Pie Crust Tutorial

From Scratch Pie Crust. For some, those simple words strike fear into their stalwart hearts. But never fear, faithful blog-readers! The Candid Cook is here!

Okay, that's enough cheese for one day. So let's get down to business. Homemade pie crust. It's not that I'm that ambitious, really. I just don't like store-bought pie crust. When you've grown up with the real thing, flaky and melt-in-your-mouth delicious you just can't be happy with a second-class substitute. And don't kid yourselves - there's nothing low-fat about a good pie crust. You can put whole wheat flour in it, but that's about as healthy as you're going to make it. The trick to not gaining 50 pounds is just not to eat it too often.

To get started, you need a recipe. Here's the crown jewel of my recipe box, obtained from my 80 year old aunt who makes the best rhubarb pies - and if I can ever get my hands on rhubarb, you'll get that recipe too!

Flaky Pie Crust
(makes 4 crusts)

4 c. flour (I use 2 c. white and 2 c. whole wheat)
1 Tbsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
2 c. shortening
1 beaten egg
1 tsp. vinegar
1/2 c. water

In a large mixing bowl, combine flour(s), sugar, and salt. Add shortening and crumble with your hands. You do this by adding the shortening to the bowl, scooping the dry mixture over top, and squeezing the shortening through your hands. Once you've done this a few times you can start working it in with your fingers, rubbing it back and forth between fingers and thumbs. You can use a pastry cutter if you prefer, but eventually you should end up with a bowl of crumbles that looks like this:

Make a well in the center and set aside.

In a small bowl or large liquid measuring cup, combine water, egg, and vinegar. Mix well and add to flour mixture. Mix as well as you can with a spoon, then use your hands to finish kneading it together. Shape into a large circle.

Cut the circle into fourths. Each fourth will be one pie crust.

Now comes the "hard" part - rolling it flat into a crust. The trick is to roll it out using wax paper. If this isn't something you normally keep in your kitchen, repent and go get it!

Shape 1/4 of the dough into a ball with your hands. Place on a sheet of wax paper.
(Note: I generally don't have to use flour to keep it from sticking to the paper because there's plenty of shortening in this recipe. If you're using a different recipe or are worried about it, you can sprinkle flour on the wax paper before putting down the dough.)

Flatten the dough with your hands a little, then top with another sheet of wax paper.

Using a rolling pin, roll out dough into a round shape that's about 1-2 inches larger than your pie dish. This is actually a little trickier than it sounds because at first your wax paper keeps sliding all over the table while you're trying to roll out the dough. You can fix this by either weighing down one corner, you can flatten it more with your hands, or you can rope your kids into service and make them hold it for you. Either way, once you get it mostly flattened it's easy enough to roll it out the rest of the way. Be sure to roll in all directions so the dough flattens out in a circular shape, unless you happen to have an oval-shaped pie dish.

Peel off the top layer of wax paper. Place your pie plate on top (upside down), then flip the whole thing over, pressing the crust into the dish. The crust should hang over the edge a little.

Peel off the wax paper. If you're making a single-crust pie, go ahead and trim off the excess crust and flute the edges (see below). If you're doing a double-crust pie, fill the pie and add the top crust before trimming and shaping the crust.

To trim the edge, take a butter knife and cut the crust off about even with or a little longer than the pie dish edge depending on what type of pie plate you have. Just remember that the crust will shrink a little while baking.

To "flute" the edge of the pie crust (i.e. make it look pretty) you pinch it between your first finger and thumb and give it a little twist toward you. Do this all the way around the edge.

If baking a double-crust pie, be sure to cut slits all the way through the top crust so steam and juices have a way to escape. Otherwise they will bubble out the edge between the two crusts and you'll have a real mess on your hands.

Bake the filled pie crust according to your recipe directions.

If you need to bake a single crust without filling it, prick it all over with a fork and then bake it at 450 for about 10-12 minutes until the edges are golden-brown.

Homemade Bread Tutorial

I grew up with a mother that made homemade bread to die for. This was before the age of bread machines. I'm sure she often made it out of necessity (money was always tight), but to us it was like manna from heaven when she would pull it out of the oven and serve it to us warm with butter and honey.

Ironically, when I became a mother myself and wanted to duplicate her feat, I made whole wheat bricks rather than fluffy loaves of bread. I was confounded. I grew up kneading bread side-by-side with my mother. What was I doing wrong?

It wasn't until about a year or so ago I started getting my bread-making endeavors right every time. And when I say I started getting it right, I mean I now make moist, soft, delectable bread without fail. And wonder of wonders - I use almost 100% whole wheat flour and I barely knead my bread! (And I don't use a bread-maker either. They're smarter than me so I've given up!)

So how do I do it?

First, you start with good whole wheat flour. If you don't have finely ground whole wheat flour, I recommend using white flour for at least 1/4 to 1/2 the flour the recipe calls for. How much you use will depend on the quality of your flour.

When I haven't been able to grind my own whole wheat I've used the Hogsdon Mill whole wheat flour for sale in most grocery stores. It's not as fine as what I can grind at home, but it's adequate for my needs.

The next thing you need is a good recipe or two. I have my favorite whole wheat bread recipe that I use for almost everything except French Bread. (That recipe will be forthcoming!)

Regardless of what order your bread recipe tells you to add your ingredients, you must start by combining only the water, sugar or honey, and yeast. Make sure your water is warm, not hot. If it's too hot, it will kill the yeast, and we need the yeast to be active! So how hot is too hot? If you can't comfortably stick your finger in the water and leave it there, it's too hot. Combine these three ingredients in a bowl and stir for a minute to help the yeast dissolve. Then let it sit for 5-10 minutes to let the yeast start to react with the sugar. It will start to look foamy after a few minutes. This tells you the yeast is working.

Once you've let the yeast get foamy, go ahead and add the rest of your other ingredients (salt, oil, etc.) and about 1/2 the flour called for. If you're doing a mix of white and wheat flour, add the wheat flour first. Then, with an electric mixer, mix the bread batter for about four or five minutes. This will seem tedious and useless, but this is what replaces the kneading time. Don't skimp - it's necessary so your bread will hold together well!


With a plastic or wooden spoon, stir in as much of the remaining flour as you can by hand. Don't worry if you don't use all the flour called for in the recipe!










Remove the dough from the bowl and place it on a lightly floured surface.










Remove your rings and watches, and lightly flour your hands. Knead the dough for just a few strokes until it looks smooth.

To knead the dough: lift the back edge of the dough and, using the heel of your hand, push it into the center. Give the dough a quarter-turn and repeat. Add more flour as needed a couple tablespoons at a time.



















You'll know you're done with the bread dough looks smooth and is kind of elastic. It may be slightly sticky, but should not come off on your hand if you touch the outside. I generally only have to do this about 30 seconds or so to get it the right consistency. You do not want to add too much flour at this stage! This is what makes whole wheat bricks. If you aren't sure, err on the side of caution. You can always add more flour later.











Once the bread dough is smooth, it needs to rise. Drizzle a little oil in a bowl.











Place the bread dough in with the smooth side on the bottom. Give it a little turn to coat the bottom, and then flip it over so the smooth side is on top.



















Then cover with a clean dish towel and let rise until at least double in size.










If you aren't ready to finish cooking it by the time it has doubled, simply punch it down into the bowl and let it rise again. Shape into loaves, cinnamon rolls, dinner rolls, or whatever your heart desires!