Die hard 4H Women, turn your heads. My crusts will win no awards anywhere else but right here at my house, but that’s all that matters to me.
I am a purist when it comes to pie crusts. This doesn’t mean I make perfect crusts, but I’d rather serve an imperfect one I made myself than a perfect one I bought. I’m not that way in all areas of my life, but for this one I am.
So when I decided to make four pies for our open house two weeks ago, I was dreading it a bit. Because for me, a pie crust never just rolled out right the first time. And I know that the less you handle the dough the better, but I still couldn’t get it right on the first roll. Two rolls for every single crust. So I wasn’t looking forward to doing this four times.
And then I remembered - the gal in Colorado whom I used to meet with made a crust one afternoon and I was so surprised when she used wax paper. And I’m more surprised now that I didn’t remember her trick before two weeks ago, but that’s the way it goes. I remember it now and my pie crust making days will never be the same. Here’s how it goes:
Roll it out:
Carefully peel off the top layer:
Once again carefully peel off the wax paper…
Make your edges pretty and presto. A painless pie crust.
My hat goes off to both Shaunda McQueeney who taught me how to do that, even though it took me ten years to remember that she had, and also to Craig’s dad, Roger, who, about eight years ago asked if I had made the pie he was eating. I said to him, “Look at the crust - if it’s a nice one, then you know I didn’t make it.” He said back to me, “Well then, you just need to keep trying.”
And so I have.
I am a purist when it comes to pie crusts. This doesn’t mean I make perfect crusts, but I’d rather serve an imperfect one I made myself than a perfect one I bought. I’m not that way in all areas of my life, but for this one I am.
So when I decided to make four pies for our open house two weeks ago, I was dreading it a bit. Because for me, a pie crust never just rolled out right the first time. And I know that the less you handle the dough the better, but I still couldn’t get it right on the first roll. Two rolls for every single crust. So I wasn’t looking forward to doing this four times.
And then I remembered - the gal in Colorado whom I used to meet with made a crust one afternoon and I was so surprised when she used wax paper. And I’m more surprised now that I didn’t remember her trick before two weeks ago, but that’s the way it goes. I remember it now and my pie crust making days will never be the same. Here’s how it goes:
Sprinkle a bit of water on the counter and place your first piece of wax paper on that (the water prevents the paper from sliding). Put your ball of dough on that piece.
Roll it out:
Carefully peel off the top layer:
Here’s where I’m sure I deviate from the perfect plan as I couldn’t remember how she then transferred the crust to the pie plate. I’m sure you could do the fold-it-in-fours thing, or you could do the cheater’s way out and go like this:
Once again carefully peel off the wax paper…
Make your edges pretty and presto. A painless pie crust.
My hat goes off to both Shaunda McQueeney who taught me how to do that, even though it took me ten years to remember that she had, and also to Craig’s dad, Roger, who, about eight years ago asked if I had made the pie he was eating. I said to him, “Look at the crust - if it’s a nice one, then you know I didn’t make it.” He said back to me, “Well then, you just need to keep trying.”
And so I have.
