Pie Crust Promises

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Today’s PieDay brings another guest post while I am on holidays. The lovely Kate Knowles from If You Can Make That You Can Make This  has written a gorgeous post for us all today. Her site is so unique, instead of pictures she uses illustrations for her food and I am so happy that she has written not only a lovely story for us all today about pie but included a gorgeous illustration for the post as well! Thank you Kate for this fabulous addition to my PieDays!

There seems o be a wealth of pie crust superstition that I had not been made aware of before now. Sure, my grandma would occasionally say that something was a pie crust promise (easily broken), and I thought that was the extent of it.

I was in a café in Soho last week, just about to tuck into my pecan pie when my usually quiet and mild mannered friend Lisa shouted “NO!” and swiped the fork out of my hand.

I think my look appropriately conveyed to her that I thought she’d lost her mind, so she muttered “sorry” and passed me a new fork. “It’s just, don’t eat it wrong,” she explained. “Don’t you want the wish?”

It turns out that folklore has it that if we eat a pie backwards, that is, from crust to pointy tip, we can make a wish on the last bite of pie.

“Has anybody else hard of this?” I asked a group of assembled friends. 7 from 11 had. Pretty convincing.

It makes me think of all the pie I must have eaten in my life and how different things might be now had I cashed in on the wishing opportunity.

There was nothing for it. I would have to bake more pie, cut slices, eat them properly, and wish on the tips. How thin can you cut pie I wondered. Pretty thin, it turns out. Usually this recipe would yield 6 – 8 slice servings, but if you have a good sharp knife and a lot of things to wish for …

 

Peach and Raspberry pie

9 inch pie dish (or something close)

8 oz flour

4 oz cold fat – I use half butter half lard, which gives a light crisp flaky crust. Butter tends to make a harder crust. Tip from my grandma.

1 tbsp ish of ice cold water

Pinch of salt

1 – 2 tbsp sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 tbsp corn starch (cornfour)

4 – 5 peaches

2 tbsp lemon juice

1 cup raspberries

cream or ice cream to serve

 

• Sift the flour into a bowl with the salt, and cut up the cold butter and lard into a dice
• Tip the fat into the flour and rub through your fingers until the mixture resembles sand. If the mixture becomes oily, chill in the fridge for 5 mins then carry on. (You can do this in a food processor, in which case blitz for about 1 minute.)
• Add 1 tbsp of ice cold water and mix with a knife to bring the dough together. If the dough is still like sand add more water a tsp at a time until the dough forms a ball. (in the processor, add the water down the feed tube and pulse to bring the dough together, finishing with your hands)
• Wrap the dough in plastic wrap (or in a ziplock bag) and rest in the fridge for at least half an hour
• Pre heat the oven to 425 f (about 220c)
• Cut the dough into two lumps – one a little larger than the other. Roll the larger piece out on a floured surface until it’s about 14 inches round. Roll it up over the rolling pin, then into a 9 inch pie dish. It should come up over the sides. Trim the excess
• Slice the peaches and toss with the raspberries and some sugar if they are a bit sharp. Stir in the corn starch (this makes the fruit juices thicken into a sauce when they cook) and the lemon juice and cinnamon, then spoon into the pie
• Roll out the other pastry disk to about 12 inches round, wet your finger with cold water and dibble it around the pastry in the pie dish, then drape over the second pastry disk and press around the edge with the tines of a fork to seal the pie.
• Cut a few holes in the top to let the steam out
• Bake the pie for about 30 mins until the pastry is crisp. Check about 20 mins in – you may want to cover the edge of the lid with foil to stop it burning.

 

If You Can Make That You Can Make This

• Make a deep filled apple pie by peeling, coring and chopping 2 cups of apples, dusting with corn flour , cinnamon and sugar, then baking in the pie crust as above
• Or use apples and blackberries
• Or pears, cinnamon and honey and a grating of orange zest
• Or raspberries and cherries (and a generous dusting of corn starch to turn the juices into a thick sauce)
• Or any of these tarts and pies

 

Kate Knowles

www.makethatmakethis.com