“It’s the most wonderful time of the year!”
And mostly because of pie.
In my pastry business, pie season is one of my busiest times of year. If you are in need of a couple tips for amazing pies, I’m going to wrap it up in 5 essential pie tips, right here, right now.
- Chill your ingredients – I always chill everything, including my tools before I make my pie dough. You want to keep some lovely butter chips in tact in your dough to get that flaky crust.
- Break often – Pie dough is temperamental. As you’re rolling it, it heats up those little butter chips and they melt into the dough. You will want to keep those butter chips intact, so stop and chill the dough as you roll, if needed. This would probably be a good time to have a glass of wine.
- Relax – I make my dough and then let it relax for a day in the fridge. The gluten needs to relax after getting all worked up in the mixing process.
- Golden topper – There’s a variety of different things you can use to make a nice golden crust. Eggs (egg wash), cream, milk…turbinado or raw sugar on top. Remember, if the crust starts to get too dark before the inside of the pie is done, place some aluminum foil on top to keep the crust from getting burnt.
- Freeze – Before I bake my pies, I always put them in the freezer and let the crust completely harden. This helps prevent shrinkage, and allows those beautiful butter chips to be nice and solid as it goes into the oven (ie. gives you a nice flaky crust.)
Good luck with all your pie baking this holiday season! And don’t forget to share your pie tips with us in the comments!
