Making Pie

When I make a pie - and I do at least once a week - I always make enough pastry for two double crusted, or four single crusted pies. Take what you don't use, wrap it well in plastic wrap and freeze it until you need it. When the time comes, defrost it in the fridge until its soft enough to roll out. Then, pie time.

The first and most important rule for good pastry dough - assuming your recipe is sound - is keep it cool. For me that means putting the mixing bowl in the freezer for a few minutes between steps. If you keep everything cold, you shouldn't end up with tough dough - unless you overwork it - which could be a second rule, but falls well in line with the first, so never mind more rules. Pies should be fun and delicious not bound by needless legislation.

Use organic and local ingredients if you can - its better for you and the land. Not to mention it tastes way better.

Here's what you'll need:

5 cups flour, local and organic is best if you can find it - if you live upstate, check here.

1 or 2 teaspoons sea salt, preferably fine, but I'll use coarse if its all I have

3 tablespoons sugar - cane, raw, doesn't make too much of a difference once it melts

1 lb. of butter, that's right 4 sticks - it works great frozen, but it must at least be cold

1 cup water, keep it in the fridge right until you need it

2 tablespoons lemon juice, about 1/2 lemon - I add it right in with the water for simplicity

I use an electric mixer to save time, but it works just as well by hand if you are looking to take it easy.

First, mix the flour, sea salt, and sugar, take the bowl and put it in the freezer for a minute or two

Next, take all that lovely butter, and chop it up into inch cubes - I cut each stick lengthwise then cut it into about 8 or 9 pieces. Add it - a little at a time - to the mixing bowl. Mix until the butter pieces are about half the size they started, garbanzo bean size. Take the bowl and put it in the freezer again.

Start mixing it again and slowly add the cold water and lemon juice. Be careful not to over do it - it should be pretty shaggy looking.

Dump the bowl out onto the counter and make four equal sized balls. Flatten them by hand, forming inch-thick disks. Wrap any you aren't using immediately and freeze. Take what you are using right away and put it in the fridge while you mix-up the filling.

On this occasion I made raspberry-rhubarb pie. A friend brought

over a whole lot of rhubarb in the morning, and I miraculously still had berries in the freezer from last summer.

For the filling it's all about feeling. I chopped up all the rhubarb and mixed in the red and black raspberries. Then I added about a cup of honey (I was making two pies), a half cup or so of sugar, and a quarter cup of tapioca - which I use to thicken instead of cornstarch or flour. Tapioca absorbs moisture very well and helps provide a very nice texture for the filling. I use more with juicier fillings, like berry, and much less, if any at all with apple pie and the like.

Once everything is mixed, roll out the dough and fabricate your pies. I leave quite a bit of crust over-hanging, score it together with a fork, then roll it up along the rim of the pie plate, trimming any excess.

I usually bake at 425 degrees. I start with the bottom of the pie plate covered with foil and latter - once the top is browned - remove the foil from the bottom to cover the top and give the bottom a chance to crisp up as well. Usually an hour works pretty well. It takes some practice, but the rewards and mistakes are delicious.