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I've been using an adaptation of my Buttermilk Pie Crust for all my pies. I'm not sure if I've changed the recipe that I posted. It works well for blind baking, and I've used it for pumpkin pie.
For a single crust, I bake in an Emile Henry 9-inch ceramic pie plate (not one with a ruffled edge--what the heck were they thinking?!), which is a deep dish, I use 1 2/3 cup pastry flour and 1/3 cup whole wheat pastry flour, 1 1/2 Tbs. sugar, 1/2 tsp. salt, 2/3 cup cold butter, and 1/3 cup buttermilk. I mix the dry ingredients, and cut in the butter. I then add the liquid all at once, and use a pastry fork, then a bowl scraper to bring it together.
I used to make the recipe with half butter and half Crisco. Then, one day, I was distracted by my husband and accidentally used all butter for the fat. The crust was wonderful, and I've never looked back.
After the dough has a couple of hours in the refrigerator, I roll it out to 12-inches. I roll on parchment paper, with a wide piece of saran over the top, and I use pie wands. To transfer it to the pie plate, I flip it over and peel off the parchment, put my hand under the saran, and move the dough to the pie plate and carefully fit it in (saran still on top). I carefully pull off the saran once the dough is fit into the pie dish, and I fold over the edges around the rim and make a fluted edge. (The extra dough will help it hold its shape. I set the plastic over it, then refrigerate it for 40 minutes, and then for 20 minutes, I freeze it--if I have a freezer in which it will fit. Sometimes if it is cold enough outside, it sits there!
I line the pie shell with a double thickness of foil, or I have some commercial coffee filters, and I use one of those. I fill with beans--ideally, fill the entire pie shell. (Beans can be used over and over again.) DO NOT USE CERAMIC OR METAL PIE WEIGHTS. These get too hot. I bake for 21 minutes at 375F on the middle rack, or until the dough sides are light, dry, and firm. I then remove the foil, carefully, and return the pie shell to the oven.
If the intended filling for the pie requires no baking, bake another 15-20 min. If the filling will need 20 minutes or less, bake an additional 7 minutes. If the filling will need more than 20 minutes, bake for 14 minutes.
OK, that is what I do. The article that Mike posted, with a suggested baking temperature of 350F is interesting, and if someone tries it, I'd be interested in knowing how it works.
I do want to bake a pumpkin pie this year, and right not, I'd love to do an apple one. However, I'm dismayed when I calculate the saturated fat in the crust, and with only my husband and I to eat it, it's a problem. I thought about trying an oil crust, but I don't think that I would find it satisfactory.
There is a chance that we may be "under construction" by Thanksgiving. Our new contractor says he is on schedule to start in later November. We meet with him later this week to see when that might be. We have a smaller, functioning kitchen in the apt. over the garage, where we will be living during the renovation, so we will have Thanksgiving dinner, but it will be on the everyday dishes.
On Friday afternoon, I baked the KAF recipe, Cinnamon-Apple Flatbread, a new recipe for me, using my sourdough starter. I made some changes. For the bread, I reduced the yeast from 2 tsp. to 1 ¼ tsp., and that was plenty. I reduced the salt from 1 ½ tsp. to 1 tsp. I substituted 2 cups of white whole wheat flour (I use the Bob’s Red Mill Ivory) for that much regular flour, and I added 2 Tbs. flax meal. I used Winesaps and Jonathans for the filling/topping. I used all the juices, rather than only ¼ cup, but I did reduce it down a bit. (Time constraints prevented my doing it longer.) I do not buy the KAF Baker’s Cinnamon filling, so I made my own, using 3 Tbs. sugar, 2 tsp. cinnamon, AND 2 Tbs. regular Clearjel. My husband and I had a slice, warm from the oven, with some frozen vanilla yogurt on the side. Delicious.
Note: The Clearjel that I added is of upmost importance. A couple of years ago, I made pecan sticky buns from a KAF recipe and just used brown sugar and cinnamon, as I see no need to buy KAF’s Cinnamon Filling. Well, the resulting syrup boiled up in the pans and out of them. When I discussed it on this site (or was it still the Baking Circle?), and we were all trying to figure it out, S. Wirth astutely observed that Clearjel is an ingredient in the KAF Cinnamon Filling. When I read the comments on the flatbread, a couple of people mentioned having had a similar issue, so, I mixed it into the cinnamon sugar, before mixing it with the liquid in which the apples had cooked. Perfect! And once again, S. Wirth saves the day!
I also made up a single batch of dough for Lower-Fat Whole Wheat Sourdough Ranch Crackers. It’s an experiment to see if I can create another cracker flavor that I like. I’ll bake those next week.
The recipe I submitted is for a single batch, but I always double it. Recently, I had to reduce saturated fat in my diet. I found that with a double recipe of these crackers, I can substitute 1/3 cup of canola oil for the butter. To improve taste, I also add 2 Tbs. special dried milk with the flours.
In addition to being lower in saturated fat, and tasting good, the oil version rolls out much more easily and more quickly than the butter version.
