The Homemade Pantry: 101 Foods You Can Stop Buying and Start Making by Alana Chernila

Author:Alana Chernila [Chernila, Alana]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Cooking
ISBN: 9780307953261
Google: qGdhEL64gggC
Amazon: 030788726X
Publisher: Clarkson Potter
Published: 2012-04-03T00:00:00+00:00

storage

ROOM TEMPERATURE • covered container, 1 day

FRIDGE • no

FREEZER • freezer bag, 3 months (only for cornbread stuffing)

Basic Pie Crust

mY MOTHER is barely over five feet tall, has bright eyes, wild hair, and a fair amount of spunk. As soon as I could stand at the stove, she taught me how to steam broccoli to the right crunch, how to create a dinner from anything in the refrigerator, and most important, how to sing while I cook.

My mother does not bake, and although she has put up with my love affair with the oven even when she was sure that the stovetop was the only essential tool we needed, I went one step too far when I ventured into the realm of pie crust. In our two-person family, Orenoke’s frozen pie crust was the height of deliciousness. I still relish a frozen crust now and then—when that tinny crunch hits my mouth, I am in the most comfortable moment of childhood, singing ’80s pop with my mother at the kitchen counter. I roll my crusts anyway. I have found a quiet spirituality in the marriage of butter and flour that thrills me, and the taste (although a far cousin from frozen pie crust) is, I would argue, better.

When I first took on the challenge of making pie crust, the butter and flour evaded me. Recipes never seemed to call for enough liquid, and so I would add more, and my pastry dough would turn to goop. When Sadie lost a tooth on the crust of my strawberry rhubarb and Rosie ate all the filling out of a perfectly shaped pie-angle, I almost lost hope.

In her book Bakewise (Scribner, 2008), Shirley Corriher shared the recipe that changed it all for me. She offered many ways to make that perfect pie crust, but one stood out to me: put it in the stand mixer.

I’ve only made good pie since, and now I’m getting a bit of a reputation for it. I’ve tweaked and shifted Ms. Corriher’s recipe to suit my own kitchen, but the method remains the same. My mom still says she’s not a baker, but I have a rolling pin over here with her name on it, and with the right song on the stereo, I know it’ll happen.

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