Pie - Bake-off XVIII

[Kerry Beal]

There has been a lot of discussion about pie lately - which thickening agent is preferable here, whether cake or pie is the better choice here, the raw vs the cooked in blueberry pie here.

RecipeGullet contains 47 recipes when you search 'pie'. some savory, most sweet. Definitely a popular subject here on eG.

It's the middle of stone fruit season here in Southern Ontario (I'm just a 20 minute drive from the Niagara peninsula), so there are lovely ripe peaches and apricots everywhere I look, perfect for fruit pies.

So how about we make some pies, show them off here and remember to post the recipes in RecipeGullet if you are willing to share.

[Tri2Cook]

Is this open to all types of pie or is meant to be within any particular boundaries?

[Kerry Beal]

Is this open to all types of pie or is meant to be within any particular boundaries?

←

I sort of figured no boundaries.

[Tri2Cook]

Sounds good to me. I'll have to come up with something.

[snowangel]

It's the middle of stone fruit season here in Southern Ontario (I'm just a 20 minute drive from the Niagara peninsula), so there are lovely ripe peaches and apricots everywhere I look, perfect for fruit pies. 

←

One of my favorite pie cookbooks is the Farm Journal pie book (sadly out of print). It covers everything from sweet to savoury.

But, Kerry, since you mention peaches. Often when we get the really fab Colorado peaches, it's just flat to hot to contemplate turning on the oven and heating and flouring up the kitchen. So, my go to on days like that when I have a plethora of peaches is right from the Farm Journal cookbook. Make the filling. Line pie tin(s) with foil. Fill with filling. Freeze, and when frozen, stick in a ziplock and return pie tin(s) to proper location(s).

When you want to make a pie with great fruit, make a crust, and once the tin is lined with the crust, pull a thing of filling out of the freezer, remove from foil, stick in the crust, top with another crust (or not) and bake. Just add about 10 minutes to baking time.

BTW, outside of my Blueberry Pie, my preferred thickening agent, if I think I need one, is tapioca.

[Kerry Beal]

Of the pie cookbooks I own - one I quite like is the Martha Stewart Pies - great pictures of her collection of nice old pieplates too.

[Darienne]

My pie-making skills are very tiny. This Christmas past, inspired by a photo in RLB's Pie and Pastry Bible, I made the Christmas Cranberry Galette. Mine was very delicious, but looked a little askew.

My favorite pie though that I make at the drop of a hat is from an old Culinary Arts Institute cookbook from 1982, Cooking with Cheese. It's a lemon cheese pie which calls for only 1 egg and 9 oz of cream cheese and still tastes wonderfully tangy and rich. I add a bittersweet ganache on top...not in the recipe...and it's a delight.

My friend, Mel, makes the best Jamaican meat pie in the world with a curried pastry crust is making us one immediately because we kept their two dogs all weekend...allergic son problems. The curried crust is my favorite part.

[StanSherman]

The local farm womenz won't let me go to their apple pie bake. No menz allowed. Their apple tree is almost ready to be picked. Either I throw a party for the raccoons or I learn how to make a better pie. One way or another they aren't getting the last word on this one. Really, kinda of, hopefully, maybe.

[CaliPoutine]

I much prefer cake to pie, however my MIL and her family LOVE pie. I baked this cherry pie during a 6hr cherry pie baking spree for the Seniors.

I froze it unbaked and baked it from frozen. I didnt let it cool enough and the filling was kinda runny. Still tasty though. I use Martha's pate brise recipe.

The filling was a cooked filling recipe from Allrecipes.com.

[paulraphael]

Do tarts count? I made an out-of-season apple tart to try some new ideas. This one has very little puréed apple in it ... just enough to carry the seasonings and hold the thing together. Most of the the filling is layer upon layer of paper-thin apple slices. Seasoning is primarily cardamom, with some lemon, corriander, and a couple of background spices. And calvados. And a ton of butter.

The glaze is calvados and simple syrup gelled with pectin.

Edited August 24, 2009 by paulraphael (log)

[gap]

I'll bite - what's the difference between a pie and tart?

[Aloha Steve]

I'll bite - what's the difference between a pie and tart?

←

This is what I found. A tart is made with a crust formed in a tart pan or a low, straight-walled pan with a removable bottom. A pie, similar to a tart, is baked in a pie pan that has sloping sides. Both a tart and a pie can have the crust prebaked and filled or baked with fruits, custards or chocolate.

