Pie and Pastry Bible (5 page)

PATCHING FLAKY PIE CRUST

If a crack should develop in the center of the dough, cut off a little piece from the edge and place it over the crack. Dust it lightly with flour, cover with the plastic wrap, if using, and roll it into the dough. When transferring the dough to the pan, have the patched side facing down so that the smooth perfect side shows.

CUTTING FLAKY PIE CRUST

I find it easiest and most precise to cut out the circle of dough before transferring it to the pie or tart pan. (To determine the size, see Measuring the Pan, page 8.) Use an expandable flan ring as a guide, because it can expand to the desired diameter and then also cut through the dough. A cardboard template and the tip of a sharp knife work just as well.

Remove the top sheet of plastic wrap before cutting the dough. If the dough is very soft and sticky, replace the plastic wrap on the dough, slip the dough onto a baking sheet large enough to hold it flat, and refrigerate it for 5 to 10 minutes, until it is firm but still flexible, before fitting it into the pan.

TRANSFERRING FLAKY PIE CRUST TO THE PAN

There are three ways to accomplish this without stretching or tearing the dough. My preference is to fold it gently in fourths, center the point in the pan, and unfold it, easing it into the pan without stretching it. If the surface of the dough softens and becomes sticky, rub it very lightly with flour before folding it into fourths. The dough can also be wrapped loosely around the rolling pin and then lowered, centered, and draped into the pan. If the dough is not at all soft or sticky, you can slip your hands under it, palms down, and then lift it into the pan.

FITTING THE BOTTOM CRUST AND PLACING THE TOP CRUST

Ease the dough into the pan (or flan ring set on a baking sheet) without stretching it. Press it gently against the sides.

For a two-crust pie,
trim the dough, if necessary, to about ½ inch past the edge of the pie pan. After you fill the pie, brush this edge with a little water. Place the top crust over the filling. Tuck the overhang under the bottom crust border and press down all around the top to seal it.

SHAPING THE BORDER

For a pie shell or flan ring,
you can leave the border plain for a rustic look or create a decorative edge. If your fingers are warm, dip them occasionally in a bowl of ice water and dry them well. If the edge softens slightly, dip your fingers in flour as necessary (a little extra flour will help to hold its shape during baking, but be sure to brush off any excess loose flour after chilling, because on baking it will become bitter); if the dough becomes very soft, it is preferable to cover and chill it before proceeding.

For a two-crust pie,
crimp or flute the border, using a fork or your fingers. Refrigerate the pie for 1 hour to set the crust and help hold the design of the border. (If desired, you can freeze all fruit pies, well wrapped, for at least 12 hours and up to 3 months before baking. Baking from frozen guarantees a crisp bottom crust and the best-shaped edge. Cut the steam vents just before baking.)

For a tart,
press the dough against the fluted sides of the pan. Turn down the edge about ¼ inch so that it extends only about
inch above the top of the pan. Using the back edge of a knife blade, held at an angle, make decorative marks all around.

CUTTING STEAM VENTS

In a two-crust pie, the bubbling filling produces steam toward the end of baking, which, without an “escape valve,” will cause the edges of the pie to burst open and some of the filling to spill out of the crust. Steam vents are cut into the top crust to control this steam pressure. For most pies with top crusts, five simple slashes, evenly achieved with a sharp knife, are enough to solve the problem. For fruits that release a lot of juice, such as cherry or grape, simple slashes reseal during baking, so it is best to use a lattice top crust or a top crust with large decorative openings that cannot reseal.

To make a top crust with decorative openings,
after rolling and cutting the dough disc, use a small decorative cutter to stamp out the dough. Remove the pieces of dough with the tip of a knife or toothpick and reserve them to apply as appliqués (see Blackberry Pie, page 115), or wrap them well and freeze for future use.

Slip the top crust onto a cookie sheet and freeze it for about 5 minutes so that when you are transferring it to the pie, the cutouts do not deform.

Before baking a pie, be sure to brush off any remaining flour from the top surface of the dough, as it would give the dough a bitter taste after baking.

MAKING DECORATIVE CUTOUTS

Instead of leaving a top crust in one piece and cutting out decorative openings, the dough can be cut into decorative shapes, such as butterflies or leaves, with a knife or cookie cutter and overlapped on top of the filling before baking the pie (see Designer Cherry Pie, page 95). A few whimsical cutouts can be shaped from dough scraps and placed on the top crust (see Chicken Potpie, page 323). To make cutouts: Roll the dough
inch thick or slightly under, as for a pie crust. (If using the recommended baking powder in the crust, the cutouts will puff a bit.) Chill or freeze the dough until firm before cutting out shapes with a cookie cutter dipped in flour or free-form with the top of a sharp knife. Chill again before lifting away the trimmings.

I sometimes like to use baked cutouts to set on top of unbaked fruit fillings (with or without bottom crusts) that don’t get baked, such as the Fresh Blueberry Pie (page 106). For a crunchy effect, brush the dough lightly with milk or egg white and sprinkle it with sugar before baking. Bake in a preheated 425°F. oven for 12 minutes or until golden. Cool on a rack and set on the cooked filling.

