Pies for all seasons
While the adage “as American as apple pie” is used for everything traditional in the US, it was in fact in Europe that sweet and savoury pies were perfected. For places that had long winters, pies were ideal as they were traditionally made with leftovers. They were bunged into the oven after the day’s cooking was done and allowed to cook to perfection in the residual heat of the oven.
Short crust pie pastry
Ingredients
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
ÂĽ tsp salt
½ cup butter, chilled
3 tbsp ice water
Method
Sift the flour and salt twice so they are thoroughly combined. With a sharp knife, cut the butter into smaller pieces and rub it in the flour mixture so it resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Add the ice water one tbsp at a time while kneading with your fingers. When the texture is firm, gather the dough in a ball, wrap in cling film and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Take half the pastry dough and roll it out on a floured surface till it is around 1/8 of an inch thick. Repeat the same with the other half of the dough if you are making a double crust pie (when the pie will be covered with a crust).
Some pie recipes call for a pre-baked crust. If so, prick the crust (the lower shell) with a fork all over, place in the pie dish and fill it with uncooked rice or ceramic beans specially available for blind baking pies.
Bake in a preheated oven at 180°C for around 3 minutes. Remove from oven and prick with the fork. If the pastry is puffing up, bake for another 5 minutes. Remove and place on a wire rack to cool.
Cinnamon pie
While one can make any kind of pies, sweet as well as savoury, once the crust is taken care of, Indians are more accustomed to sweet pies like apple, blueberry, banoffee etc. The cinnamon pie — as in most sweet pies — is easy because it calls for an unbaked pie crust, and is delicious as well.
Ingredients
1 cup white sugar
1 ½ tbsp flour
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 egg, beaten
2 tbsp butter, melted
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 ½ cups milk
1 (10 inch) unbaked pie crust
Pinch of salt
Method
Preheat oven to 200° C.
In a large bowl, combine the sugar, flour, cinnamon and salt. Add the beaten egg, butter, and vanilla. Mix well and add the milk.
Place the unbaked pie crust on the pie dish and pour the mixture onto it.
Bake for 15 minutes before reducing the heat to 175° C and bake for an additional 45 minutes.
Cool the pie on a wire rack before serving.
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