Our post yesterday from the Reluctant Baker outed many of you who are similarly reluctant to try a pie. One of our favorite comments: "I now can easily state why I have never made a pie before: there is NO COVERING UP bad execution of a recipe," from foodwoolf. It made us thoughtful; indeed, as the Reluctant Baker says, "You can work on a pie for 2 days and if the crimped crust breaks, you're sunk." Pies can appear finicky, delicate, and mysterious. But they are invariably greeted by cries of joy when we bring them to dinner (no matter how the crust looks) - so why are we all so scared of 'em?
We're curious - how many of you have actually tried baking a pie? Tell us, and then tell us why you haven't tried, or else all about your expert experiences.




Technically, I haven't done it "many" times, but it was successful the couple of times I did it. But I'm not that fond of pie and it's too much effort, so I don't do it often, or ever, really.
view lizaboo's profile
I tried to make a pumpkin pie from scratch when I was about 12. That did not go well. I think I added too many liquid ingredients because when I went to check on it and pulled the rack out of the oven, liquid pie filling went everywhere.
view confusednazgul's profile
I baked apple pies, pumpkin pies, sweet egg pies, pecan pies, sugar pies...I love baking pies.
They're probably one of the best ways to say "This took me ages to make so I really really love you people!!"
view gourmandemodeste's profile
Hasn't everyone? I tend to bake mostly savory pies and quiches. But I love a good sweet pie too ... I don't usually make my own dough, but sometimes I do. It's not even too hard with a cuisinart, but usually I'm lazy and store bought ones are pretty good. Some of the best pies use non-traditional crusts like crushed up ritz crackers and the like.
view jesser's profile
I've been making pies for years and I only recently found out that most people are intimidated by making pie crust from scratch.
I use 2 cups of flour mixed with 1 tsp of salt, then cut in 2/3 cup of Crisco (evil, I know, but it's the key to flaky crust), and sprinkle on 6-9 tbsp of water, until it all clumps together. If it's too hard, keep adding a tbsp of water at a time until it's soft enough to work with. Too sticky? Add a sprinkle of flour. Then just roll it out on a well floured cutting mat (Silpat or silicone works GREAT), fold the crust in half gently to pick up, then lay in your pie plate and unfold.
Also, I NEVER pre-bake a crust unless I am going to just refrigerate the filling. It's not necessary and will usually deform the crust, and who needs that?
view Minerva of the Airship's profile
As a child my older sister was the baker, always making cakes & cookies & candies. What she didn't make was pies. So to be different, I decided to make a pie! I made a chocolate pie a couple times and a butterscotch pie a couple times and bragged about it. Until one time, one of the pies didn't turn out. After that I turned my back on pies for 10 years, until I began to make apple pies for my boyfriend. I've also made a blueberry pie to moderate success, and a Cool-Whip/Jello/strawberry pie once. I've yet to attempt a pecan or chess pie, I think I am a little scared of the amounts of sugar/butter/eggs that would be in those!
view UptownGirl's profile
I prefer mixing butter with shortening for the crust...good compromise for taste AND flakiness...and prebaking won't deform the crust at all if one uses some foil with pie weights/dry beans on top while in the oven...helps with the more liquid type of fillings.
view gourmandemodeste's profile
I make my grandmother's pie recipe. I like the "tedium" of baking a pie - it's like my Zen time.
However, what I find to be the hardest part is the crust. 90% of the time, I'm successful, and it's awesome - but the 10% of the time the crust doesn't work, I find pie-baking a hateful task.
view StyckyWycket's profile
I've never understood the fear of making pastry. My mother would only buy pre-made frozen pie crusts. I learned to make pie pastry when I was about 12 and have managed pies quite well with no recipes. I've even managed in places with no rolling pins, using a wine bottle instead. The best thing I ever learned was letting the dough rest in the fridge for an hour or more, so the gluten relaxes.
view lindyleech's profile
I worked on a Shaker lemon pie for two days. It involved slicing the lemons and soaking them in sugar for a day, making the crust by hand, etc. etc. It came out beautifully. In my haste and enthusiasm to tell my hubby, who was out in the garage, I left it sitting on the counter. When we came back 30 seconds later, there was the broken Pyrex pie pan on the floor, and a flaky, delicious, fragant, gooey, lemony-sweet trail from the kitchen to the bedroom, where my ancient hound dog Abraham laid contentedly on the bed, licking his sticky ol' CHOPS.
view Bx's profile
I bake a lot of pies every year, at least twenty. My husband loves them and I am a bit sick of them.
All butter...all the time...
view JudiAU's profile
I love making pies! To me they usher in the seasons. Autumn is not complete without an apple pie, and spring needs a rhubarb pie. That's usually about it, though if I have an excuse to make one, I will.
view Eliza's profile
I've recently made the best crusts in my pie-making career. I've been mixing the dough in the food processor using frozen butter. I cut the butter into chunks with my chef's knife and pulse the food processor until I have little bits of butter about the size of rice grains. I also use ice water in the dough, form the dough into disks, and pop them right into the fridge for an hour or two before rolling the dough out for the pie. Using frozen butter and ice water really makes for a nice, flaky crust. Oh yeah!
view sourdough's profile
Well, the response certainly doesn't make me feel any better...Looks like I'm just an odd, pie-fearing foodie!
http://foodwoolf.com/2008/11/foodwoolf-on-kitchn.html
view foodwoolf's profile
admittedly, I'm not the baker in the house. My favorite pie that I've made is grapefruit pie. Couldn't get most of my relatives to eat it, but I thought it was great.
Just made a pumpkin pie for my kids the other night. That counts as a vegetable, right?
view Ryane's profile
I tend to get very overenthused by the fruit at my local farmer's market each summer, and end up buying loads of fruit that then runs the risk of going bad. Last year I coped with it by making a lot of small gallete-type fruit tarts and freezing them - I now have about five left, all of them the perfect size to bring along when you're having dinner with a couple friends.
I've also made a cranberry-chocolate tart for a Thanksgiving day dinner, a spinach quiche for a family dinner, and I have a savory "hand pie" (well, I call it a pastie) I make every fall.
view empresscallipygos's profile