Pie Skills

I was commissioned to make pies for a gentleman's 75th birthday. He is a pie guy and didn't want a cake, just mini pies and one large one. The person who made the request and I tossed ideas around. There are some beautiful examples of over the top crust designs out there. The birthday boy is a surfer so we wanted palm trees and surfboards. 

I think he was pleased with it. Noone had ever seen the like. 

Leading up to the party I felt like I needed some serious pie R &D having only occasionally made a pie or two and never the berry pie he requested.

PANS:

I had a pretty ceramic pan I planned on using. Turns out it is subject to the dreaded soggy bottom. I baked my a pie for 2 hours on the bottom rack (at 7500 ft mind you) and the  bottom crust was barely done. One writer said "you cannot overcook a berry pie." Lots of people use glass pans. I have a couple of my mom's. The advantage to them is that you can check the the bottom crust through the glass. Most experts agree that an aluminum pan is the best heat conductor and is recommended. I ordered one to use and nested it inside the pretty ceramic one for the party. 

CRUST:

I did have a commission last fall for a bunch of mini mason jar size pies so I did some experiments then with crust.

My most successful  recipe uses Crisco and butter along with cake and all purpose flour with a bit of vinegar. My auntie swore by all Crisco for her pies but it turns out they changed the formula a few years back to eliminate trans fats and it is not the same anymore. I saw a tip to add some vanilla to the water so I did that. One thing that really helps with the flaky factor is once the crust is loosely formed, fold it like a letter and let it rest for 30 minutes. Do the letter fold another time and let it rest again before rolling out the dough. Puff pastry is done this way and the layers really add flakiness. Another tip I saw was to take your finished dough ad roll it along its sides. This keeps the dough from splitting when you roll it out.While researching I went down a deep rabbit hole when I found the  King Arthur Flour site.

It breaks everything down and gives you a CIA level class in pie.

Also a chef for them has a blog that goes into even more detail. 

For the designs on top, other than the Lei around the edge, I didn't want the puffiness to obscure the design so I used good ol' Trader Joe's frozen crust. I am not even seeing frozen Pillsbury crust except in already formed pans. 

I see a variety of things used to put a glaze on the top: egg yolk, egg white, cream, milk. For the trees I used egg yolk because it browns up nicely. The Lei was egg whites and the waves were cream. I baked the little surfboards separately and since my plan of painting the stripes with cinnamon and egg didn't work I cheated with a red edible marker.

I partially blind baked the crust with ceramic pie weightsand  used egg white on the bottom.

FILLING:

The King Arthur site details how to use Clear Jel and they have a product called Pie Filling Enhancer. I really didn't want a soupy end product so I ordered some Clear Jel from Amazon and it arrived at my mountaintop research kitchen in time for experimentation. This is a screenshot from the King Arthur section on Thickeners:

I used the recommended amount for 8 cups of berries. Since I cooked it for two(!) hours that may have affected things. It was pretty firm. I didn't cook the berries beforehand. I would like it a bit looser. The next time I cooked the berries until the sauce was thickened using 3 TB of Clear Jel. It was firm but next time I might reduce the Clear Jel.

Wymans Berries were recommended and I used one cup of frozen Oxnard strawberries and one cup blueberries.

RECIPE:

JAMES BEARD'S PIE DOUGH

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup cake flour
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, diced, chilled
• 1/4 cup lard or vegetable shortening, chilled
• 1 teaspoon white vinegar
• 1/2 cup very cold water

Method

In the work bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal chopping blade, combine the flours and salt. Pulse once or twice to blend. Add the butter and lard and pulse five or six times to cut the fat into the flour. The mixture should resemble coarse crumbs. Combine the vinegar with the cold water (if using shortening, use just the water alone). With the processor running continuously, pour the liquid down the feed tube all at once. As soon as the dough begins to form a ball around the blade, stop the machine. Lay a piece of plastic wrap on a work surface and dump out the dough onto the plastic, scraping the bowl and the blade with a rubber spatula. Divide in two. Pat the dough into a ball, flatten and fold like a letter. wrap tightly, and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. Flatten and fold again. Form into a thick disk and roll aling the edges. Refrigerate for another 30 minutes before rolling out. 

Pre heat oven to 350. Roll out one disk and place in pan. Prick sides and bottom. Refrigerate for 30 minutes. Cover crust with parchment and fill with pie weights. Bake for 15 minutes. Remove pie weights and brush bottom with egg white. Bake an additional 15 minutes for a partially baked crust.

FILLING:

• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 Tablespoons Clear Jel
• 1/3 cup cornstarch
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 cup fresh blueberries
• 1 cup strawberries
• 6 cups frozen raspberries, blueberries and blackberries 
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon lemon zest
• 2 tablespoons cold butter, cut into small pieces

Mix sugar, clear jel and cinnamon in large bowl. Add berries and lemon juice and zest, toss gently. Spoon mixture into pastry-lined pie plate. Dot with butter. Top with pie crust designs. Seal and flute edge. 

Bake 50 to 60 minutes until crust is golden brown and filling is bubbly. Cool on wire rack.