Master baker Rose Levy Beranbaum provides precise directions for making the perfect cherry pie.
She had just watched Rose Levy Beranbaum, author of the landmark "Pie and Pastry Bible," roll out a silken, butter-infused circle of perfect pie crust dough and couldn't fathom how she would be able to make such a thing of beauty.
Fairbrother, a project director for Cultural Tourism DC, had asked for pie-baking help.
Beranbaum agreed to give Fairbrother a three-hour tutorial, adapting recipes from her cookbook for flaky cream cheese pie crust, peach pie, pecan pie and a cherry pie with a lattice top.
Beranbaum explained scientifically how the crust's flavor, tenderness and golden-brown crispness depend on achieving the right balance of protein, fat, water and acid, and then maintaining that balance during baking.
Teacher and student started making a two-crust batch of flaky cream cheese pie crust, Beranbaum's favorite. It's not as flaky and crisp as an all-butter crust, but it has a delicious extra tang and doesn't distort much during baking.
To the classic ingredients of cream cheese pastry, she added vinegar to relax the dough when it is rolled out, cream to impart extra richness and baking powder to make it puff up in the oven, which translates into greater tenderness.
All ingredients were kept cold at all times and combined in a food processor as minimally and quickly as possible. Beranbaum said that if you process the dough too much, you lose flakiness, but if you don't process it enough, big clumps of butter become holes in the rolled-out dough.
"As soon as you can gather the dough together, then you knead it just slightly," Beranbaum explained.
"When you're finished and you pull it, there should be a slight elasticity. Don't handle it much more after that."
She wrapped the kneaded dough in plastic, formed it into a disk and relegated it to the refrigerator for a 45-minute rest.
Beranbaum deemed 65 degrees the right temperature for dough that is to be rolled out. The rolling-out process, done in strokes from the dough's center that stopped short of the edges, was a breeze, thanks to a few bakers' helpers. Beranbaum placed a canvas pastry cloth rubbed with flour underneath the dough and covered the rolling pin with a cloth sleeve, both of which prevent sticking and overuse of flour.
Onward to the fillings. Beranbaum had made a promise that her pecan pie would be distinctive, and she made good on it. She eschewed Karo corn syrup for Lyle's Golden Syrup, which is made from cane sugar.
Instead of relying only on cornstarch to thicken the peach pie filling, Beranbaum collected the fruit's juices, reduced them to a near-caramelized syrup and added them back to the peaches.
As for the cherry pie, we had furnished bing cherries rather than the sour ones the recipe called for, so Beranbaum had to compensate for that variety's extra liquid by thickening the juice in a saucepan before baking the pie.
Throughout the afternoon, directives on handling dough, making fillings, crimping edges and baking oven-ready pies came in waves.
By 3 p.m., pie came out of the oven. Beranbaum eyed it with approval, saying she could tell from the evident swirls of butter in the crusts that they were going to be good.
2 cups plus 3 Tbsp. pastry flour (10 ounces; may substitute 1 1/2 cups bleached all-purpose flour plus 3/4 cup cake flour)
1/4 tsp. baking powder, preferably Rumford or other non-sodium-based brand
1/4 tsp. salt
4 1/2 ounces cold cream cheese, cut into 3 to 4 pieces (4.5 ounces)
3 Tbsp. cold heavy whipping cream ( 1 1/2 ounces)
1 Tbsp. cider vinegar
Cut the butter into 3/4-inch cubes. Wrap in plastic wrap and freeze for at least 30 minutes or until solid. Combine the flour, salt and baking powder in a 1-gallon resealable plastic freezer food storage bag and freeze for at least 30 minutes.
"Everything I've done my entire life with pies is wrong!" Sarah Fairbrother declared a few weeks ago.
She had just watched Rose Levy Beranbaum, author of the landmark "Pie and Pastry Bible," roll out a silken, butter-infused circle of perfect pie crust dough and couldn't fathom how she would be able to make such a thing of beauty.
Fairbrother, a project director for Cultural Tourism DC, had asked for pie-baking help.
Beranbaum agreed to give Fairbrother a three-hour tutorial, adapting recipes from her cookbook for flaky cream cheese pie crust, peach pie, pecan pie and a cherry pie with a lattice top.
Beranbaum explained scientifically how the crust's flavor, tenderness and golden-brown crispness depend on achieving the right balance of protein, fat, water and acid, and then maintaining that balance during baking.
Teacher and student started making a two-crust batch of flaky cream cheese pie crust, Beranbaum's favorite. It's not as flaky and crisp as an all-butter crust, but it has a delicious extra tang and doesn't distort much during baking.
To the classic ingredients of cream cheese pastry, she added vinegar to relax the dough when it is rolled out, cream to impart extra richness and baking powder to make it puff up in the oven, which translates into greater tenderness.
All ingredients were kept cold at all times and combined in a food processor as minimally and quickly as possible. Beranbaum said that if you process the dough too much, you lose flakiness, but if you don't process it enough, big clumps of butter become holes in the rolled-out dough.
"As soon as you can gather the dough together, then you knead it just slightly," Beranbaum explained.
"When you're finished and you pull it, there should be a slight elasticity. Don't handle it much more after that."
She wrapped the kneaded dough in plastic, formed it into a disk and relegated it to the refrigerator for a 45-minute rest.
Beranbaum deemed 65 degrees the right temperature for dough that is to be rolled out. The rolling-out process, done in strokes from the dough's center that stopped short of the edges, was a breeze, thanks to a few bakers' helpers. Beranbaum placed a canvas pastry cloth rubbed with flour underneath the dough and covered the rolling pin with a cloth sleeve, both of which prevent sticking and overuse of flour.
