Seven Pies for Seven Brothers: Part One

You may be thinking to yourself why the heck would I be making

so many pies and how in the world do I know seven brothers,

well the answers are simple. First, I like pie. I also would like to

mention that the holidays are here and you all need to refresh

your traditional pie making habits. Seven brothers, no. I just

hijacked the name, but if I end up eating all of these on my

own I will be the size of seven brothers by New Years.

Step One: Revamp or Perfect your crust

Although its been a while since I've even tasted a store bought

pie (blasphemy!) my main complaint at the time is that the crust

either appeared to be made out of tissue paper and paper mache

or rolled out- sugary wall paper paste that absorbed the jelly

filling. Yeah, I've been making my own pies for years and a

damn good crust is something I kind of pride myself on.

Now I don't plan on divulging all my secrets of pie making to you

here and now, but I want to just state some simple things.

Be inventive and match your crust to your pie, it doesn't all

have to be the same basic pastry crust. Here I made a strawberry

pie with a chocolate crust by just adding a couple tablespoons

of sugar and cocoa powder to the mix.

Don't over mix your crust when you're preparing it.

When you add the oil (i.e. Earth Balance, vegetable shortening etc)

keep it in the form of little pea sized bits. They make pastry knife

do hickeys for exactly that purpose... Dough Blenders... I can't

recommend a specific one because I don't actually own one.

But they come in handy and are very easy to find. And if any

company wants to send me one to endorse, I'm certainly open to

that! The act of adding the oil into in the dry ingredients in the fashion

is called 'cutting'. You 'cut' the margarine into the flour. This ensures

a flakey crust, as the bits of oil will melt upon baking-- it will create

layers in your crust.

Do not knead or over mix your dough. We're not making freaking

bread here folks. If you over mix your dough, it will not be flakey.

Or worse, if you start to get into really mixing it you will activate

the gluten in your flour and it will get chewy and tough.

You can start to see this when you roll out cookies or a pie crust

multiple times.

Keep your surface floured lightly and evenly when rolling out.

The thing that pisses me off the most is when after rolling it out,

the crust sticks to the counter.

After rolling it out, trace the pie pan + an inch with a knife into

the crust. Fold it into quarters and place it that way into the pan.

This makes it easier to move and your crust won't tear.

Are you making a wet pie? If there is a lot of juice in the pie you are

making, like a fruit pie that I just did for Thanksgiving, than it is

important to prebake. Prebaking is simple, so don't look at it

as some sort of daunting task. After prepping your crust, just

throw it in the oven for about 8-10 minutes at 350F. This seals

it a little and prevents later sogginess. Another cool trick is

to brush the crust with soymilk before prebaking. Also try

that five minutes to the end of total baking time on the crust's

edge or top to add a beautiful gloss one would only expect with

egg whites!