Aimee Altizer from Flourish Bakery said the #1 tip with pie is to keep your dough cold - through mixing, rolling, and prior to baking. Cold dough stays flakey, and bakes the best - holding its shape and not having a meltdown in the oven.
She's sharing her recipe and some other great tips to make sure you get the perfect pie crust this holiday season:
1. Mix flour and salt in mixer
2. Add cold butter and mix until mealy
3. Whisk together cream and water. Add to flour with mixer on low speed. Mix just until dough comes together.
4. Press dough into a disc and wrap in plastic. Refrigerate until very cold, several hours or overnight, before rolling.
Other tips include:
- For a single crust pie (pecan or pumpkin) fully bake the crust with pie weights before filling with custard and baking. While this seems like you might be over baking the crust the truth is - the crust, once filled will not bake any further. If the edges begin to get darker than desired, cover just the edges with foil while the custard continues to bake.
- Pie dough made with butter and cream (*dairy) will be done when it is a nice dark golden color, this is called caramelization. Dough made from shortening or margarine will not get the beautiful color of a dough made with butter and cream - in fact when these doughs have a beautiful caramelized color they are actually burned.
- Bake a custard pie (pumpkin or pecan) at 300 F - this will keep the eggs from getting a curdled texture. This same rule holds true for creme brulee and creme caramel.
- Want custard pies to bake a little faster? Pour warm custard into a warm pie shell and place in an oven preheated to 300 F. Holiday baking takes long enough - no need to be held hostage by your pie!
- Custard pies can be baked a day or two ahead and held in the refrigerator (separate from onions or any strong smells)
- Fruit pies can be baked a day ahead and held at room temperature; if desired, warmed at 300 before cutting and serving with freshly whipped cream or ice cream.
To order your Flourish Bakery pie or to see all their baked goods go to flourishslc.org
