Comments on: I Love Pie http://whatseatingbob.com/i-love-pie/ and What's Eating Bob? Fri, 30 Jul 2010 17:17:07 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7 hourly 1 By: Bob http://whatseatingbob.com/i-love-pie/comment-page-1/#comment-22 Bob Sun, 14 Sep 2008 06:53:23 +0000 http://whatseatingbob.com/?p=51#comment-22 Thanks for the comments Melinda. Everything you say is what Julia says as well. Don't over-work the dough and keep everything as cool as possible. I even stick the rolling pin in the freezer. Thanks for the comments Melinda. Everything you say is what Julia says as well. Don’t over-work the dough and keep everything as cool as possible. I even stick the rolling pin in the freezer.

]]> By: Melinda http://whatseatingbob.com/i-love-pie/comment-page-1/#comment-21 Melinda Sun, 14 Sep 2008 06:04:56 +0000 http://whatseatingbob.com/?p=51#comment-21 Having studied cooking (not pastry making, which is a whole other field) in France for 18 months, my husband assumed I would be good at making his favorite thing in the world: pie. He was wrong. Pie is not "easy". It has taken me years to perfect my crust, but now that I have, it's fool-proof and I live in Seattle. The trick is to use the same amount of frozen butter as frozen shortening (which I measure out in triplicate the night before and chop into little pieces and freeze). Did I mention that I freeze everything? If I am going to go to the trouble of making a damn pie, I am going to make 3 crusts and freeze whatever I don't use. So a couple of other tricks: since nearly every fruit pie needs to be made in the summer when it's 90 degrees in my kitchen so I can make it with fresh fruit I put down a large cookie sheet on my pastry board filled with ice cubes and water for at least 20 minutes prior to rolling out my crust, which, once put together is cooling in the freezer in a disc before I roll it out. That trick is maybe the best one to keep the crust really cold while rolling out a frozen slab o' dough. Yeah, I drip sweat onto it, usually, but the end result is a flaky crust beyond compare. The reason you want to keep everything cold and not to overwork it is so while the crust is baking, bits of butter/shortening melt between the bits of flour. When I roll my crust into the pie dish, I do always take a moment to look at the lovely chunks of frozen fat fatly sandwiched between flour. It never ceases to amaze me. And I do make my crust in the cuisinart, but am a fanatic about only whirling it for a moment between tablespoons of ice water just until it begins to hold. Plus, I roll it out between 2 sheets of parchment paper. That really helps get it smoothly into the pie dish and keeps my actual sweat off the dough. So my advice? Fat and freezing. Always works. My recipe is available upon request. I really hate it when chefs don't divulge their secrets. Happy pie making! ~~Melinda Lucas Having studied cooking (not pastry making, which is a whole other field) in France for 18 months, my husband assumed I would be good at making his favorite thing in the world: pie. He was wrong. Pie is not “easy”. It has taken me years to perfect my crust, but now that I have, it’s fool-proof and I live in Seattle. The trick is to use the same amount of frozen butter as frozen shortening (which I measure out in triplicate the night before and chop into little pieces and freeze). Did I mention that I freeze everything? If I am going to go to the trouble of making a damn pie, I am going to make 3 crusts and freeze whatever I don’t use. So a couple of other tricks: since nearly every fruit pie needs to be made in the summer when it’s 90 degrees in my kitchen so I can make it with fresh fruit I put down a large cookie sheet on my pastry board filled with ice cubes and water for at least 20 minutes prior to rolling out my crust, which, once put together is cooling in the freezer in a disc before I roll it out. That trick is maybe the best one to keep the crust really cold while rolling out a frozen slab o’ dough. Yeah, I drip sweat onto it, usually, but the end result is a flaky crust beyond compare. The reason you want to keep everything cold and not to overwork it is so while the crust is baking, bits of butter/shortening melt between the bits of flour. When I roll my crust into the pie dish, I do always take a moment to look at the lovely chunks of frozen fat fatly sandwiched between flour. It never ceases to amaze me. And I do make my crust in the cuisinart, but am a fanatic about only whirling it for a moment between tablespoons of ice water just until it begins to hold. Plus, I roll it out between 2 sheets of parchment paper. That really helps get it smoothly into the pie dish and keeps my actual sweat off the dough. So my advice? Fat and freezing. Always works. My recipe is available upon request. I really hate it when chefs don’t divulge their secrets. Happy pie making! ~~Melinda Lucas

]]> By: Pat Koehler http://whatseatingbob.com/i-love-pie/comment-page-1/#comment-12 Pat Koehler Fri, 22 Aug 2008 01:20:33 +0000 http://whatseatingbob.com/?p=51#comment-12 Hi Bob, I loved your pie stories! And everything else you've written since you began your blog. Can't wait to read your meatloaf stories, but I have an idea what part of it may be about. Keep on writing! Love, Pat Hi Bob,

I loved your pie stories! And everything else you’ve written since you began your blog. Can’t wait to read your meatloaf stories, but I have an idea what part of it may be about. Keep on writing!

Love,
Pat

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