Comments on: Building Your Pie on a Firm Foundation

By: Corduroy Orange » Blog Archive » Easter Dessert Recommendations

Corduroy Orange » Blog Archive » Easter Dessert Recommendations — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 13:22:19 +0000

[...] Well, how comfortable are you making your own pie crusts? It’s really fairly easy to do, requires only ingredients you’re likely to have on hand, and even if the crust doesn’t come out perfectly; it still is better than a storebought crust. From there, you can go about anywhere. [...]

By: Corduroy Orange » Blog Archive » Counter-Intuitive Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

Wed, 13 Jun 2007 02:18:12 +0000

[...] Turn your oven to 450 F to preheat. Then, make a pie crust for a one crust pie, except in place of the extraneous spices suggested in my recipe, use a bit of curry powder instead. I wish I could offer more guidance than that, but the crust was something that I made just off the cuff & in a hurry, so I wasn’t measuring anything apart from my flour and butter. I didn’t even measure my water: I just went straight from the Brita filter until it looked right, and I was pleased to discover that after four years of making my own crusts, I’ve gotten to the point where I can just splash water in and have it come out correctly—which is encouragement for you to keep practicing your crusts even if you don’t think they come out perfectly: over time, the results improve; besides which, a poorly made homemade crust is preferable to a high-quality store bought crust because it shows an extra level of caring. If I had to guess, I’d say it was about 1/2 to 3/4 of a tablespoon of curry powder, but that’s just a guess. Refrigerate the crust dough while you mix the filling. For the pie filling, core and slice 2 cups of strawberries in large chunks. Cut the ends from and then slice two cups of rhubarb. I cut my rhubarb into a variety of sizes so that it would cook down to various textures: the large (1/2-inch cube) chunks survive in somewhat solid form; the itty-bitty guys (sliver-thin slices) basically cook into the sauce and infuse their flavor; plus there’s a range in between. I’d go with about 1/4 total volume each the little tiny guys and the big boys, with the remaining half being moderately sized. Also, don’t be too concerned with having exactly two cups of each rhubarb and strawberries. If you’ve got a little more than that, what’s the worst that can happen? You wind up with a slightly bigger pie. Pick the leaves from four stems’ worth of oregano. Cut it chiffonade–that means to roll the leaves up the long way (as a group) and then cut thin ribbons from them: as thinly as you can. Toss the chiffonade of oregano in with the strawberries and rhubarb. [...]

By: Corduroy Orange » Blog Archive » Preparing for Potlucks

Corduroy Orange » Blog Archive » Preparing for Potlucks — Fri, 01 Dec 2006 20:19:26 +0000

[...] Quiche To begin, make a batch of pie crust dough. Wrap it up and refrigerate it while you prepare the filling. Then, preheat your oven to 350 degrees. For the egg mixture, beat four eggs with a cup of milk, a little bit of salt (but not much because the cheese adds a fair amount of salt), a little bit of pepper (I usually use cayenne, somewhere in the neighborhood of 1/3 tsp or so), some thyme, some basil, and a pinch of nutmeg, which Rob stresses is “essential” to the success of your quiche. [...]

By: Aurora

Aurora — Sat, 11 Nov 2006 15:41:52 +0000

I had never made my own pie crust before today, when I made a double version of this recipe. Surprisingly, it really wasn’t that hard, though I must admit I’m not great at rolling it out–yet. My only word of caution is to not add more water even if you think it needs some. I was convinced that my crusts needed more water, but stuck it out through a couple minutes of mixing by hand and realized the water amount was perfect.