Secrets For The Perfect Pie

Pies are so beloved, there’s even a National Pie Day. But you don’t need a holiday to make a pie. Pies are an ideal dessert any time of the year. In some households, they aren’t even relegated to an after-meal treat.

Fruit pie for breakfast, anyone?

• Start with a terrific recipe. Check out Our Deer’s pie recipes for scrumptious, unique pies.
• For a flaky pie crust, a pastry cutter works best. Cut the ingredients until the flour and shortening mixture has balls slightly smaller than the size of tiny peas.
• When adding water to the crust ingredients, make sure it’s ice cold. Butter or shortening should also be chilled in the freezer before making the dough.
• A little lemon juice or vinegar makes the crust more tender.
• Choose your ingredients carefully. Shortening and lard give a flakier crust, while butter makes the crust more flavorful.
• Don’t work the crust dough too much. Use a food processor to help keep the ingredients colder and mix until the dough just sticks together. Working it any longer will make the crust tougher.
• Chill the dough before rolling it out, and once more before filling it or baking it.
• Use the right pan: Glass or dull-metal work best.
• To make a pie that slides right out of the pan (whole or in slices), spray the pie pan with a little nonstick vegetable shortening, or grease and flour it.
• Avoid glazes. Although they look pretty, they are tough and seal in the excess moisture of the filling.
• To prevent a soggy bottom crust, brush with egg white or melted chocolate and refrigerate for about 15 minutes before filling the crust.
• To thicken fruit pies without changing their flavor, use potato starch. High acid fillings (such as cherries) do better with a little quick-cooking tapioca.
• To improve the flavor of fruit pies, macerate the fruit, boil, and reduce the resulting juices for use in the pie.
• To avoid over-browning the crust, cover the edges with foil after the first 15 minutes of baking.
• If a double layer pie’s crust is browning too quickly, cover it with foil in which you’ve cut a hole or slits that allow steam to escape.
• If your meringue pie will need to sit around for a bit, try four or five marshmallows cut into pieces into it, just before spreading.

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