulous that I'm writing this post.
“Why, is it a secret?” I ask back.
“Well, no, but then everyone
will be able to make it,” he says.
Yup. That's the point. Pies are a
democratic species, unpretentious and elegant in their simplicity. A
basic dough becomes a container of ripe and savory cooked fruit (I'm
leaving out the gooey pies for now). But for some reason, people fear
pie-making. Pie-making contests and pie-only bakeries have raised the
pie-bar to a level of specialty that seems out of reach. At family
dinners or potluck suppers where I often bring a pie, people have
said to me “I could never make this.” The truth is, anyone can
make a pie, a good pie. And there is no reason to fear the crust.
This pie crust
recipe came to me from my mother. She says that when she used it to
make a wild blueberry pie for her beau nearly sixty years ago, it
cinched the deal. My father still gets one from her every year on their wedding anniversary.
I believe in pie.
So I'm doing my part to erase the elitism around pie-making by
divulging a big secret: this crust is very, very easy to make. And
the rest is just fruit, sweetened a little, spiced sometimes, covered
and baked.
One last thought:
I'm no super-duper cook. But I believe that good homemade food can
glue together families and friendships. Some of the most sacred times
we share involve sitting around a table and eating together. Let's do
this more often. In fact, let's teach our sons to make – and share
– pie.
May the smell of warm pie fill your kitchen.
Stir 'n' Roll
Pie Crust
Prelude:
Make your filling.
1.
Sift a bunch of flour into a bowl. (If
you don't have a sifter, stir it through a mesh strainer, or spoon it
lightly into the bowl to fluff it up.)
2.
Measure 2 cups of the
sifted flour
into another bowl.
Add ½
tsp salt.
Whisk it together to mix.
3.
Measure ½ cup
vegetable oil
(not olive oil) into a 1 cup measuring cup. Add ¼
cup cold milk.
Don't stir!
4.
Pour liquid into flour all at once.
5.
Stir with a fork until evenly moistened. (From
now on, handle the dough just enough to do the job; a gentle touch
keeps it from getting tough.)
6.
Form dough into a ball. Cut it roughly in half.
7.
Have four sheets of wax paper ready. Place the larger half of the
dough (if one is larger) between two sheets. (To keep the bottom
sheet from slipping, moisten the counter under it slightly.)
8.
Flatten the dough just enough that you can start rolling it into a
disk between the two sheets.
9.
Roll the dough about an inch wider than the pie dish you are using.
(The
larger the dish, the thinner the crust will be. Start with a smaller
pie dish until you are used to working with the dough.)
10. Peel off the top sheet of wax paper. Have your pie dish ready, and gently invert the bottom sheet so the dough disk is centered on the plate. Peel the wax paper straight back, easing the dough into the dish. (If the dough breaks, don't worry: use overhanging pieces to mend, or push and seal the dough together.)
11. Roll out the top the same way, but only a little wider than the dish. (It doesn't have to settle into the dish, just lay on top. A little extra gives you room to make a mistake.)
12. Fill the pie (you did prepare the pie filling first, right?)
13. Dot the fruit with butter.
14. Lay the top crust over the fruit and peel back the wax paper.
15. Seal the edges by either a) trimming the rim with a knife and then pressing a fork along the edge (it helps to occasionally wet the fork) or
b) rolling the overhanging dough up onto the rim and pinching and fluting it.
16. Cut vent slits in the top.
17.
Bake at 400 degrees for about an hour. (Put
it in the middle of the oven with a baking sheet on the shelf just
below to catch drips. It is done when the crust is no longer pale but
mottled golden brown, and the fruit is steaming or bubbling. If the
edges are getting too dark, fold a rim of foil over them and continue
baking until the rest of the pie is done.)18. Cool the pie. The longer it cools, the more it “sets” (less liquid), and the less chance of burning your mouth.
So here's the condensed version of the recipe I carry around. See how simple it is?