SCRAPS

Lay the pieces of dough side by side, overlapping them just enough so that there are no spaces. Wrap them in plastic and refrigerate until firm, about 30 minutes. Roll the dough between plastic wrap to avoid working in extra flour and fold it in thirds as you would a business letter. Roll lightly over it and wrap it well with plastic wrap. (Use Saran plastic wrap, which does not breathe, if you are freezing it.) Place it in a reclosable freezer bag and chill it until firm, or freeze it. I have made a pie with well-wrapped two-year-old scraps that still had excellent flavor and a flaky texture. For a full-size pie, defrost as many pieces of rolled-out leftover dough as needed: Allow them to defrost refrigerated for at least 3 hours, then remove them to room temperature until they can be rolled out. Stack one piece on top of another and roll to the size you need.

MAKING A LATTICE CRUST

A regular or open lattice crust is one in which the strips of dough are set far enough apart to show the pie filling in between. A tightly woven lattice is made essentially the same way but the strips abut each other, leaving no spaces in between. For a pie with a tightly woven lattice, make enough dough for a double-crust pie. Roll the dough for the lattice as thin as possible, as the overlapping of the tightly spaced strips will give you double the thickness of crust.

It is possible to make the lattice on a baking sheet and then to slide it onto the pie. I prefer to make it directly on the pie so it can be placed exactly where I want it to be. If you are nervous about having enough dough, you can add the scraps from the bottom crust to the dough for the lattice (see Scraps, page 15), but be sure to chill it before rolling. I find ¾-inch-wide strips, cut with a pastry jagger, to be the most attractive, as they leave enough space in between to view the pie filling without looking skimpy after slight shrinking. If not using a jagger, make them
inch instead. To make even strips, a clear plastic ruler is indispensable.

Roll the dough into an oval, 10 inches long by 8 inches wide. (Not all the strips need to be 10 inches long. As you get to the sides of the pie, the length decreases.) Starting at the left edge with a pastry jagger, pizza cutter, or sharp knife, trim off a small amount to create an even edge. Place the ruler on top so that the left edge of the pastry is ¾ inch from the right edge of the ruler. With the middle finger and thumb of your left hand, hold the ruler firmly in place toward the top and bottom and cut along the right edge. Lift away the strip and set it on the counter while cutting the remaining strips. There should be 10 (24 for a tightly woven lattice).

Arrange half the strips evenly over the filling. Gently curve back every other strip a little past the center and place another strip perpendicular on top. Uncurve the strips so that they lie flat on top of the perpendicular strip. Working in the same direction, curve back the strips that were not curved back the first time. Lay a second perpendicular strip on top and uncurve the strips. Continue in this manner with the third perpendicular strip, curving back the strips that were curved back the first time. Apply the remaining 2 strips to the other side of the pie, starting toward the center and working in the opposite direction toward the edge; remember always to alternate the strips that are curved back so that the strips weave in and out.

Use sharp scissors to trim the strips to a ½-inch overhang. Moisten the dough under each strip with egg white or water and tuck the overhang under the bottom crust border, pressing down to make it adhere. Leave the border plain, or crimp it if desired.

BAKING FLAKY PIE CRUST

My feeling about pie crust is that if the bottom crust is soggy, I’d just as soon not have it. Fruit pies, because of their luscious, juicy filling, often do have a soggy bottom crust, but there are ways to prevent this. When a pie does not have a top crust, I almost always fully prebake the bottom crust and brush it with a half an egg white or two tablespoons of a thick fruit preserve, strained. For custard-type pies, I sometimes sprinkle the bottom with compatibly flavored cookie crumbs, such as gingersnaps in the case of Great Pumpkin Pie (page 198).

Two-crust pies, however, require other solutions. Some bakers like to roll the bottom pie dough out on graham cracker crumbs. This helps to absorb moisture and keep the bottom from getting soggy, but I don’t like the flavor graham crackers add. In many ovens, baking the pie directly on the floor of the oven will produce a crisp crust without burning it. In my oven, it works perfectly to bake it on the floor of the oven or on a baking stone set on the floor of the oven for 1 hour at 375°F. or 30 minutes at 425°F. before raising it to the lower shelf. (A large fancy raised edge will droop when so close to the heat source, so a smaller one becomes necessary in this case.) Try this the first time in a Pyrex pie plate so that you can monitor the degree of browning and move it up in the oven if it is browning too much. If the top of the pie is not browning adequately, raise it to the top shelf for the last 10 minutes of baking. Alternatively, preheating a baking stone or baking sheet on the lower rack also helps. Using a dark baking pan that absorbs and conducts the heat, a glass one that transmits it through radiant heat, or a ceramic one that retains heat well, aids in browning.

Another solution is freezing a fruit pie before baking it. The crust, which is closer to the pan than the filling, starts to bake before the fruit begins to defrost, and bakes longer than it would normally. (If you want to freeze a pie for several
weeks or months and need the pie plate, line the pie plate first with plastic wrap or foil. When the pie is fully frozen, it can be lifted out and wrapped airtight. When ready to bake the pie, simply unwrap it, slash the top, and pop it into the pan in which it was formed.)