Cooking Tidbits: Pie Crust
I vividly remember my first experience with baking as if it was yesterday. Wanting to surprise my mother who was returning home from a trip, I decided I would make instant pudding.
Harmless enough, right?
My favorite fictional heroine, Nancy Drew, always knew how to create the most tantalizing meal and accompanying dessert. I thought to myself, "I would be a big girl and show my mom I could bake just like her."
Wrong.
My experience, needless to say, didn’t end up like I had originally envisioned. My father returned from work to find shards of glass scattered across the kitchen and pudding splattered on every surface.
Fast forward a decade plus later and I find my relationship with baking/cooking has improved, but continues to still be rocky. No more explosions; nothing requiring first-aid. I feel like a lot of women/men today face that same struggle.
Baking/cooking is an art form and unless you are properly trained or mentored, you’re merely a 10-year-old kid with the best intentions at heart but you really have no idea what you’re doing.
With the help of my mother, through this column, I hope to make your culinary experience a little less stressful and much more enjoyable. The satisfaction of creating something from scratch really is hard to beat; the compliments aren’t too bad either.
I will provide special insider baking/cooking tips (those little tidbits of information that recipes unfortunately tend to leave out), delicious recipes with step-by-step instructions, handy tips for alternative utensils/ingredients you can use if you’re out of what’s needed and, of course, plenty of advice.
This week, I thought it would be appropriate to tackle pie crusts. It being the season of pumpkin and apple pies, why not impress your friends with something completely homemade? Anyway, pre-made pie crusts aren’t that mouthwatering; it’s OK to admit it.
Ingredients
One 9-inch pie crust
1 cup All-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. Salt
6 1/3 Tbsp. Shortening
2-3 Tbsp. Water
Utensils
1 fork
1 medium-sized bowl
1 pastry cutter/ 2 knives
1 small glass
1 rolling pin/ wine bottle
Measuring cups
1 Pie pan
Cutting board/pastry sheet
*Note tsp= teaspoon. Tbsp= tablespoon*
First off, make sure you have all your ingredients. It helps to have everything in front of you so that you don’t mistakenly forget something. That never ends well; trust me.
Combine your salt and flour in a medium-sized bowl. Just use a fork to stir it together. Add in your shortening. Use a pastry cutter to break up the shortening into small, pea-sized pieces; the smaller the pieces the flakier the crust (MacGyver tip - Don’t have a pastry cutter? Most people don’t. Just use two knives and go in a crisscross motion).
Insider tip - Make sure the water is ice-cold. Add a few ice cubes to the glass.
Drizzle in 2 Tbsp. of water. Use your fork to blend the mixture together. If the dough is still too dry, sprinkle in a little more water. However, you don’t want your dough to be gooey, so, please, proceed with caution.
Once the mixture is fully combined, use your hands to pat it into a ball (Insider tip- make sure to flour your hands first).
It’s now time to break out your rolling pin and cutting board or pastry sheet. (MacGyver tip - Don’t have a rolling pin? Use an old wine bottle. Strip the bottle of its stickers and wash it in hot, soapy water. My mom developed this idea when my sister was abroad in France. She didn’t have a rolling pin but she did have a lot of wine bottles.)
Flour your cutting board and lay the dough on it. Flatten it into a circle with your hands. Flour your rolling utensil. Slowly roll out the circle, starting from the center. Try your best to keep it round as well as the same consistency of thickness. You can use your pie pan as a guide to how big the crust should be. Allow up to an inch of extra crust on the sides so you can crimp the edges.
When you’re ready to move the crust to your pan, use your floured rolling utensil. Slowly curl the crust around it. If it breaks a little, don’t worry, it can be fixed. Unfurl it into the pan. Try and center it as best as you can. Slowly press the crust against the pan sides. Cut the sides with a knife so that they are equal in length. Fold the extra dough under. You can use your index finger and thumb to crimp the edges.
Insider tip - If your crust is cracked, use a drop of water to remoisten it. Press the crust bits together so that it stays.
All that’s left is to add your favorite pie filling and to bake as directed. This is definitely going to require more work from you but the end result is certainly worth it. You just might win that best dish award this year at your office or friend’s holiday party.
Rebecca Adams has a degree in English and is still trying to find her niche in the working world. She can frequently be found scheming up new recipes and scanning previous MacGyver episodes for tips for her column. To learn more about Rebecca add her on twitter @skullnbows.
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