Bake It Don’t Fake It! - Here’s the pie!

Posted on: Sep 15 2010 | Posted in: Arts, Culture, & Heritage


Bake It Don’t Fake It – Chestermere Regional Community Centre – Aug 20 2010

So, you have now attended the workshop and its time to get baking!!! Here is the recipe for Grannie Jen’s famous pie. If you missed the workshop, we will be uploading a video version shortly so keep your eyes on the ACE Communities website.

And don’t forget, the Chestermere County Fair is coming up on Sept. 18 so test your pie making skills and enter to win a Blue Ribbon! For more info on the fair and how to enter: Click Here

_Grannie Jen’s Pastry Recipe (1)_, August 20th 2010

5 cups of flour (use a pastry flour) (2)

1 teaspoonful of baking powder (3)

1 teaspoonful of salt (optional)

1 pound of lard (4)

1 cup of lemon/lime carbonated pop (any brand) (5)

Cut lard into dry ingredients in a large bowl. Lard pieces should be no smaller than peas. Sprinkle over the lemon/lime pop—it will be fizzy. With a fork, gently mix the liquid into the dry ingredients.
Do not over mix. Form into a large ball with your hands. You may need a small amount more liquid to make it stick together, but do not use too much liquid as this makes your dough tough.

Divide into 6 balls to use for pies. Ideally, chill before rolling each ball into a top or bottom crust.

This will usually make 3 pies with top and bottom crust, or 6 with bottom crust only as one would use for an open top pumpkin pie.

Apple Pie – For one 9 inch pie; 6 cups of thinly sliced apples (Gala, McIntosh, Granny Smith, Spy, or Spartan). Toss with ¾ cup sugar, ¼ c flour, ½ tsp nutmeg, ½ tsp cinnamon, pinch of salt. Fill pie shell. Dot with small pieces of butter. Moisten edges of bottom pie shell with water. Cover with the top pie crust. Press or crimp edges to seal. Cut a few slits in the top to allow air to escape. Add apple shapes with extra pastry! Brush with beaten egg mixed with water (optional). Bake in the middle of your oven at 425 F for 10 minutes, then 40 minutes at 350-375O until crust is done and juice bubbles through slits. Cover edges with 2 inch strip of aluminum foil to prevent excess browning. Can be frozen before or after baking. Do not thaw frozen uncooked pie before baking.
——
Notes

1) Recipe given to Grannie Jen, by her La Leche League Leader friend Jan Wregget, who is also a Grandma. And thanks to Donna Treacy Alberta Agriculture Fair Judge for assistance with details.

2) All purpose flour is about 13% protein, pasty flour about 10%. A lower protein flour will make a better pastry because it has less gluten, one of the proteins. Gluten absorbs water readily and when moist gets stringy and sticky. That is OK for bread, but it makes pastry tough. So the lower the gluten in the flour, and the less liquid used, the more tender and flaky the crust.

3) Baking powder reacts with the moisture and makes bubbles which help to make the pastry light. It is optional.

4) Lard has less saturated fat than butter and remains solid longer during baking than butter. During baking the flour surrounding the little lard pieces crisps up before the fat melts, making little pockets and a flaky crust. If you use butter, chop it into small chunks. Chill it and the other ingredients well. Mix as above and roll out quickly. Chilling and handling quickly helps keep the little butter pieces solid as long as possible which will create the pockets and a flakier butter crust.

5) Carbonated drinks are acidic. Adding an acidic ingredient stops development of gluten so makes a more tender crust. You can also use water with some vinegar, lemon juice, orange juice, or any other juice which is slightly acidic.

Sponsored by Chestermere Ag Society, Alberta Parks and Recreation Association, ACE Communities, Patricia Matthews.

Comments

Note: The maximum width for an image you can upload is 450px wide.

Oh no - I missed the Pie-making class!  Thanks for the recipe. Now I need, need, need the video.  smile

Great job Chestermere ACE for a fun and imaginative community-building activity.
L

Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 08/28 at 11:13 AM



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