Flaky Foundation II

There was a recipe for pie crust in Grandma Emma’s box of old yellowed scraps of paper after all. It was in a small three-fold flyer of recipes from the Valier and Spies Milling Corporation of St. Louis, Mo. After a few minutes of on-line research I discovered that Valier and Spies merged with a Kansas milling company in 1927.

In 1927 not only was Grandma Emma making pie dough but the teenage girl who, many years in the future, would become my mom was working on her pie making skills too. So with the spirit of both of those ladies hovering over my keyboard here is how to roll and shape a pie crust.

Shape about a quarter of the cold dough into a flattened disk about 5 inches in diameter and 1 inch high. Return the remaining dough to the refrigerator. Put the disk on a lightly floured surface, marble or granite are best but wood, stainless, glass, and non-stick plastic mats work well too.

Begin rolling from the center of the disk to the outside edges. I start vertically and then switch to horizontally and diagonally. Use a pastry scraper or a pancake turner to loosen the dough if it starts to stick. Then sprinkle a little more flour on your rolling surface before you continue.



This is my mom, Ellen coaching her grand-niece, Emma.

Keep rolling until your crust is about one eighth of an inch thick and forms a rough circle.

Then with the help of your pastry scraper, roll the dough around your rolling pin and carefully unroll it over your pie plate.













Gently press the dough into the pie plate taking care not to trap any bubbles of air between the dough and the surface of the plate. Pay particular attention to the intersection of the sides and the bottom of the pie plate.
















Trim the edges of the crust even or slightly larger than the rim of the pie plate and put the crust in the refrigerator. Roll the top crust just as you did the bottom. Let’s say you have already mixed up a strawberry rhubarb filling from the recipe in The Taste of Spring post. Remove the bottom crust from the refrigerator and put the filling into it. Roll the top crust around your rolling pin and unroll it over your filling.

















Trim the top crust about an inch longer than the bottom crust and fold the excess in and under the bottom crust so you have the bottom crust edge sandwiched between the top crusts.




















Use your thumb and index finger to pinch a ridge at regularly spaced intervals around the rim. Cut vents in the top crust with a sharp knife. Brush the crust with a beaten egg white (reserved from making the dough) and sprinkle with about a tablespoon of granulated sugar.
Bake on the lowest shelf of a preheated 400 degree oven for 15 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees and move the pie to the upper rack. Bake another 30 to 40 minutes until the vents are bubbling.