I made pie!
Jan. 26th, 2009 07:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gmonkey42The lab had a pie competition today and I made a pie! I didn't win the grand prize but I got a "Great Effort! [translation: Everybody Gets A Ribbon]" ribbon. I made Custard Berry Pie; I downloaded a recipe for the crust from allrecipes.com and another for the custard and then the berry topping was my own addition. Some of the pies were ultra sweet and mine was less sweet. The custard was a little bland; next time I'll add vanilla.
I didn't think of getting a picture until after it was eaten but it looks something like this. (Ignore the other pie recipe! Pirate Monkeys Inc. does not endorse non-GMonkey pies!)
Here's the recipe:
pie crust (for 8-8.5 inch tin)
Whisk together the salt, sugar and flour. Blob in the shortening and - this is important - use a pastry cutter, which you have conveniently already bought for the purpose, to cut in the shortening until you have coarse crumbles. It is also possible to use a butter knife or a pair of knives but this takes longer and you'll wish you had a pastry cutter. The idea is to have a heterogeneous mixture, so you still have little blobs of shortening; this makes the crust nice and flaky. Then add a little dribble of water at a time and toss the crumbs with a fork until they stick together. You seriously hardly need any water. Then gently smoosh the dough into a ball, wrap it in plastic, and stick it in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. Wait a while so the crust will be ready to roll out when the custard is ready.
custard
Preheat oven to 425°F. Whisk together the eggs and sugar. The recipe wasn't all that specific about whether you're just supposed to mix it with a whisk or whip the hell out of it or what. I whisked it at a moderate speed (by hand) until it was combined and that worked. The recipe then said to heat the milk in a saucepan on the stove, but you just have to get it warm so I suspect microwaving it would also be fine. You just want to make sure it's warm but not so hot that it cooks the eggs. If you can stick your finger in and not get scalded, it's probably OK. Also remember to wash your hands before you start baking. Or at least after.
Meanwhile, the pie crust has probably had its 30 minutes by now, so take it out and roll it thin enough that it'll fill the pie tin. One awesome trick I've found for baking: I have a silicon sheet for baking cookies on and I can also roll dough on it (with my cutting board under the sheet). The dough still sticks a little, I still have to put some flour on the surface, BUT the silicon sheet is flexible so I can put the pie tin on top, flip it over, take away the cutting board, then peel off the sheet and there's my dough perfectly in the pie tin! Also the sheet is good for baking cookies on; I used to use parchment paper but the sheet is reusable and dishwasher-safe. It is my new baking best friend. Well, it was until I got a convection oven**. Anyway.
So the pie crust is ready and did I mention heat up the milk while you're fiddling with the crust? Yeah, do that. Slowly pour the warm milk into the egg mixture while whisking, same speed as before. At this point try adding vanilla (let me know how that turns out!). Pour the custard mixture into the pie crust. Try to make a fancy, wavy design on the crust; realize it's too thin in places and that seeing someone make a wavy design on a pie crust on TV one time doesn't mean you know how to do it; make a simple pattern with a fork instead.
Berry topping
Bake for a further 25 minutes at 350°. Cool the pie on a wire rack then move it to the fridge and let it equilibrate at about 35°F (mine was exactly 35°. My fridge has a digital thermostat. I love my kitchen); this will take an hour or two. Play The Sims for a while.
When the pie is chilled, prepare the Jello according to the package directions. Pile the remaining whole berries on top of the pie and pour a little Jello over them. This will help them stick together so they don't all fall off when you slice the pie. You will have way more Jello than you need. Pour the rest into a bowl and eat it later. Chill until the Jello is set. Serve and win a "participant" ribbon :D
* A note on shortening: If you want a flaky crust, use all Crisco. If you want a denser crust, use half Crisco (or other vegetable shortening) and half butter - this is good for quiche. Whatever shortening you use, it must be chilled! Lard is also an option but being a vegetarian, I don't know how that works.
** Incidentally, the temperatures I'm giving are for a regular oven. My convection oven automatically subtracts 25° from whatever temperature I set. I haven't experimented with it enough to know for sure but this doesn't seem to affect the cooking time much, if at all. I've had to cook some things about 3 minutes extra; others have not needed extra time. I think if it's a low temperature, it shouldn't have as much as 25° subtracted. I mean, that makes sense, right? Proportionally it's a greater change than, say, 425° vs 400°.
I didn't think of getting a picture until after it was eaten but it looks something like this. (Ignore the other pie recipe! Pirate Monkeys Inc. does not endorse non-GMonkey pies!)
