Sometimes I scare myself.

[torquill]

Pie crust from scratch, made with butter, baked until golden brown.

Absolutely perfectly-ripe luscious strawberries, shining with a touch of sugar glaze.

Real whipped cream, sweetened, with just a hint of vanilla.

I was driving home and saw the Baker's Square banner advertising "fresh strawberry pies". I miss those, from my days of Denny's and Baker's Square, and when you can't eat the crust they just aren't quite the same. I was three blocks from the Farmer's Market, so I stopped by to drop $4 on three baskets of berries. When I did my video run, I picked up some heavy whipping cream. (It amuses me that it never even occurred to me to pick up one of the cans of Reddi-Whip etc.) And pie crust is always quicker to put together than I think it is.

The tart is in the fridge now, chilling. Mmmmmmmmm.

And I have the last of the whipped cream and the few strawberries that didn't make it into the pie. I think this is going to be a good evening... :)

Comments

[ladythmpr.livejournal.com]

You HAVE to give me the recipe for the crust, and any tips you have!

[luna-torquill.livejournal.com]

You're celiac, aren't you? I'm not, so I have a few tricks (like barley flour) that you don't.

I have, however, made a slightly more crumbly version of this pie crust which is gluten-free... Use the recipe on my website (http://www.foogod.com/~torquill/recipes/crust.html) and just use half-and-half "sweet"/glutinous rice flour and regular rice flour. (Let me know if you don't already use Asian rice flours.)

If you have the option, use a larger egg, and add a little more moisture to the dough until it's very slightly sticky. Then warm it up. Normally people go all out of their way to use cold marble slabs and cold rolling pins etc. etc... trust me, rolling this crust is a lot easier if you handle it, get it warm and pliable. After all, there's no elasticity, and if the butter is cold the whole thing will crack instead of rolling smoothly.

No way you can roll it onto the pin; grab a stiff piece of cardboard or a cutting sheet and tap it under the crust, then ease it into the pan. It'll crack, it always does, but I don't usually have trouble repairing it; the celiac version will be a regular PITA, so try to position it right the first time. :) The top crust is exceedingly tricky on fruit pies; half the time I do a lattice, using strips, because they're easier to manage.

The crust will tend to be firm rather than flaky, but that's what we like here. The taste is quite good. The cheaper the butter you use, the lighter the crust will be... it sounds weird, but it's because cheap butter usually has more water in it, and that steams off and puffs the pastry.

I hope that helps. People have asked for an egg-free version, and I don't think there is one that you can roll; that's when you find a regular crust recipe, substitute the flour, and press it into place like a graham-cracker crust. That's what I used to do until I settled on an egg version.

[ladythmpr.livejournal.com]

It did help, thanks!

I made this a couple of days ago, with some variation. I ended up using 2 extra-large eggs, and a whole lot more water than in the recipe.

I also remembered a trip from making pizza - I rolled out the pie dough between two layers of plastic wrap that had been sprayed with vegetable oil . That made moving the dough about a billion times easier, and I was able to place the top crust without a hitch or a crack.

The bottom crust was a little tougher than I would have liked. I expect that I'll need to make it a bit thinner (the thinner top crust was just fine), and maybe not work it as much as I did.

It was pie! It looked like pie. It tasted like pie! Actually, I think it was the first time I have ever made a two crust pie, and I'm quite pleased at how it worked out. Thanks so much for the tips!