[paulraphael]

This is what I found.  A tart is made with a crust formed in a tart pan or a low, straight-walled pan with a removable bottom. A pie, similar to a tart, is baked in a pie pan that has sloping sides. Both a tart and a pie can have the crust prebaked and filled or baked with fruits, custards or chocolate.

←

Yup.

As a result there are some practical differences. A pie is usually served in the pie pan; a tart is usually served on a plate. The crispness of the crust and the lighter amount of topping allows it to be moved.

A slice of tart can also be picked up and eaten like a crisp crust pizza, if your manners are no better than mine.

Pies have more topping relative to the crust. Basically, pies are like deep dish pan pizza; tarts are like neapolitan pizza.

[Aloha Steve]

A slice of tart can also be picked up and eaten like a crisp crust pizza, if your manners are no better than mine.

Some European bakers, often bake tarts in simple rings with no bottoms. These give the tart elegant smooth sides. Those need to be plated to eat. But I agree if a tart (a lot of other things too;) can be picked up and eaten, why not

[paulraphael]

A tart's ability to be unplated and moved around gives it a killer advantage. Pies and tarts are notoriously hard to crisp up properly on the bottom. But you can heat up a tart on a skillet or griddle right before serving; it warms the tart, adds more browning to the bottom, and brings back any crispness it might have lost from sitting around. No mess. No more of that mushy pastry on the bottom that most people take for granted.

[Darienne]

But you can heat up a tart on a skillet or griddle right before serving; it warms the tart, adds more browning to the bottom, and brings back any crispness it might have lost from sitting around. No mess. No more of that mushy pastry on the bottom that most people take for granted.

←

Brilliant! Never thought of that.

[Lapin d'Argent]

But you can heat up a tart on a skillet or griddle right before serving; it warms the tart, adds more browning to the bottom, and brings back any crispness it might have lost from sitting around. No mess. No more of that mushy pastry on the bottom that most people take for granted.

←

Brilliant! Never thought of that.

←

Thank you ! Why don't they tell us these things....

[Smithy]

On 8/24/2009 at 7:43 AM, paulraphael said:

A tart's ability to be unplated and moved around gives it a killer advantage. Pies and tarts are notoriously hard to crisp up properly on the bottom. But you can heat up a tart on a skillet or griddle right before serving; it warms the tart, adds more browning to the bottom, and brings back any crispness it might have lost from sitting around. No mess. No more of that mushy pastry on the bottom that most people take for granted.

 

@paulraphael, I just discovered this old post.  Would you elucidate, please?  I'm not sure whether you meant that the tart can be taken off its bottom plate and put directly on a griddle for rewarming, or put plate and all on the griddle. If it's to be taken off the plate, do you need a special piece of equipment (say, a very large spatula) to move it around? I'm envisioning a tart that's 8" - 10" diameter, and that sounds unwieldy unless it's still on the plate. Or are you talking about small, hand-sized tarts? 

[Smithy]

*bump*

 

I made a wonderful peach pie for a dinner last night, tweaked from Sam Sifton's Perfect Peach Pie recipe in the New York Times. (Here's the link for NYT subscribers. Sorry, it's behind a paywall.) It's been YEARS since I made a fruit pie like that. We and our dinner guests were delighted with the results. I posted a picture of it in the Bake a cake (or whatever) for Gully 20th anniversary topic, but here it is again for visual interest and bragging rights:

 

 

The peach season is painfully short, and I'd like to do this again later in the year. I've bought a lug of peaches from Palisade, Colorado and want to save some for a pie or two. This pie filling is simple: peeled and sliced peaches; sugar; lemon juice and flour. I like @snowangel's tip, posted uptopic: freeze filling in a pie tin, then bag it when frozen, and store in the freezer until ready to make the pastry and bake the tart. Trouble is, with these peaches I'd have to go the extra step of draining the macerated fruit and cooking down the juices before adding them back in. I'd rather not do that step until I'm ready to bake.

 

I'm inclined to make the pie filling exactly as I did last night, then freeze in storage bags. I'll have to drain and cook down the juices later, but it will be at baking time. My question is whether or how the freezing will change the filling. I know freezing will break down the fruit cells, but so does baking. Will the advance freezing hurt the final result?