COOKING TIP: Pie Making

 COOKING TIP: Pie Making

 When making a custard type pie, make sure that the raw pie crust is placed in a HOT oven to ensure the crust is nice and crisp.. However. to prevent curdling of the custard, when the crust is crisp,  add the custard filling and reduce the temperature to medium to finish the pie

Alternatively, when making a cream or custard filled pie, coat the pre-baked pie shell with a thin coat of chocolate, milk, dark or white, before you add the filling. This will form a barrier between crust and filling and prevent the crust from becoming soggy from the moisture in the filling.

Line fruit pie crust with 1/3 cup, each, of all-purpose flour, ground nuts and sugar and put fruit on top. This will absorb the liquid extruded from fruit when pie is baked.

To stop meringue from shrinking away from the sides of pie when you put the meringue on top, make sure it touches the pastry all around the edge. This way it will bake into the pastry and will not shrink.

To make a tender pie crust, substitute the cheapest 80 proof vodka for ½ the amount of water called for in your pie dough recipe. Water causes gluten to form in the flour used in your dough. Gluten is a large, coiled protein that makes pie dough tough. Adding the vodka (60% water/40% alcohol) provides enough moisture to roll the dough easily but reduces gluten formation because gluten does not form in alcohol. This vodka for water substitution in the pie crust will make a tender crust and the alcohol will evaporate when the pie is baked.

The same gluten considerations apply to batter for savory dishes, e.g. TEMPURA batter. In this case, replace 1/4 of the cold liquid (water, seltzer, beer, etc.) called for in the recipe with 80% vodka. Reduce gluten formation even further by substituting equal parts of rice flour (no wheat; no gluten) and unbleached cake flour (a soft winter wheat lower in gluten) for the all-purpose flour recommended in most tempura recipes.

PIE PASTRY rolled out on lightly floured waxed paper sheets can be inverted right over the pie plate, pressed in place, the paper can easily be peeled off  and the pie filling can be added..