I remember the best pie I’ve ever had was in Singapore. While we were visiting my aunt and uncle there, it coincided with the time of Christmas and New Year. The festivities in the country were in full swing. You would find candies and socks hanging from trees and streets lit up in the most beautiful ways. With so much warmth and positivity around, the kitchen couldn’t be left empty too. As we used to pass by houses, the smell of freshly-baked muffins, tarts and pies would catch our attention and we would be tempted to eat something right away.
On Christmas day, we found ourselves dining at one of the most renowned restaurants in the country for a special Christmas lunch. The lavish buffet was laden with turkey, lobster, lamb chops to pies, tarts, quiches and much more. I was quite fascinated by the chicken pie and decided to take a dig at it. The creamy chicken stuffed in a crusty pie was enough to make me drool.
It was that day and today, I’ve till date never come across such a perfectly baked pie. In search of baking one myself, I looked up several ways to ace the pie. If you’ve been on that hunt to, here are some easy hacks that’ll help you churn out the best pies you’ve ever tasted.
1. The Colder, The Better
In case of pies, the colder the ingredients, the better. Of course, you don’t want your butter to start melting even before the pie is set in the oven for baking. Till you are not using the butter, keep it refrigerated. Cold water would also be a good idea for pie pastry mixture. After all, the flakiest pie crust is the best.
2. Overfilling Works And Looks Well
Generally, guidelines or instructions for a pastry or any other such item would ask you to never overfill the crust. In case of pies, it’s quite the opposite. If you want to bake a pie, the more the fruit, the better. While baking, it would start sinking and that would make your pie seem flat and empty. To have no gaps in your fruity pies, add as much fruit as you want.
3. Brush Off The Extra Flour
You want your pie to be crusty but not tough, am I right? Then, the key to that is to ensure that you remove the extra flour that is on the dough while you are rolling it out. Not doing so will let the pastry absorb it and the result, we all know.
4. Cover The Edges
While baking, it might happen that the crust gets darker than the rest of the pie. In order to protect your edges from getting really dark (or rather burnt), it is best to cover them with an aluminum foil around the shape of the pie.
5. Cool, Not Warm
If you know about baking a pie well in advance, you can pre-prepare it. However, in case it is a sudden plan, make sure to give it four to five hours to cool down otherwise the warm pie doesn’t make for good slices.