For some people Thanksgiving is about the turkey, but for other people the turkey dinner is just a formality before dessert. Thanksgiving is a time for pies, and serving homemade pies is the ultimate treat for your guests.
Too often, however, people fall back on pies from the grocery store instead of making their own pies. Getting a pie from the store is convenient but such pies lack the flavor of a homemade pie and you do not get the joy of indulging in and sharing a dessert you created yourself.
Time is the usual barrier that prevents people from baking homemade pies for Thanksgiving. In addition to the time issue, the host or hostess might believe that baking a pie would be too difficult.
As someone who has been baking pies for twenty years, and always for Thanksgiving, I can acknowledge that they do require two to three hours worth of effort, but for half of that time the pie is in the oven. With some planning and self confidence, you can avoid having to say that your pie is from the store. Instead you can listen to praise from your friends and family when you present a genuine homemade pie. To help you and even encourage you to make homemade pie for your Thanksgiving dinner, I offer the following tips for pie baking.
Thanksgiving Pie Making Tips
1. Making the pastry crust for the pie is one of the more intimidating elements of the process. You have to be careful when forming the dough and you face a high probability of tears and breaks in the dough after it is rolled and you are transferring it to the pan. The first thing to remember is that you can patch tears in the dough once you have it in the pan. You simply pat and press the dough back together with a little water to seal the edges together. And you can use bits of excess dough from the edges to make patches. If you do have a huge disaster and you feel that you cannot repair the crust, then I recommend starting over with a fresh batch of dough. Re-rolling dough will result in a tough and unpleasant pastry.
2. If the challenges of making a pie crust have always held you back from attempting pie baking, then you should try pumpkin pie. It only requires a single bottom crust (much easier than a double crust) and pumpkin pie is a traditional choice for Thanksgiving.
3. To roll the dough, shape the dough first into a ball and then flatten it. Roll it on a floured surface with a floured rolling pin. Always start in the center of the dough with your rolling pin and roll toward the edge. Slightly decrease the pressure on the pin as you approach the edge.
4. Having a plan B is always a good idea. If crust creation stymies you, then you can purchase some ready-to-use pie crusts and have them on standby in the refrigerator. Although I have never used any of these pie crust products, baker and author Ken Haedrich in his book "Pie: 300 Tried-and-True Recipes for Delicious Homemade Pie" acknowledged that refrigerator pie crusts from the store offer a convenient alternative with "good, if not quite homemade" taste. Haedrich recommended taking the pie crust out of the refrigerator 15 minutes before you want to use it to increase its pliability. As for pie crusts from the grocer's freezer, he did not like them as much as the refrigerated variety.
5. Making pie fillings is much easier than the crusts. For pumpkin pie you will simply blend all the ingredients in the recipe with a mixer. And fruit pies only need the fruit to be peeled and cut and mixed with the other ingredients. As long as you have a recipe to follow, you should be able to make a great filling without any trouble.
6. When baking your pie, be aware that the baking time given by the recipe may not be accurate. Oven temperatures and performance vary, so you will need to monitor the progress of your pie while it is in the oven for signs of doneness. With a pumpkin pie, you test the custard filling by inserting a knife into the center. If no custard sticks to the knife, then the filling is cooked and you can remove the pie from the oven. If some custard sticks to the knife, continue to bake for another 5 or 10 minutes and then check again. Do not remove it until the knife test is successful.
For a fruit pie, you should not remove it from the oven until you see thick syrupy filling boiling and bubbling through the vents cut in the top crust. You do not have to wait for the filling to boil over, but you must see that it is boiling inside. If you take it out before the entire filling has started to boil, then the pie will not set properly and it will be runny. It can take up to an hour and a half for a pie, especially a deep dish, to cook all the way. Smaller pies can easily be done in an hour though. As a rule, start checking your pie 5 or 10 minutes prior to the baking time stated in the recipe.
7. Because your pie may need to stay in the oven for a while, you must wrap strips of aluminum foil around the edges of the pie crust when you are baking it. This will prevent the dreaded dark brown, burnt pastry edge. Many recipes fail to mention this crucial step, but do not forget the foil! You will remove the foil 10 or 15 minutes before baking is complete so the pastry edge can brown nicely. I usually remove the foil at the same time that I start to monitor the pie for signs of doneness.
8. My final bit of advice for baking homemade pies for Thanksgiving is not to do it on Thanksgiving day. Do it the day before. Who wants to try and get a turkey in the oven and a pie made on the same day? If you have to work all day on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, you can still make the pie that evening.
Pie making is a fun and rewarding activity. The results will be delicious and a fancy home-cooked Thanksgiving dinner is even more splendid when you can follow it up with homemade pie.
For more advice about getting ready for the holiday season, including Thanksgiving recipes, visit my Thanksgiving website Second Helpings. http://thanksgiving.falbepublishing.com
No comments:
Post a Comment