Here's the recipe:
pie crust (for 8-8.5 inch tin)
- 1 1/4 cups flour
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup shortening, chilled
- 2-3 Tbsp ice water
Whisk together the salt, sugar and flour. Blob in the shortening and - this is important - use a pastry cutter, which you have conveniently already bought for the purpose, to cut in the shortening until you have coarse crumbles. It is also possible to use a butter knife or a pair of knives but this takes longer and you'll wish you had a pastry cutter. The idea is to have a heterogeneous mixture, so you still have little blobs of shortening; this makes the crust nice and flaky. Then add a little dribble of water at a time and toss the crumbs with a fork until they stick together. You seriously hardly need any water. Then gently smoosh the dough into a ball, wrap it in plastic, and stick it in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. Wait a while so the crust will be ready to roll out when the custard is ready.
custard
- 2 eggs
- 2 Tbsp sugar. Alternatively, use 1 Tbsp Splenda-for-baking. Or do what I did and add 2 Tbsp of Splenda then realize you're only supposed to use half as much Splenda as sugar; throw it away and start over.
- 1 1/4 cups milk
Preheat oven to 425°F. Whisk together the eggs and sugar. The recipe wasn't all that specific about whether you're just supposed to mix it with a whisk or whip the hell out of it or what. I whisked it at a moderate speed (by hand) until it was combined and that worked. The recipe then said to heat the milk in a saucepan on the stove, but you just have to get it warm so I suspect microwaving it would also be fine. You just want to make sure it's warm but not so hot that it cooks the eggs. If you can stick your finger in and not get scalded, it's probably OK. Also remember to wash your hands before you start baking. Or at least after.
Meanwhile, the pie crust has probably had its 30 minutes by now, so take it out and roll it thin enough that it'll fill the pie tin. One awesome trick I've found for baking: I have a silicon sheet for baking cookies on and I can also roll dough on it (with my cutting board under the sheet). The dough still sticks a little, I still have to put some flour on the surface, BUT the silicon sheet is flexible so I can put the pie tin on top, flip it over, take away the cutting board, then peel off the sheet and there's my dough perfectly in the pie tin! Also the sheet is good for baking cookies on; I used to use parchment paper but the sheet is reusable and dishwasher-safe. It is my new baking best friend. Well, it was until I got a convection oven**. Anyway.
So the pie crust is ready and did I mention heat up the milk while you're fiddling with the crust? Yeah, do that. Slowly pour the warm milk into the egg mixture while whisking, same speed as before. At this point try adding vanilla (let me know how that turns out!). Pour the custard mixture into the pie crust. Try to make a fancy, wavy design on the crust; realize it's too thin in places and that seeing someone make a wavy design on a pie crust on TV one time doesn't mean you know how to do it; make a simple pattern with a fork instead.
Berry topping
- roughly 9oz of the berries of your choice. Myabe 12oz just to be safe. I used a (6oz) box each of blueberries, raspberries and blackberries and that was about twice what I needed.
- 1 Tbsp sugar
- berry Jello OR vegetarian fruit jelly made from agar, which comes from seaweed (it's true!)
- also an egg
Bake for a further 25 minutes at 350°. Cool the pie on a wire rack then move it to the fridge and let it equilibrate at about 35°F (mine was exactly 35°. My fridge has a digital thermostat. I love my kitchen); this will take an hour or two. Play The Sims for a while.
When the pie is chilled, prepare the Jello according to the package directions. Pile the remaining whole berries on top of the pie and pour a little Jello over them. This will help them stick together so they don't all fall off when you slice the pie. You will have way more Jello than you need. Pour the rest into a bowl and eat it later. Chill until the Jello is set. Serve and win a "participant" ribbon :D
* A note on shortening: If you want a flaky crust, use all Crisco. If you want a denser crust, use half Crisco (or other vegetable shortening) and half butter - this is good for quiche. Whatever shortening you use, it must be chilled! Lard is also an option but being a vegetarian, I don't know how that works.
** Incidentally, the temperatures I'm giving are for a regular oven. My convection oven automatically subtracts 25° from whatever temperature I set. I haven't experimented with it enough to know for sure but this doesn't seem to affect the cooking time much, if at all. I've had to cook some things about 3 minutes extra; others have not needed extra time. I think if it's a low temperature, it shouldn't have as much as 25° subtracted. I mean, that makes sense, right? Proportionally it's a greater change than, say, 425° vs 400°.
