Pie

I been blessed with one amazing gift in life...and it is pie.

I make killer pie.

Fruit pie, custard pie, savory pie, if I make it, it is good. I know it is very un-midwesternly of me to say it but, even I think it is delicious-really good, and in fact, I want to eat a whole one myself. I think the secret is my crust - which is light and flaky and deliciously flavorful.

I'm not telling you the secret ingredient in my crust, because, obviously, it's a secret. I will however tell you my pie crust tricks.

1. DO NOT OVERMIX. Do not overmix the crust. This is paramount. The best pie crusts have striations of fat that are visible like the marbling on grade A beef. Have faith. It may not look pretty but it will probably be good. If you saw most of my crusts coming out of the mixer you would probably be shocked. Plus if you mix it too much you start to develop the gluten in the flour and your crust becomes tough and not tasty. Yuck.

2. Keep it COLD. Make sure you have chilled your pie crust before you roll it out. It will be three times as difficult to roll out and turn out twice as bad if it is warm. It is far more likely to fall apart and will be very difficult to handle if you skip the chilling step. I like to chill my crust in the freezer for months...or at least 2 hours before I roll it out.

3. FLOUR. Use a lot as you roll it out. Don't believe what they say about lightly coating the surface with flour, heavily coat it - in fact load it up with flour. You are probably not going to get too much unless you're balling it up and re-rolling it more than three times and if you're doing that you probably haven't done either of the above. Stop. Stick the dough in the fridge and then try again.

4. As you roll out your crust FLIP IT. Especially at the beginning. Flip it a lot. I flip it every couple of swipes with a rolling pin, or if you see it start to catch as you roll it. Do this by rolling the far edge over the rolling pin and back towards you - use the rolling pin as sort of a frame to brace the dough on.And make sure you keep your surface well floured. If you do this you coat the surface with a good layer of flour making it very easy to handle and unlikely to pull apart or stick to your work surface.

There you have it. My pie wisdom. Minus my secret ingredient of course. :)
Happy making!!

North Coaster

It says a lot about my spring that I have graduated to knitting coasters. Drink coasters to protect my new end tables. They're quite fashionable, in a lovely hue, made out of terribly itchy yarn that I won't wear. They also require absolutely no thought, in fact I can mostly make them without looking which is nice. It's taking my love for small simple projects to a new level, maybe not a great level but a new level.

What's causing this obsession with simplicity and mindless ease? Fatigue, stress, cabin fever. Not the worst things that could happen to a person, but enough to make me not want to try to figure out which pattern row I'm on and which decrease to do in the lacy sweater-vest I'm making for myself.

I pretty much just feel like I need a vacation...for like, six months. Or maybe only a part time job. Since I can't have either of those things right now I must resort to knitting coasters. And drinking wine. It works.