make everyday pie day

Right up there with my favorite memories was winning the hobo’s choice award at a Gatsby Picnic on Governor’s Island.  My girlfriends and I were dressed so cute Daisy Buchanon would have approved and the sun was perfect in the sky and jazz from vintage instruments slipped through the air.  We were all sprawled out on the grass just soaking it all in.  Sure, I was hoping to win (after lugging a pie around from Brooklyn, through Manhattan and on a ferry to get to Governor’s Island, a little bit of recognition would be nice), but it still was wonderful to hear my name and get to pop up to pick up my prizes (a huge Dorthey Parker anthology, still beloved on my shelf, and a huge bottle of St. Germain, long mixed with sparkling wine and guzzled).  One of the judges was this impossibly cute little boy, maybe 9 or 10 years old, the perfect product of a Park Slope family, dressed up as an actual newsy, with a flapper for a mom.  I will never forget his little round face looking up at mine saying, “did you make the blueberry pie? It was de-li-sh-ious!”  It was the closest I will ever get to time travel, and as I thanked him I think my biological clock kicked into gear, so thanks  for that random hipster kid judge!   A bit of false advertising, since my boys would never wear something that cute, nor do they even eat pie! But, c’est la vie- the whole experience also led me to track down every pie related resource out there and to perfect my crust technique. 

The best kind of pie to be is someone’s sweetie pie, but finding the perfect slice of a person is no piece of cake.  Making a perfect pie crust, however, is a piece of, erm, pie.  If these analogies are mixed up and a bit all over the place, it is because the tricks to making a melt in your mouth, flaky pie crust are a bit up in the air.  A mix of fats, a mix of times to add them and a mix of “water” take the best from every great pie crust recipe and marry them in this dough.  Blending some fat with some of the flour at the start helps to control gluten formation- when the rest of the flour is added in the bulk of the butter is already incorporated and blocked off- stopping the dough from getting tough.  The vodka in the “water” also helps keep the dough flaky, it evaporates before the dough can get soggy, but allows it to get wet enough to roll out and shape.  The cider vinegar adds a mild tang, if you don’t have any, it is not the end of the world.  Likewise, for the bacon fat and shortening, all that really matter is that 20 tbs of fat gets mixed in, whatever ratio you use is up to you.  This recipe can also be done by hand in a bowl, but keep the order of additions consistent and eat an extra slice to make up for your arm work out.  

Here is my “franken” recipe that takes the best from a lot of sources (Americas Test Kitchen, Pie, Sister Pie, Martha Stewart, Milk Street, just to name a few). 

Please print out the handy infographic to use as a checklist since this is one of my more complicated recipes!

Happy Pi Day to all my fellow baking nerds- if you whip anything up please tag #waywardgirlbakes so I can see and geek out!!