Onward to the fillings. Beranbaum had made a promise that her pecan pie would be distinctive, and she made good on it. She eschewed Karo corn syrup for Lyle's Golden Syrup, which is made from cane sugar.
Instead of relying only on cornstarch to thicken the peach pie filling, Beranbaum collected the fruit's juices, reduced them to a near-caramelized syrup and added them back to the peaches.
As for the cherry pie, we had furnished bing cherries rather than the sour ones the recipe called for, so Beranbaum had to compensate for that variety's extra liquid by thickening the juice in a saucepan before baking the pie.
Throughout the afternoon, directives on handling dough, making fillings, crimping edges and baking oven-ready pies came in waves.
By 3 p.m., pie came out of the oven. Beranbaum eyed it with approval, saying she could tell from the evident swirls of butter in the crusts that they were going to be good.
2 cups plus 3 Tbsp. pastry flour (10 ounces; may substitute 1 1/2 cups bleached all-purpose flour plus 3/4 cup cake flour)
1/4 tsp. baking powder, preferably Rumford or other non-sodium-based brand
1/4 tsp. salt
4 1/2 ounces cold cream cheese, cut into 3 to 4 pieces (4.5 ounces)
3 Tbsp. cold heavy whipping cream ( 1 1/2 ounces)
1 Tbsp. cider vinegar
Cut the butter into 3/4-inch cubes. Wrap in plastic wrap and freeze for at least 30 minutes or until solid. Combine the flour, salt and baking powder in a 1-gallon resealable plastic freezer food storage bag and freeze for at least 30 minutes.
Place the flour mixture in the bowl of a food processor; pulse for a few seconds to mix well. Add the cream cheese and process for about 20 seconds; the mixture should resemble coarse meal. Add the frozen butter cubes and pulse just until none of them is larger than a pea. Add the heavy cream and vinegar; pulse to process the mixture into pea-size pieces.
Divide the mixture in half and transfer to 2 separate 1-gallon resealable plastic food storage bags. (If desired, spray the inside of each bag with nonstick cooking oil spray to keep the dough from sticking.)
Working with one bag at a time and leaving it unsealed, knead the mixture through the bag by pressing with the heel of your hand to help the dough come together. Remove the dough from the bag and knead it lightly just until it is slightly stretchy when pulled.
Flatten the dough into a disk, wrap it in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 45 minutes and up to overnight.
When ready to make a pie, remove 1 disk of dough from the refrigerator. Allow it to sit for up to 10 minutes, if necessary, to become pliable enough to roll.
Cover the work surface with a large pastry cloth and lightly dust with flour.
Cover a rolling pin, preferably chilled or cool, with a cloth cover and roll the dough to a circle about 1/8 inch thick by 12 inches in diameter. (Alternatively, roll the dough between 2 large sheets of plastic wrap.)
The dough should be smooth and cool. Fold it carefully in half, then again into quarters and transfer to a 9-inch pie plate. Unfold the dough and trim the border just short of the edge of the plate.
Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes and up to 3 hours. Makes enough for a 9-inch, 2-crust pie.
Flaky Cream Cheese Pie Crust, for a 9-inch, 2-crust pie (see related recipe)
Flour, for dusting the work surface
Combine the sugar, cornstarch and salt in a medium bowl. Add the cherries and any of their accumulated juices and the almond extract; stir to mix well. Let the mixture sit at room temperature for at least 10 minutes and up to 3 hours.
Twenty minutes before you are ready to bake, preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Remove the pie plate with the (unbaked) bottom crust from the refrigerator and spoon the cherries and their juices into it.
Ten minutes before assembling the pie, remove the second disk of pie crust dough from the refrigerator.
Cover the work surface with a large pastry cloth and lightly dust with flour. Roll the dough to an oval about 10 1/2 by 8 inches wide and about 1/6 inch thick.
Use a ruler and a fluted pastry wheel to cut the dough oval into 10 strips that are 3/4 inch wide. Arrange half of the strips evenly over the cherry filling. Gently fold back every other strip just past the centerpoint of the pie and then place a strip on top that runs perpendicular. Reposition the strips so that they lie flat on top of the perpendicular strip. Working in the same direction, gently fold back the strips that were not folded back the first time. Lay a second perpendicular strip on top and unfurl the folded-back strips. Repeat with a third perpendicular strip, folding back the strips that were folded back the first time.
Apply the remaining 2 strips to the other side of the pie, starting toward the center and working toward the edge. Remember to alternate strips that are folded back so that the strips form a woven pattern.
Use sharp kitchen scissors to trim the strips to a 1/2-inch overhang, if necessary. Use water to moisten the edge of the bottom crust where it contacts each strip, then tuck the overhang under the bottom crust edge, pressing down to seal it. Crimp the edges .
Create a protective shield for the edge of the pie crust by lightly crimping a ring of aluminum foil over it. Place the pie on the floor of the oven for 20 minutes, then transfer to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Adjust an oven rack so it is on the lowest level in the oven, place the baking sheet with pie on that rack and bake for 40 to 50 minutes, until the juices bubble thickly through the lattice and the center is slightly puffed. If the lattice becomes too dark in the last 15 minutes of baking, cover it loosely with a piece of aluminum foil with a vent hole in the center.
Transfer to a wire rack to cool for at least 3 hours before cutting. Makes 6 servings.
